Universe

Universe is a science fiction video game by Omnitrend Software. It was Omnitrend's first game.

The story starts off on the planet Axia within the Local Group, a settlement that took place centuries ago thanks to the discovery of an alien hyperspace booster. This technology allowed the Local Group to be settled with supplies being sent from Earth using the booster.

However the supplies have stopped arriving and the player must now search for a second hyperspace booster that was reported in the area. The game starts with a loan from the bank to finance a spaceship to be used to find this second booster. The player then travels to different planets and engages in trading, mining or even piracy.

The game comes on 4 disks and included in the US$89.95 cost was two free hours a month on the Universe BBS. Upon mailing in the included warranty card, users were also mailed subsequent versions of the game on replacement disks, based on suggestions from the BBS. A review in Computer Gaming World praised this dedication to customer service.

Universe is an involving game, like requiring the player to calculate hyperjump coordinates for the navigation computer and calculate minimum orbits for planets in order to launch shuttles. The speed of the game tended to bog down when graphics were involved and when the game performed calculations involving orbital mechanics. On the Atari, having only one disk drive resulted in numerous disk swaps.