First Starfighter_ The
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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With the death of the Emperor of the Kohdan System, the once peaceful alliance between them and the Rilos System has now gone since the Emperor Zolan's son has taken over as Emperor. Zuurr wants to rule Rilos now and has begun his invasion and conquest plans by taking over the Rilos System's space-stations which power the defences deep within an asteroid field. Inside each station are the Talathium Jewels which if retrieved can allow the Rilos to build more stations to keep their defences powered. A pilot for their first ever built starfighter is now needed to enter the area and get the jewels back while destroying as many of the Kohdan's as possible, and you have been chosen for this dangerous mission.

The First Starfighter is a game with two elements, a multi-directional scrolling shooter and a flick-screen maze game viewed from the side as you battle the various enemies looking for jewels. The shooter element of the game has you controlling the fighter as you search for six jewels that only appear above space-gates one at a time inside the asteroid field. Collecting the jewels highlights the letters from the word JEWELS. You can fire in various directions and if you touch any enemy ship, energy gates or asteroids then an energy gauge decreases and when it empties then it is game over.

You can also dock with one of the six Space-Stations and this then turns to a maze game where you control yourself with a jet-pack looking for more jewels. You first enter a room with no exits and you must keep blasting the enemy while a timer gauge increases. Once you have blasted enough a large jewel appears and then you are placed in a new room with exits. If you enter a room and the timer increases then there is a jewel in there and once again you keep blasting until it appears. If you touch the sides of the room or any enemy then your energy once again decreases.

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The First Starfighter by Orpheus is one of the C64's hidden gems. It's a combination of two game styles: one being a multi-directional scrolling shoot-em-up where you have to blast aliens, collect jewels and dock onto space stations; and the other is within the space stations, where you control a jetpack wearing spaceman around single screen rooms. Within these rooms you have to blast specific aliens to gain different coloured jewels and unlock different doors. If you clear certain rooms your overall game completion percentage is increased. The aim of the game is to reach 100%.

The game graphics, animation and game play are all very good. It's quite an original combination of games that works very well and is enjoyable to play. The difficulty level is set just right so you can play long enough to make decent progress if you play carefully. I'd recommend this game to everyone as it's an enjoyable mix of styles that should keep you entertained for quite a while...


http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/first-starfighter
http://www.c64endings.freeolamail.com/endings/f/firststarfighter/firststarfighter.htm
