Star Control

This page is a stub. We encourage you to edit and improve it.

Star Control was developed by Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III and released for the PC in 1990 by Accolade. A port for the Sega Genesis was released by Ballistic the following year.

Gameplay is a mixture of action and strategy. Players control fleets of ships and maneuver them about a star map, mining and fortifying planets while building up a fleet. When two (or more) enemy ships meet in orbit around a planet, they engage in a one-on-one dogfight to the death. This aspect of the game draws its inspiration from SPACEWAR! (written for the PDP-1).

Two things set Star Control apart from various other SPACEWAR! 'clones'- the aspect of strategy and the diversity of the ships (leading to higher quality gameplay). Each ship has a unique weapon and special ablility, as well as varied stats that affect its performance in combat directly. Players must learn the strengths and weaknesses of each vessel and how to cope with them.

Star Control also laid the foundations for Star Control II, a masterpiece of space exploration, combat, and diplomacy.