StarCon - Assassins Mission
I recorded the Assassins mission and achieved victory. There was no victory cinematic and it only showed Ra-Gar congratulating me. It was a simple mission where I hunted down someone named Hantiir. In the video, I launch a fighter then abruptly left because there were multiple ships attacking my Hyperium Cruiser and its guns were more powerful, so fighters were useless to me for this mission. Like the previous mission, I continued to mash the X button until whatever I targeted explodes.
I noticed a few things after I played this mission. The first thing I noticed is that there really is no sign on the Alliance of Free Stars. Apparently the player takes the role of a Hyperium captain. This could further prove that nothing significant from Star Control I or II carried on to this game. I don’t even know for sure if the captain is human.
Another thing that puzzled me is the use of the word “shear”. An example of its usage here is “Captain, we must mop up all enemies here to shear away.” I’ve never seen “shear” used to describe evading or warping away, so I had to look it up:
Shear
transitive verb
1 a: to cut off the hair from <with crown shorn> b: to cut or clip (as hair or wool) from someone or something ; also : to cut something from <shear a lawn> cchiefly Scottish : to reap with a sickle d: to cut or trim with shears or a similar instrument2: to cut with something sharp3: to deprive of something as if by cutting <lives shorn of any hope — M. W. Browne>4 a: to subject to a shear force b: to cause (as a rock mass) to move along the plane of contact
- Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary
If I had an unabridged dictionary, I could probably find a better explanation of this word.
It can be a tedious mission and I managed to get record a victory by aiming and mashing the X button. There are no powerups and damage the player takes carries on throughout the mission. This mission could have been more fun in 2-player mode where the second player can take control of the fighter ship launched while the player maintains the cruiser ship.
If have you haven’t read my previous article about StarCon, check that out as well. It has video of the other mission and a link to the StarCon BIN/CUE image and ePSXe if you’re looking for the emulator.
