Earth Orbit Stations

Last updated
E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations
Earthorbitstations.jpg
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Producer(s) Joe Ybarra
Designer(s) Karl Buiter [1]
Platform(s) Apple II, Commodore 64
Release1987
Genre(s) Simulation
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations is a space station construction and management simulation video game developed by Karl Buiter for Electronic Arts. [1] It was released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II in 1987.

Contents

Gameplay

The game focuses on both the material and economic challenges of building a permanent, fully functioning space station in geocentric orbit. [2]

The game is set in 1996, and the player is given various selected scenarios to fulfill. These scenarios consist of mundane tasks such as setting up a simple space station, to developing and supplying a specified amount of high-grade, zero G pharmaceuticals, and to being the first to contact alien life. The game is also a cutthroat strategy game in multiplayer, as players compete over finite resources and resource management.

Reception

Computer Gaming World in 1987 gave the game a mixed review. While the single-player portion was praised, the review felt the game had too high a learning curve to be really suitable for multiplayer. The user interface was particularly bothersome, described as "a textbook case of how not to design a window/menu/graphics interface." The documentation was similarly described as poorly organized and cryptic. [3] In 1992 and 1994 surveys of science fiction games the magazine gave the title two-plus stars of five, calling it "An interesting failure ... the logistics just are not that much fun". [4] [5] Compute! reviewed the game more favorably, stating that "EOS offers a level of challenge unusual in space-related software. To succeed at this game requires careful thought". [6]

Reviews

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers". dadgum.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  2. "Earth Orbit Stations (1987)". MobyGames. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
  3. Williams, Gregg (October 1987), "Earth Orbit Stations", Computer Gaming World , pp. 26–27
  4. Brooks, M. Evan (November 1992). "Strategy & Wargames: The Future (2000-....)". Computer Gaming World. p. 99. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  5. Brooks, M. Evan (May 1994). "Never Trust A Gazfluvian Flingschnogger!". Computer Gaming World. pp. 42–58.
  6. Fisher, Russell H. (February 1988). "EOS: Earth Orbit Stations". Compute!. p. 48. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  7. "Ludotique | Article | RPGGeek".