Game Review: Sunburst (Commodore 64, Rack-It)

Sunburst was one of the earlier releases on the Rack-It label, with John Phillips, who had programmed the superb Nebulus, behind this one. The plot is straightforward enough. The universe is expanding with new solar systems being formed, and threatening the existence of the old systems. You have been volunteered for this mission, and for each level, there is a sun surrounded by various rock formations. You need to get enough energy so you can fly to the heart of the sun, and destroy it with that energy. In effect, it is a shoot-em-up with multiple levels and each one having the same mission to destroy the sun

Set Controls for the Heart of the Sun

After the nicely drawn loading screen, the game shows a simple title screen with a pleasant piece of music by Nigel Grieve. There are four icons which are your options. Reading left to right, the first allows you to either start the game from the first level, or continue from the last level you reached. The second turns the music on or off, and the third is to play the game. The final icon with the info displays a very useful screen which aids you, as well as what the instructions do. The carrier is the key enemy to know here – this is what you need to shoot to the energy that it leaves behind. The orange enemy is the hunter, and colliding with these reduces your energy collected. The whirlpool places you elsewhere within the level if you collide with that, while the spinner, octopod and asteroid are best shot or avoided.

The Phantom (It’s in There)

The phantom enemy is also perhaps the most useful, although this is not noted at all the instructions. If you run into one, and there is normally one close by at the start of each level, this gives you ten seconds or so with a shield with your ship flashing, so you cannot be shot. You can collide with the circular ground formations where the enemies come out of, and die, but everything else cannot hit you for that time. There are other similar phantoms within the level and locating those and keeping that shield topped up really allows you to get further in the game. It is a shame that it was not documented better as the instructions just mention the ship flashing without a reason why it does.

Here Comes the Sun

Once you start the level, the energy is shown by a meter at the bottom left, with you needing to get enough energy to fill the gauge so you can fly into the sun in the centre of each level. Shooting the carriers then leaves the energy behind, which counts down from 10 to 1. The quicker you collect it (say if it is at number 9) then the energy goes up considerably. The hunters do not kill you but hitting them does reduce the energy, and can sometimes take away the opportunity to fly into the sun if you had reached the maximum previously. The key here is to try and get the phantom for the shield, then fly close to the ground formation, shoot the carrier, get energy, and get the hell out of there before the shield runs out.

Unfortunately, if you do lose a life, the main bugbear of the game surfaces. The energy gauge gets reset back to what you start the level with, rather than be retained. It may have been a sensible idea to have that as an additional icon to toggle on the title screen, and be a little less frustrating to play in that mode, with the other game mode being more of an expert difficulty level. It gets more annoying too in later levels when you have built up a good amount of energy, close to being able to collide with the sun, and then find you must do all the hard work over again because you have lost it all with one bad move or collision.

Rotating Around the Sun

The controls are also where potentially you could have had choices. What you do get are responsive controls, but they are rotational tank-based controls. So, left, and right turns the ship left and right in the direction it faces, with the two speeds of movement being directed by up for fast and down for slow, leaving fire to fire your weapon. You may find, more so if your ship is facing downwards, that inevitably you will press left but instead realise you are steering left the way the ship is facing and so may hit something you wish to avoid. Patience does reap its own rewards, with the controls are very responsive. This allows you to make some excellent turns of speed or tight slow turns, and know that if you do collide with anything then it is purely down to you and not the game itself.

You also do get an extra ship for every 2,000 points scored, which is a reasonable amount to get, and set fairly for the game, which for some reason is not mentioned in the instructions anywhere, and only through playing and realising I had the same number of lives as when I lost one because I reached a score was I able to work out what had happened. The instructions mention the use of SHIFT LOCK to turn off collision detection and space for the next level, both of which do not work. Clearly something went lost in translation there as well. The extra lives you can get does add some longevity to the game, and with ten levels in all, there is a large challenge ahead, no doubt about that.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Sunburst are very good, with the different rock formations around the sun having their own distinct colour scheme and certainly feels well thought out. The sun itself in the centre can be different colours to match that scheme, and with a nice wipe effect when you collide into it to complete the level. Your ship has some excellent shading and shadow effects to help determine the way you are facing, and all the enemies are well animated and drawn. As you would expect, the screen also scrolls smoothly, giving everything some polish throughout. Whilst the sound effects can be a little weedy at times, with the low drone of enemies appearing being a minor annoyance, the option of a tune during play would have been nice. The title theme is short and sweet and at least sets the tone nicely enough, even if it may sound dull after a time.

Final Thoughts

I do like the concept and the playability of Sunburst, and what has been produced here is well thought out with a strong arcade look and feel about the game. Being able to continue from the level you last reached is a nice feature, and the concept of collecting the energy from the shot down carriers gives you that nervous edge as you attempt to get the energy and get out of there. Even with the rotational controls, they do work well and the game itself is playable. It is however somewhat spoiled by the energy counter resetting when you lose a life, and if that had been an option via a difficulty level setting, that would have increased the playability even more and given it a higher mark. It is still well worth a look despite this flaw, and once you get into the swing of things, the game offers solid entertainment.

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