Player reviews: 80% positive5 reviews
Runs on: Windows
Price: US$5.99

Where to get it

1990 · MicroProse · Action · Flight simulation

Lightspeed

Lightspeed is a puzzle game, where you have a laser and an absorber. The basic idea is to rotate the laser so, that the laser beam hits the absorber.

Released: 1990
Platforms: MS-DOS Windows
Genres: Action Flight simulation Point-and-click adventure Puzzle Simulation Space trading and combat
Developers: MicroProse
Publishers: MicroProse
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Science fiction
Country: United States
Languages: English
Composers: Jeff Briggs

About

Lightspeed is a video game developed and released by MicroProse in 1990. It features a space flight simulator game and action game elements with an emphasis on strategy and exploration. The box describes the title as an "Interstellar Action and Adventure" game. The game features space exploration, trade, combat and diplomacy in the same vein as 4X games such as Master of Orion. Lightspeed, unlike the popular series of turn-based strategy games, plays out in real-time.

A sequel, entitled Hyperspeed, was released by MicroProse in 1991. It was nearly identical to Lightspeed, except that it included two additional star clusters for veterans of the first game.

›Story

Depending on the scenario, you have one or more lasers, either white or colored. Each laser must be rotated, so that all absorber are in use (with the correct color; a red absorber can only absorb red light). But on some scenarios, the laser is fixed, so you can only use the support items to help you.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Spaceflight is similar in style to the Wing Commander or X-Wing titles. Most races initially adopt a neutral stance towards the player, unless they ambush the player in between star systems. The player can then choose to attack or hold their fire, which can influence future relations with that species. The player may also choose to launch an unguided probe to initiate communications with neutral or friendly species.

The player-controllable vehicles consist of the main Trailblazer-class cruiser (top left screenshot on box back) and small spacecraft chassis that can be quickly reconfigured for three different roles (that of a space superiority fighter, a powerful self-guided kamikaze missile with poor maneuverability or a weak homing missile with excellent maneuverability). The player can also launch an escape pod when their Trailblazer is hopelessly crippled.

Story

The player must help recolonize the human race after the Earth's habitability is critically reduced by an ecological catastrophe. The entire human race is being housed in huge Conestoga-class colony ships, which are waiting for the player to secure at least one planet with an Earth-like environment and to also acquire enough material resources to ensure that the colony or colonies in question can build a fledgling industrial base as soon as possible.

The player is allowed limited time to accomplish this goal. In addition, the player must contend with the alien races living in the area that the player is exploring. The mission's success requires diplomacy to acquire allies and the elimination of races that may be potentially hostile to humanity. The player may also deem it necessary to destroy a friendly race in order to secure enough resources to successfully complete the objectives.

Reception

In a 1992 survey of science fiction games, Computer Gaming World gave Lightspeed one-plus stars out of five. A 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game one star, describing it as "The lamentable predecessor to Hyperspeed". In 1996 the magazine ranked Lightspeed as the 46th worst game of all time, calling it "more repetitive than 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' with no payoff."