Frontier: Elite II

Developer: David Braben	Graphics:
Publisher: Gametek	Sound:
Year: 1993	Difficulty:
Genre: Strategy	Replay value:
Number of players: 1	My overall rating:	9/10

Did you find Elite complicated? You need to see its sequel. The concept remains the same: you're an insignificant space pilot lost in the depths of the galaxy and your freedom is total. You can do trading, pursue a career as a bounty hunter or outlaw, in short: do whatever you want. And your achievements will help you build your reputation, in addition to rake up a mountain of money to buy the spaceship of your dreams with all the latest weapons and gadgets.
After that, you can show off in the local space station of your choice and call Albator a fag.

What is obvious right away, compared to its predecessor, is the quality of 3D graphics. The intro, rather kitsch nowadays, still had enough to make generations of geeks drool.
Here, everything is bigger, richer, with more planets to visit (our solar system is included), more ships and weapons to buy, various proposed missions for those who feel lost in this vast universe, and a solid "background" which was somewhat lacking in the first game. You now have two rival factions for which you can work and a range of specific grades to hang upon, many interactions (mini dialogues) with local governments, vendors or other ship captains. You feel less alone and at the same time, more anonymous than ever.

The downside to a game as huge: a preliminary investment of one hour is needed to be done with controls. In addition, the mass of options has been further expanded and the icons-based interface will remain incomprehensible until you open the manual. We can also consider that by always pushing the realism forward we lost a little in game intensity, for example: combat phases. There are also bug problems and some difficulties to run the game smoothly on an Amiga 500. On an emulator with an Amiga 1200 or CD32, no problem.
Lastly, let's praise the great optimization: Imagine an entire galaxy that fits in one floppy disk (2 actually on the early versions)!

Frontier was also released on the Atari ST, CD32 and PC. Its sequel Frontier: First Encounters wasn't eventualy released on the Amiga. It was released on PC in 1995, hastily, and riddled with bugs. Elite IV has been announced and postponed several times between 2000 and 2010, which does not bode well for the future of the series.

Places to download:
Amiga Island
Amiga Nostalgie
Amiga World
Emuparadise
Planet Emulation
The Game Archives
The Old Computer

Other sites of interest:
The Elite Home Page
Frontier.co.uk

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