Starquake (1985)

Starquake is an arcade-adventure game released in 1985 by Bubble Bus Software for the ZX Spectrum. The game was designed by Stephen J. Crow, who crafted a vast, intricate world for the player to navigate.

The gameplay centers on a maze-based environment viewed from a 2D side perspective, designed for a single player. It supports Kempston and Interface 2 joysticks, as well as fully redefinable keys. The technical presentation utilizes a flip-screen mechanism to transition between areas of the massive game map.

The original cassette release was priced at £7.95. Due to its success, the game was ported to numerous other platforms, including the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX, BBC Micro, Amiga, Atari ST, and PC.

The game received exceptional critical acclaim, maintaining an average magazine score of 91.75%. It earned the prestigious Crash Smash award from Crash magazine twice and was named Game of the Month by C&VG in November 1985.

The game became well-known among ZX Spectrum users in Russia. It was frequently featured in local digital magazines like On-Line with POKE codes, and the A.D.GROUP team released a dedicated disk version.