Game Review: Starmaze 2 (BBC Micro, Mastertronic)

Even though the genre started in 1981 with 3D Monster Maze on the ZX81 by Malcolm Evans, there were very few true 3D games for 8-bit systems for the early part of the 80s. Mastertronic, however, released not one but two similar games – 3D Maze for the Vic 20 and Starmaze 2 for the BBC and a separate version for the Electron…

Starmaze 2… A Maze In Space?

The plot for Starmaze 2 (referred to in the game as Starmaze II) is somewhat bizarre… You’re a jewel thief and after you’ve been captured instead of prison you’ve been sent to the “Star Maze”. Basically, a maze in space as the name implies. It doesn’t seem to be a particularly secure place for criminals to be sent as its unguarded and not that hard to escape as you can find your way out!

You’re equipped with a map and a limited amount of energy and placed in a random location in the maze at the start of the game. The mazes themselves are randomly generated and vary in size – which you can select at the start of the game. Simply make your way to the exit before you run our of energy or it’s game over!

Crazy Controls

The game is keyboard only but I’m not too sure what the developer was think when he wrote Starmaze 2, but the controls are amongst the strangest I’ve seen in any 3D game. While I can see the logic used – using L and R to turn left or right, F and B to move forwards and backwards, and M to display the map, it makes using the keyboard extremely uncomfortable. While the BBC’s cursors aren’t set out in a square or t-shape, surely some other key combination could have been used that would have felt more natural here that didn’t slow down the flow of the game?

Grating Graphics

For a 3D game like this, it’s going to be judged on its visuals and how good the maze actually looks. And if I’m honest, first impressions of Starmaze 2 are pretty good. It’s all presented in solid 3D and in quite a large window, and depending on the direction the walls face, they are different colours which makes the maze easier to see. Underneath the large main window is a status panel displaying your grid coordinates, how much time you’ve taken, the direction you are facing, your remaining energy and how far away you are from the exit. So far so good…

Until you start playing, that is. Starmaze 2 runs at an unbelievably slow pace with each movement taking 1-2 seconds for the screen to update. It’s no secret that the BBC is more than capable of running 3D better than its 8-bit rivals (Elite is testament to that), so why is this so poor? If there was such a problem getting any sense of speed from solid 3D, then surely wireframe visuals would have been a better option?

In fact, other developers did take that approach for similar BBC titles and managed to deliver faster and more playable titles so I’m left bewildered as to why the decision was made to make this solid 3D unless the developers wanted to try to and sell this based on the visuals alone.

Struggling Sound

On the sound front, this is fairly limited with. There’s a brief futuristic sound effect once the game loads up, but after that in-game effects are limited to a brief, solitary and somewhat subdued “blip” for each movement that you make.

Once you complete the game, you’re rewarded with a brief extract from the theme to Close Encounters Of The Third Kind although it’s only a single channel rendition and is quite forgettable.

Playability

Starmaze 2 really is something of a mixed bag. The mazes themselves are reasonably challenging, and the random nature means there’s potentially endless replayability here for those of you willing to look past its shortcomings. However, the speed – or distinct lack of it – really is its downfall.

There’s no sense of urgency as you try to navigate the maze and frustration quickly sets in while you wait for the screen to redraw after every move. If that wasn’t a big enough drawback, the amount of energy you’re given at the start of each maze is too generous and even on the largest maze this is far more than you will need to complete it. Each move only uses one unit of energy so you’ll barely use any to escape.

Even the time doesn’t seem to have any relevance to the game so there’s no escape deadline to beat there either. If there was a scoring system in place where the time taken and energy remaining mattered they might be of some important but even that doesn’t seem to be present.

Overall

Starmaze 2 is one of those titles where there’s a potentially enjoyable game deep down inside crying to get out, but it’s trapped behind dodgy controls and technical flaws that stop it from being fun. If you can fight past those and have enough patience to cope with the sluggish gameplay, you’ll find an entertaining maze game but there are much better examples of the genre out there.

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