Startopia Updated Preview
We take a second look at this upcoming strategy and management game from Mucky Foot.
At the first public showing of Startopia, it was amazing to see how much the development team at Mucky Foot Productions was able to accomplish within a relatively short 14-month time frame. The 3D engine looked incredibly polished, the various creatures walking around the station were well animated and detailed, different structures operated properly, and the bio deck was fully functional. Of course, there were a few major details missing - such as music and an actual user interface - from that initial build, but it seemed as though Mucky Foot was well on its way to getting the game finished on schedule for late 2000. However, even Startopia couldn't avoid the inevitable delay to 2001, which has struck so many other games originally slated for a 2000 release.
Fortunately, the latest build shows that Mucky Foot is indeed making progress on the game; the user interface artwork looks nearly complete, there is some new music in the game, and there appears to be a few new faces wandering about the station. Unfortunately, Startopia is still understandably riddled with bugs at this point, which makes it difficult to examine certain aspects of the game and leaves us with more questions than answers.
The first mission in Startopia starts off simple enough, as you are placed in command of a once great space station that has fallen into a state of disrepair. An advisor, with a British accent and a slight attitude problem, welcomes you to the station and gives you your first assignment, which is to unpack a group of crates located just underneath the massive energy collector. Instead of finding out what's in the crate after actually opening it, you can simply move the mouse over the crate, and the name of the object appears inside. This feature is somewhat unnecessary in the initial moments of the first mission since the aid essentially tells you what's inside each crate, but, undoubtedly, this minor detail becomes of great use later in the game when the crates begin to pile up. Unlocking the three crates reveals a spaceport, which is necessary for the first batch of aliens to arrive on your station, as well as two scuzzer droids that assist in the construction of the different structures in Startopia. After building the first set of structures, your advisor continues to give you instructions on what to build, and soon the first set of aliens - usually the hardworking lower class species known as the salt hogs - arrive at the station. Of course, at the same time, both you and your advisor realize you're quickly running out of open construction areas in the small section of the station in which you start out, so you're now able to open up a new section of the station. In this new section, pieces of garbage are scattered across the ground, and rather unique-looking rats scurry across the floor. Keeping garbage in the station generally attracts the wrong type of aliens, so your advisor quickly tells you to get rid of it by building the recycling center.
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