Elite
| Developer: Mr. Micro | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Firebird | Sound: |
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| Year: 1989 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Strategy | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
9/10 | |
Ever heard of Asimov? Foundation, the era of the galactic traders? Well, it’s basically the same idea. You start with nothing: a modest ship that’s closer to an old barge, a handful of credits, and off you go! No missions, no levels, no lives—just an endlessly vast universe to explore. That’s how games should be made!
Roam freely from system to system, buying and selling all sorts of cargo—some of it a tad less than legal. Rack up profits, take down a few pirates for bounty rewards, or embrace the pirate’s life yourself! Build a reputation as a killer, but be prepared for cops and mercenaries to come gunning for you.
Mastering the controls takes a bit of patience, though. Docking at an orbital station, for instance, is no small feat. But once you get past the inevitable bouts of frustration, it’s incredibly addictive!
Elite was originally developed for the BBC Micro in 1984. The Amiga version is naturally superior, though still falls short of the machine’s capabilities. If you’re planning to replay it, make sure you find version 2.0 (equivalent to Elite Plus on PC), which fixes a few bugs.
In 2003, volunteers released Elite Advanced, a modified Amiga version. More recently, the legacy continues on PC (and some modern consoles, apparently):
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