From White Dwarf  #41, may 1983

Fantasy Games Unlimited boldly proclaims that players can now adventure on the final frontier' by playing Star Explorer. The scene is set, and players going where no man has gone before will find unending opportunities for comments such as 'the engines will nae stand it, Captain.' Corny it mat' be, but this game is well-constructed and immensely playable.

Before play commences, the Star Explorers design their starships. Components are engines, teleporters, shields, missiles, beams, armour, energy and crew teams. A given number of each component must be included in any ship, so players are really selecting options, which will allow a more effective response to some of the events during plat'. For instance, if a player wants to fight enemy starships, he or she will opt for more weaponry, shields and armour. As the number of optional extras is limited, players have to decide which type of events to favour. Our captain in the above example would probably have fewer crew teams for planetary exploration than a captain who decided to run for it if he met enemy ships.

The players' objective is to explore the handful of randomly placed planets on the stellar map within a time limit of twenty turns. Each player is pitted against the game system rather than the other players, and the one who returns to Starbase with the most victory points wins. The system is excellent for solitaire play, and an optional rule allows captains to gain 'experience' in the form of die roll modifiers.

Play is divided into two sections: interstellar movement and planetary exploration. While sailing between the stars, ships mat' encounter asteroid belts, dust clouds, radiation storms and other hazards, or other starships, namely traders, who but' and sell ship components and crew teams in exchange for energy, enemy vessels, who might be persuaded to agree to a local truce, and pirates, who will not agree to a truce.

At each planet ail the starships beam down crew teams and resolve three planetary encounters, scoring victory points for every success. In addition, captains worried about their energy stores can send the men out fuel prospecting. Planetary environments range from aquatic to desert, from radiated to glaciated. Types of encounter are many and varied, including man-eating plants, rich mineral deposits, psionic superbeings, rare diseases and planetary disasters, such as avalanches, droughts and for the very unfortunate, orbiting enemy dreadnoughts.

Star Explorer is not a game for those who dislike dice, because ail these encounters are resolved by consulting tables and rolling dice (six-sided and twenty-sided). However, the procedure is swift and mostly painless for the players, if not for the crew teams. Each type of encounter has its own specialist teams, botanists for plant encounters, geologists for mineral finds, sentient contact teams for intelligent life forms and so on, while the more numerous military teams can have a crack at anything Specialist teams gain die roll modifiers, but the military do not, and the latter are also the obvious target for the various carnivores, aggressive sentients, volcanic eruptions and so on. As always, security teams are expendable.

The game is very well balanced. It is not possible to win just be selecting one or two particular encounter types and betting everything on them. Though chance is an integral part of virtually every aspect of the game, there is ample opportunity for players to twist Dame Fortunes arm. No game of Star Explorer will be decided by a couple of lucky dice rolls, because good luck in one part of the game is usually cancelled out by bad luck in another. The only major flaw in this game is the rather unimaginative art-work, which unfortunately does detract slightly from the quality of the product. Above al I, the game plays smoothly and swiftly and rarely gets bogged down in inactivity. You've watched the television series, you've seen the movies, now plat' the game!

Rules: 9

Playability: 10

Skill: 7

Enjoyment: 9

Complexity: 5

Overall: 9

Alan E Paull