The Starfighter

The Starfighter is a combat flight and spaceflight game in which you pilot a Griffin Starfighter through 11 linked missions. As Paladin, a Hivian pilot from the exoplanet The Hive, you and your Radar-Intercept Officer, Wizard, must stop King Nimrod and his Raptorbots from conquering the universe. Queen Crusher, leader of The Hive, opposes Nimrod. You fight in Earth's atmosphere and in space, destroying enemy targets while avoiding attacks and friendly satellites.

Story and missions

Each mission begins with orders from the Command Center, and a Griffin Starfighter Mk II escorts you at the start. You must destroy all enemy targets to complete a mission before advancing to the next. The game also has a non-linear option that lets you start at any of the 11 missions rather than beginning with the Stonehenge Mission. You can replay missions, and each playthrough is slightly different. The approximate completion time is 1 hour 30 minutes, with each mission taking about 8 minutes.

Most missions end with a portal sequence: after you destroy all enemies and man-made structures, a wormhole materializes. Fly into it to travel to another location in the universe and advance to the next mission. The Jupiter mission is the exception. If you defeat King Nimrod and his forces, you and Wizard are summoned to Queen Crusher's Royal Palace on The Hive, where she rewards you both with medals and knighthoods.

Missions take place at locations including Stonehenge, a fortified airport, hills with SatCom antennas, an island defended by battleships and attack submarines, the planets Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury and Neptune, The Hive, and the asteroid 'Oumuamua. Earth missions include winds, moving clouds and terrain based on Stonehenge and a location with a lake, light forest and hills. Space missions feature stars, planets, satellites and large spaceships. Some enemies use AI, laser fire and Hydra 70 surface-to-air missiles. You must aim carefully while in motion, and each mission gives you three lives. Laser-guided missiles are unlimited; regenerating shields and chaff mean there are no power-ups.

Choose a starfighter

You can select either of two two-seat Griffin Starfighters, each equipped with different missiles:

• Griffin Starfighter Mk I: A gold-colored, tandem-seat craft with a single rocket engine, twin tails, control canards and double-delta wings. It has wingtip-mounted laser cannons and Jaguar laser-guided missiles.
• Griffin Starfighter Mk II: An orange variant with light-cyan wingtips. It has no canards, places its laser cannons under the wings closer to the centerline, and carries Lynx missiles. It is faster than the Mk I, and its missiles are faster and more lethal than the Jaguar missiles.

Both craft can glide in Earth's atmosphere and use an attitude control system to change their orientation in space. They have radar, regenerating shields, turbo-speed rocket motors and chaff dispensers. The Jaguar and Lynx are beyond-visual-range, laser-guided missiles with solid rocket motors and impact fuzes. Jaguar warheads produce more than 300 pounds of penetrating blast-fragmentation explosive force; Lynx warheads produce more than 500 pounds.

Flying and combat

You fly continuously, maneuvering to aim the gunsight at enemy targets and fire the laser cannons or missiles. You can change the starfighter's speed, perform an aileron roll, fly in circles around planets, chase ships orbiting planets and maintain the same orbit as a target spacecraft. Missions include enemy waves and a climactic battle between Paladin and King Nimrod. You can also change the camera between normal, zoom and rear-facing views, and use an autolevel feature to fly level with the local horizon.

The cockpit display shows flight and targeting information, including velocity, horizon, pitch, heading, direction, vertical speed, shields, targets, mission, chaff, score and remaining lives. An Enemy Designation Guide provides information about enemies. The game includes multiple soundtracks, 3D sound and sound effects.

Combat targets

The enemy forces include Raptorbots and a range of vehicles, structures and spacecraft, such as attack helicopters, submarines, frigates, boats, armored buggies, combat drones, Nimrod Armada Fighters, spacecraft carriers, transport ships and Nimrod Cruisers. Targets also include runways, blast pads, hangars, SatCom antennas, reservoirs, walls, light poles, aviation containers and control towers. You must avoid firing on friendly sensor-equipped satellites orbiting planets in low Earth orbit.