More than just a clone of Atari‘s arcade classic Star Wars, Starstrike 3D (or 3D Starstrike, whatever you prefer) is a wireframe, shooter masterpiece on the humble ZX Spectrum that really set the gaming world alight, back in the early Eighties.
Starstrike 3D was created by just three guys – Graeme Baird, Ian Oliver and Andrew Onions, of Realtime Software – not long after graduating from Leeds University in 1984. And, considering the limits of the humble Spectrum, they managed to get it to do unbelievable things.
Indeed: Starstrike 3D heralded a new generation of wireframe, polygonal graphics on the ZX Spectrum (on all home systems, back then, to be honest) and it really showed what the machine was capable of, in the right hands.
Of course, being a “tribute” to Atari‘s Star Wars the gameplay and graphics in Starstrike 3D are very similar, although there are certain sections that do their own thing. The result is a 3D shooter that is still fun to play even now, over 30 years after the game’s original release.
And even better is the 1986 sequel, Starstrike II, which had more variety and even had “filled” and shaded polygon graphics to boot. Both games in the Starstrike series are rightly considered ‘technical marvels’ and solid gold retro gaming classics.
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