LIGHTSPEED

 I grew up reading science fiction novels, so I've always enjoyed space
exploration games. LIGHTSPEED from MicroProse's MPS Labs is the latest variation
on the theme. Previous simulations from MPS Labs include F-19 STEALTH FIGHTER,
SILENT SERVICE, RED STORM RISING, and M1 TANK PLATOON. So as you might expect,
space combat is the core of the game. LIGHTSPEED does include enough alien
negotiation and trade to provide a good context for the battles. (This review is
based on the IBM-PC version.)

 Your mission in LIGHTSPEED is to explore a star cluster, in preparation for a
human colony ship en route to the cluster. You must locate a suitable colony
world, contact alien races inhabiting the cluster, and eliminate any threats to
the colony. Planetary resources must be built up for the colony by mining and
trade with aliens.

 The game contains two star clusters. The first is an easy introduction to the
game. The second cluster contains more star systems and alien cultures, and the
political setup is more complex. I liked the open-ended game design. You can
form alliances with any of several different confederations or individual
aliens, each with its own outlook and priorities. Your approach to colonizing
the cluster can be either a "Federation-style" benevolent one, or a
"Romulan-style" conquest using treachery and a merciless force. Some weaker
aliens can be terrorized into abandoning their star systems. This means you can
play the game several different times, with new approach each time.

 The game graphics are very good. Spaceships and starbases are rendered in
shaded polygons, so close approaches during combat don't result in the sudden
jump you get with bit-mapped graphics. There isn't much detail on the enemy
ships, but there is a lot of variety in the designs.

 Your ship is a 3.4-kilometer-long Trailblazer-class warship. There is no
specific character you play, and there are no crew characters. You control all
functions directly, jumping from station to station. This has an unfortunate
consequence in combat: If you jump into one of your fighter cockpits, the
Trailblazer "goes dumb" and will continue on the same course, doing nothing to
defend itself until you jump back onto the main bridge. It makes you feel as if
you're a disembodied intelligence all alone on the ship, but doesn't seriously
hamper the playability.

 The main bridge has a forward viewscreen with a holograph tank below, showing a
3-D radar screen and a view of the currently targeted ship. To navigate between
systems, you call up a rotating 3-D model of the star cluster, with color codes
for known or unknown star systems. Clicking the mouse or joystick buttons cycles
through the stars, and you engage the Spindrive for faster-than-light travel
between star systems.

 If you happen to drift near another ship while in Spindrive, you get a
proximity alert warning. This gives you an opportunity to knock the other ship
out of Spindrive into normal space for an attack. Pirates or other enemy ships
often use this method of attack.

 The defensive Blaster Turret screen shows a view of surrounding space, with a
crosshair in the center and a 3-D radar screen at the bottom. You can spin 360
degrees on any axis to fire on enemy fighters or incoming missiles.

 The Engine Room screen at first glance is a complex arrangement of colors and
whirling shapes. A closer look reveals that all your ship's systems use the same
10 components. Engine room components are destroyed in combat: Each hit by an
enemy warship might take out one or two. In the heat of battle it's sometimes
necessary to jump to the engine room, replacing components from spares in your
ship's hold, or swapping from other systems. The only way to get more components
is through trade or by scavenging debris after a battle.

 Your success in the cluster depends on several factors. Besides removing
threats to your colony, you must build up resources -- water, organics,
minerals, and radioactives. Establishing mines gives you a start, but you get
the bulk of the resources needed by trade with aliens. You also trade for
components and fuel to keep your ship running.

 When you arrive at a new star system, you'll see either empty space or an alien
starbase parked in front of you. In either case, you launch a probe to scan the
system for resources, or establish contact with the aliens. There is no
star-system travel, or surface exploration on planets -- all contact with aliens
occurs at starbases or between star systems.

 Once you make contact, you see a full-screen view of the alien. The alien
contact graphics in 256-color VGA are nicely done, with palette color cycling
effects in some backgrounds. All alien screens include an animation loop, so
that the alien isn't just a static picture. Some topics cause a change in the
facial expression or other body movement (some of these guys don't have what
you'd call a face). A different musical theme plays during contact with each
alien, in major or minor key (depending on how the alien feels about the subject
of conversation).

 You talk with the alien using a panel with pushbuttons for your pre-programmed
questions and responses. If an alien agrees to trade, a "universal exchange
interface" opens up with icons representing components in your ship's hold on
one side, and those offered by the alien on the other. Clicking on objects
selects them for trade, and a sliding bar shows the trade balance between you
and the alien. A similar screen is used for trading in planetary resources, such
as water or minerals. I drew a paper spreadsheet showing all the alien trade
values, which made it easy to find trade routes where I could buy low and sell
high. Peace treaties may be signed with the aliens you want to keep as friends
and trading partners.

 Eliminating a hostile or dangerous alien from a star system requires combat
with the starbase and its defending warships and fighters. You'll also have to
defend yourself against attack while in transit between systems. You begin the
game with few engine room components (and therefore a weak ship), but your ship
becomes more capable after you've traded up in number and quality of components.

 The Trailblazer's main gun is powerful but slow to recharge, and has limited
range. While maneuvering the Trailblazer into firing position, you can use one
or several of the 10 missile chassis on board. These can be instantly configured
as a guided missile, a kamikaze, or a fighter. Fire-and-forget guided missiles
cause little damage -- the manually piloted kamikazes cause heavier damage when
rammed into an enemy ship.

 Fighters have laser guns and are good for defending the Trailblazer or for
knocking out critical systems on an enemy ship like a shield generator. You can
toggle your view and control among the Trailblazer's bridge, the cockpit of any
fighters or kamikazes you've launched, and the defensive blaster turret by
hitting the spacebar.

 Here is a typical scenario that shows how all the stations are used in combat:
First, you power up the thrusters and get the Trailblazer moving toward a
warship, to bring your main gun in range. You launch a kamikaze to distract
enemy fighters, jumping into its cockpit to set it on course. Then you jump back
to the Trailblazer bridge, launch a fighter, jump into the cockpit, and head for
the enemy warship to knock out its shield generator. When the enemy fires its
main gun, you jump back to the Trailblazer's blaster turret to shoot down the
incoming missiles, then jump back to the fighter to finish knocking out the
shield generator. Finally, you return to the Trailblazer bridge to finish the
job with your main gun.

 Sound effects during combat include explosions, laser blasts, collisions, and
engine noise. The Trailblazer's engine emits a deep hum, which adds to the "big
ship" feel, and you hear a sort of industrial clanking noise in the engine room.
The effects and music soundtrack were all good, on both my AdLib and Roland
LAPC-1 sound cards.

 LIGHTSPEED requires a 100% IBM-compatible computer using DOS 2.1 or higher,
with 512K of RAM installed, or 640K for VGA; a 286-class machine is recommended.
The frame rate is slightly better than the average flight simulator, since there
is no ground or sky detail to animate during combat. The game supports VGA and
EGA, and sound support is provided for AdLib, Tandy, and Roland cards. My copy
of the game was distributed on 5-1/4" 360K floppies. The game is copy-protected
with a lookup scheme that requires the game manual.

 There is one glaring flaw in LIGHTSPEED: the manual. In particular, there is no
mention at all of how to finish a game. There's a vague description in a
question-and-answer section of the technical supplement. But even that doesn't
tell you about the essential colony screen. This shows you how you're
progressing, and it triggers the events that establish a colony once you have
enough resources. The "C" key to access the screen is mentioned only on the
quick-reference card, which doesn't explain the importance of the screen. I
abandoned the first cluster after building up excessive resources without
getting a colony, since I didn't know about the colony screen.

 Once I found the colony screen, I had fun playing LIGHTSPEED. I would rate it
as an easy-to-intermediate-level game. Most of the challenge came from figuring
out the tactics to use in space combat -- the alien diplomacy and trade was
interesting, but a little too easy. As far as I could tell, the program is
bug-free. I recommend LIGHTSPEED for space adventure fans, especially if you
like a heavy dose of spaceship combat in your adventuring.

 LIGHTSPEED is published and distributed by MicroProse Software.