Kick Start My Heart [Elite Dangerous]

There's a faint glimmer of light at the end of the (docking) tunnel: a Kickstarter campaign has been launched to fund a new Elite game, Elite Dangerous.

When the classic space-opera Elite first appeared on the BBC Micro it was ground-breaking and a work of genius. Eight galaxies of 3D open-ended interstellar trading, fighting, adventuring, asteroid mining, docking and ship upgrading were squeezed by programmers Bell and Braben into less memory than an e-mail.



Elite is still the watchword for non-casual computer gaming. The learning curve was brutal: it took me three  weeks of playing to figure out how to launch my ship, turn it around and return to dock (you are required to match spin with the space station) – only then could I venture out beyond the safety zone, try out my shiny new hyperdrive and get blasted to pieces by space pirates. Elite rewards the dedicated player: some events in the game are only seen rarely, or are scheduled to occur on reaching a particular rank which could be weeks or months into playing.

Elite created something which still marks out the best computer games: a player community. Micro User, Acorn User and BEEBUG magazines regularly printed letters describing dubious in-game discoveries e.g. “I found another secret mission!” “I was ambushed by Thargoids!” “I saw a space dredger!” sometimes accompanied by pencil sketches and followed by weeks of debate as to whether the space dredger was real, or whether the pilot had indulged in one too many narcotics trading runs.

Versions of Elite appeared on different computers: each with its own graphic style and quirks. An early PC version was extremely playable however the best and most quirky version was produced for the Acorn Archimedes: features included an ongoing war between police and criminals, and fleets of unarmed Space Missionaries calling on you to repent. A popular hack for this version kitted out your Cobra with fluffy dice and a bumper sticker.

Elite also spawned two sequels: Frontier and Frontier First Encounters, both groundbreaking in their own way, and then - nothing. Rumours of a planned Elite 4 have come and gone, and all but a few of the waiting pilots had given up hope.

So last week's announcement, more or less unexpected, came as a pleasant surprise. The story is by no means over: the campaign is live and the video and concept art look serious, but Frontier have yet to achieve their ambitious Kickstarter goal, and then they have to actually write the game. As a backer Sci-Fi Gene is hopeful and looks forward to completion - Godspeed Elite Dangerous.

Here I am, brain the size of a planet [Review: Mental Repairs Inc.]

This is the website description of Renzo "Eshaktaar" Thönen's game: "Mental Repairs, Inc. is a 2.5D point'n'click adventure that puts you into the shoes of Henrik Liaw, machine psychiatrist. Henrik's unusual..." by this time I had stopped reading and hit the download button.

Mental Repairs, Inc. is an indie game built on the Wintermute Engine. Liaw, who doesn't look nearly old enough to be a medical student let alone a psychiatrist, is called out to a company HQ where the mainframe computer has malfunctioned. However before he can even reach the mainframe he has to deal with a number of disturbed appliances including (genius) a lift with multiple personalities, one of whom only wants to go up. Another nice touch is Liaw's PDA device which acts as a hint system and plays an integral part in the plot - but also has it's own character and a tendency to make jokes about Eliza or Turing Tests. The whole scenario is a little reminiscent of Douglas Adams' work, which is populated by manically happy sliding doors and eccentric robots including of course Marvin - who would seriously benefit from a few sessions with Henrik Liaw.
As this screenshot shows, although there are a small number of locations they are detailed, stylish and atmospheric.

The best compliment I can give this game is that it is much too short. I completed it in a few hours of gameplay over three days, and was left wanting much, much more. The gameplay around healing neurotic machines and computers works well, particularly in the first act (the second act tries to do something a little more metaphysical), the interaction with each appliance is different and well thought-out. The puzzles are both logical and consistent with the story, and the idea strikes a real chord - I've yet to see an office computer system, for example, that isn't at least a bit neurotic. So it would have been good to see this game extended, with more appliances to heal.