Quest of the Space Beagle

Commodore 64 version of Quest of the Space Beagle

Quest of the Space Beagle is a sci-fi themed action/strategy game by Avalon Hill first released in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers and year later for the Commodore 64. It is the sequel to Jupiter Mission 1999 and picks up the story where it's predecessor left off. Like Jupiter Mission 1999, Quest of the Space Beagle consists of a series of mini-games presented in order to tell the story.

Following the destruction of the alien tachyon transport device, players find themselves in a far away and unknown galaxy confronted by the aliens who built the device. It turns out the anticipated alien invasion was actually an escape; the Faunians, as the aliens are known, were under attack by the Gentuza and planned to use the tachyon device to avoid being destroyed by the Gentuza. Now that this is not possible and the Space Beagle can't travel back to Earth, players need to devise a new plan to make it home. This involves defeating the Gentuza to acquire a new hyperdrive, surviving an ordeal, then searching for Earth.

There are three different mini-games in Quest of the Space Beagle, each with a different goal and gameplay style. The games encountered are as follows:

1. Space Battle:
   The game begins with an action sequence. This mini-game uses a first-person point of view similar to other space flight games like Star Raiders with a similar goal; shoot all of the enemy fighters! Players begin with 10 robot fighters and need to defeat an enemy fleet of 40 fighters. One of the player's fighters is launched at a time which will need to fight two of the enemies at a time. The player's fighter is equipped with shields so it can take a few hits from enemy fire before being destroyed; if it is destroyed, the next fighter is launched until players either complete the mission or run out of fighters.
2. Labyrinths of Kamerra:
   Having destroyed the entire fleet, the Gentuza declare the player their new emperor! However, there is still a challenge that needs to be completed: survive the deadly Labyrinths of Kamerra. The goal of this sequence is to safely make it out of a large maze before oxygen or stamina runs out (Oxygen depletes at a constant rate, while stamina is only depleted by touching something dangerous). In the maze there are several deadly creatures that need to be avoided; this includes the Ardillian Whipstingers which can't move but will rapidly drain stamina if players get too near. The other creature encountered is the Quordish Sycophant, a cloud-like being that is frequently in pursuit and can even travel through walls. The final danger is four large pits that need to be crossed. Initially, three of the pits don't have a bridge so players will need to first locate a corresponding computer which activates the bridge. Falling into pits, running out of oxygen, or running out of stamina by crashing into too many things will end the game. Several food rations can be found which restore stamina and several oxygen canisters can be picked up to restore the oxygen supply; there are no other bonus items and players are unarmed so the deadly creatures must simply be avoided.
3. Space Exploration:
   After surving the labyrinths, it's finally time to head back to Earth with a new hyperdrive installed in the Space Beagle. There are two parts to this task; the first is to locate Earth since it's location is not known! Starting at the super galactic level, players need to locate the Local Cluster galaxies where the Milky Way is located, then find the Milky Way amongst all of those galaxies, and finally find the Sun (and then Earth) in the Milky Way. The game presents a map showing the current view where players can select a galaxy or star destination then engage the hyperdrive. The second task is to enter hyperspace; each time the drive is used to travel to a new location, players need to complete a memory game for it to engage correctlly. A grid is shown where a series of circles flashes in different grid squares; players then need to repeat the pattern back correctly. Correctly responding rebalances the hyperdrive bringing players to the selected destination, but too many wrong guesses leaves players somewhere in space and they will have to try again.