Rebelstar is a very early—1986 early—release in the strategy game genre developed by Julian Gollop, whose obvious love for this sort of thing would eventually blossom into, amongst other things, the wonderful (pre-Firaxis) X-COM series. In spite of the simplicity of the ZX Spectrum hardware this game was made for (the now laughably tiny 48KB of RAM required to run this was only found on upgraded machines or more expensive variants at the time), what we have here is an astonishingly complex game that impresses at every turn.
This is true even though it took me a few goes to realise that not only is there no story (which isn’t all that much of a surprise), but there’s only the one map to play on too. Try to think of it as a tactical version of Ridge Racer: sometimes a single slice of perfection is all you need. Besides, Moonbase Delta is a large and varied space, encompassing everything from processing areas littered with rubble to compact droid bays—there’s even a lush garden with a lawnmower tucked away in a small side cubicle.
But how can you tell, considering the Spectrum’s… um, humble graphical capabilities? Easy. The same cursor used to select troops can also be used to highlight scenery too—and that’s when you start to realise just how detailed Rebelstar is. There’s individual chairs, desks, and beds in here, and the garden I mentioned above goes to the trouble of differentiating between grass, trees, and flowers. Many of these objects have some degree of tactical value—some provide precious life-saving cover—but the best thing is how much life they breathe into the moonbase. You’re not moving a yellow Raider down a blue corridor, you’re storming the hangar bay or sneaking past the analyzer room. You can clearly see that the main computer, ISAAC, is positioned next to a vid-screen and bank of control systems, and elsewhere a coffee machine stands near a comfy chair (there are coffee tokens scattered around the base if you dare to go looking for them). This has been created not just as a map for highly tactical skirmishes to take place on, it’s an imagined space where people have lived and worked too.
It’s even possible to destroy parts of the environment, either by accident during an intense firefight or deliberately to try and gain a strategic advantage—that large moon rover’s no longer the great cover it was a turn ago now an entire corner’s been shot to pieces (that’s right, larger objects can be broken down in bits). The only disappointing thing I have to say about this amazing feature, one that’s somehow possible in a game smaller than a good chunk of my most insubstantial tweets, is that gas canisters are merely destroyed when shot, and I was hoping they’d explode (my troops on the other hand were very grateful for this omission at the time).
The primary game-winning goal in a single player game (competitive multiplayer, with the other person controlling the defensive Operatives, is on the other side of the same tape) is to destroy Moonbase Delta’s main computer: you don’t have to kill all (or any) enemies at all if you don’t want to, which not only saves you from chasing any stragglers around the map or mindlessly trading shots until one team’s defeated but also leaves the door open for a wide range of cunning plans. This is supported by the base’s multiple entry points and large variety of routes to your goal, leaving you free to order units as you please. You might choose to send a few units off as a distraction while the others race for ISAAC’s control room—although maybe a concentrated assault from one larger entrance would be a good idea? Or an even spread covering every entrance? How about a pincer movement, troops flooding through the south and west blast doors, or a sneaky team sent towards the north? Would it be worth dedicating a team to destroying laser defences, as once those are down the Raiders get some bonus troopers in a few turns time?
And when you do get into a fight there’s even more to think about. Any shot can be carefully aimed, a quick snap shot, or “opportunity fire”—preemptively aimed in a particular direction, waiting for an enemy to cross this line of sight before firing (or as we now call it, overwatch mode). Once fired a shot may be a direct hit or off-target, and the recipient may be damaged, wounded, or killed—after taking any terrain bonuses into account, of course.
Exactly what you can do at any moment in time is determined by each unit’s currently available quantity of action points, which are refreshed at the start of each turn. Every action, from moving around to swapping weapons, uses up varying amounts of actions points, and there are no restrictions on how or when (in your turn) you choose to spend them. Maybe you’ll order someone to take a cheeky shot from their starting position then dash to safety, tell them to hold their ground and unleash as many photon blasts as they can (ammo willing, of course), or move them into position, switch to someone else and move them into position too, then have them both attack the same target that turn.
Every team member comes equipped with their own fixed loadouts but there’s nothing to stop you from dropping a weapon, ammo, or anything else and have someone come over to pick them up—you can even scavenge items off dead bodies or carry dead bodies around if you please (there’s even a dedicated sprite for the latter). You do have to be careful though, as remarkably Rebelstar keeps track of the weight of everything being carried by each trooper, in 48KB of RAM, and that means it’s possible for people to become over encumbered—and some objects are too heavy to lift at all.
Rebelstar really is an awe-inspiring experience. For every obvious action you can take it feels like there are at least three alternatives worth considering—for example: although droid blowtorches are designed to cut through blast doors, whacking them with a Raider’s equipped light sabre will (eventually) do the same job in a pinch—alternatives that might work on another run through or on a different difficulty level. There are eight increasingly challenging layouts to try, each altering the number of allied and enemy forces (more for both, keeping things balanced), as well as how many of the stronger opposing Operative droids are on the map and where they start from.
It may take a long time to win a game even when you know what you’re doing, but once it’s over you’ll only wish it had taken even longer. What a game.
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster 