Elite is undoubtfully one of the masterpieces of space exploration games in the history of computing, and there isn’t really an enthusiast or game player above the age of 18 who hasn’t heard of the game.
Nothing has really beaten the original 1985 classic, and very much so in the case of the C64 version. Cherry Software were aiming to creating something just as good, if not better, than the Braben/Bell classic.
Future World was to be a fantastic Elite style trading game, with filled vector graphics and presentation to knock the socks off the old classic.
The publicity information on the game was sure enough to get gamer’s excited, but unfortunatly as with a few of Cherry Soft’s game, this one was put under the kybosh, possibly due to poor sales of their previous releases.
A shame…. though fortunately a preview was released, and quite an impressive one at that. Apart from the snazzed up trading screens and fairly impressive space scenes (Which are currently empty from any 3D ships), actual space fighting occurs over a Combat style arena, with two ships battling it out. A nice idea, though possibly a 3D battle encounter would have been better.
So, all the trimmings and current building blocks of a great space trading game, but no full game. Just how far the developers got with this game is something GTW is hoping to find out. It is quite likely that the game progressed further after its preview was launched. Credits are available to us, so now research can be made. Rumour has it that Cherry Soft had some connection to F4CG, can anyone confirm or deny this?
A fantastic little preview, an idea lost in space…
