Star Goose (stylized with an exclamation mark and sometimes Stargoose) is a vertically scrolling shooter that was published for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS by Logotron in 1988. The player controls Scouser-Gitt, who pilots the eponymous Star Goose, a vessel that has been commissioned to scour the planet Nom and collect 48 crystals. Players must collect all six crystals in each of the game's eight levels to advance, while at the same time avoiding or destroying enemies and maintaining their shield, ammunition, and fuel levels. The game's surfaces are contoured, which affects the way that bullets travel, and contain tunnels that switch modes to a three-dimensional perspective where the player can replenish their resources.
Developed by Steve Cain and Graham Everett, the original concept was a racing game based on the three-dimensional tunnel mode, but this idea was scrapped after the designers became unsatisfied with the results. Originally priced at £19.95, the game received mixed reviews for its Amiga release, and negative ones for the Atari ST version, with reviewers praising the graphics, but criticizing the lack of variety in the gameplay, its difficulty, and the audio. Re-releases in 1991 at budget prices were better received.
Gameplay
thumb|left|Amiga screenshot
Star Goose is a single-player vertically scrolling shooter where the player controls the character of Scouser-Gitt, a pilot who flies the eponymous Star Goose vessel. In the game's background story, Scouser-Gitt is an experienced, but disgraced fighter pilot who is recruited by a Tribal Elder to recover 48 crystals from the planet Nom by raiding the military's ammunition dumps. There are six crystals located on each of the game's eight levels, and the player must retrieve all of them to advance. To do so, they must either bypass or destroy the planet's defense systems, which include missile launchers, gun turrets, mines, and vessels piloted by enemy warriors.
Star Goose begins with a mother ship dropping off Scouser-Gitt directly above the surface of the area in a Star Goose ship. The default weapon is a forward-facing gun, but the Star Goose is also equipped with a limited supply of missiles that can be fired from either side of the vehicle and destroy enemies on contact. These can be replenished at missile gates located in each level. Cain also worked on the graphics for 1985's Frankie Goes to Hollywood from Denton Designs. Everett intended Star Goose to be a first-person perspective racing game through the same tunnels that were used in the finished product. Everett claimed that he was "inspired [...] by the kind of car race, often seen in movies, where the cars race around a basin-like track with curved sides." Unsatisfied with the result, the concept was modified into a shoot 'em up. or keyboard. Logotron claimed that the graphics featured "Full-Beef Scroll," meaning that it was meant to look an arcade screen with the graphics taking up the entire screen and the playing information placed directly in the game area, rather than having it at the edge of the screen.
Reviews for Star Goose on the Atari ST were more negative. Andy Wilton of ACE, writing in October 1988, noted that "[a] host of unusual features make it stand out" but "[o]riginality is no substitute for gameplay", as well as the fact that the contouring element did not mesh will with the rest of the game. The publication's final assessment gave Star Goose 517 out of 1000 for the Atari ST version.
Star Goose was re-released by Prism Leisure Corporation in late 1991 for £2.99 and received more favourable reviews. Stuart Campbell, writing for Amiga Power, gave the re-release an 82%, referring to it as "limited", but arguing that it was a good value for the price. Around that time it was also distributed by Pactronics' Budget Series, albeit for £12.95. Australian Commodore and Amiga Review, which had recommended the game when it was first released, upheld its recommendation with a 77% for the re-release, praising the graphics and gameplay.