Space MAX

Space MAX description

The first strategy simulator (as an option – definitely one of the first) that offered the player to take control of a real space station in earth orbit. No fiction – only the hard working life of the astronauts, a very complex interface and no hope for help in mastering.

It is very important to understand that, despite nepotistically, our space station is very different from the real, in contrast to "normal", it is the commercial, which paid for a large Corporation. What we specifically it will deal about this later, but the budget we have from the start restricted (and will be the entire game – we're not here to make money, but can only get them as subsidies), also the game is time limited. The choice we originally supplied four Shuttle for purchase (with various characteristics) – they will be our only contact with the outside world.

Due to the extreme complexity of this game it is necessary to briefly review the basics of the interface and the gameplay. There are three main "icons", each of which has a "Podilski" responsible for the actions included in this group. The first group includes a function request money for any new "module" (there are three categories of them - for astrophysical research, materials processing and other experiments), but here you can see the size of the salary to pilots and navigators in flight from the Earth to our station, during takeoff/landing (Yes, they have different tariffs), it also looks the current implementation of the specific contract in percentage terms.

The second group represents various messages that you may send, here are displayed the total amount available to cash right now, account games at the moment and running costs. The third has three icons direct control of the Shuttle flight (takeoff, flight, landing). Before departure of the ship, it is important to check for overload if we (and any administration has to get something to move) and is properly staffed in terms of the team. Directly takeoff and landing also have to control us.

There are three auxiliary game screen, between which you need to constantly switch. The first is the help of the staff of the station. Here you can see how many people we have working, how many of them who spent at the station, and learn about salary, health, experience and mood of each. Experienced is the crew member who stayed on the station for more than 45 days (it should increase wages), the optimal duration of residence is considered to be 90 days. Of course, to send after the expiry of this period the Land is not immediately required, but for health spent more than 90 days on the station the astronaut must follow, otherwise he might get sick or even die.

The second screen shows how much we now have oxygen, nitrogen and lithium hydroxide (needed for domestic production of air), how much food and water as fuel (need to change the height of the station) and do all this for the normal existence of people; here you can view the current condition of all equipment of the station (if something is marked as requiring repairs – it is better not to delay) and the total number of different types of resources that we have. The third screen is the most boring: this is the current statistics for the day, what day that was done today, how much was spent money to buy/rent/insurance of something and so on.

In this case, detailed descriptions of the game will not. The reasons here two. First – any story about it will go smoothly in the description of all details of management, which is not good because their is a huge variety; the second is the manual to this game was officially in German only, but to play without him is almost impossible. These two circumstances make Space MAX is actually a real game "for the elite", and in my personal ranking it is almost equivalent to the landmark Shuttle, offsetting a slight fall in difficulty much more powerful (to me) the language barrier. Which is a pity because this game (especially given the genre) is just wonderful for its time graphics, with a strong hint of three-dimensionality and even a great rollers take-off/landing of the space Shuttle...

PS:the English version of the game exists.

Play your favorite childhood game Space MAX online in your browser for free here.

Source: Archive.org, Mobygames.com