Rebelstar

Overview

A tactical turn-based game developed by Julian Gollop, the developer responsible for Laser Squad and the original X-Com.

Gameplay

The game is played over one map set around and within an alien base on another planet, with an assaulting team trying to either destroy the central computer or wipe out the population. Two versions of the game were packaged together - one a single-player campaign against computer AI, and the other a two-player version with a slightly different game-map, and enemy combatants in green as well as robots. Each character has action points, which are used up each turn through moving and firing etc, or covering an area for opposing movement. There are sub-objectives - getting through the heavily bolstered doors to interior areas requires that the droids with blowtorch equivalents are kept alive with enough ammo to proceed, and wiping out the defensive posts allows several rounds of reinforcements to arrive. Games typically took many hours to complete without any save feature - an unusually long period of intended play for the time.