Previous Next

These are the ongoing voyages of the Starship "Free Enterprise". Its five year mission? To seek out new markets and new civilisations, to boldly sell where no man has sold before...

Star Trader attempts to interest us in the more edifying pursuits than the mere zapping of extra-terrestrials, namely the honest pursuit of profit on countless (that is, if you can't count past seven!) worlds.

Bug-Byte's galaxy doesn't seem such an interesting place to live. For a start, every planet closely resembles Basingstoke, but even more boring, if that's possible. There's one pub, one hotel, one supermarket and a whole selection of small trader clones who clearly are not in business for the good of their health.

It's not too hard making a profit in theory though; you just ship tools, timber, exciting stuff like that, from a low-cost world to a high-cost one. The trouble is that you have to pay outrageous prices for sandwiches and flea-ridden beds, and if you don't eat and rest, then the spaceport authorities declare you unfit to fly. This incessant insistence on the minutiae of everyday life is charming at first, but becomes very tedious after about five minutes.

The only excitement in the game consists of fighting off the space pirates who plague your existence.