| E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Producer(s) | Joe Ybarra |
| Designer(s) | Karl Buiter[1] |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Commodore 64 |
| Release | 1987 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
E.O.S.: Earth Orbit Stations is a space station construction and management simulation game developed by Karl Buiter for Electronic Arts.[1] It was released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II in 1987.[2]
The game focuses on both the material and economic challenges of building a permanent, fully functioning space station in geocentric orbit.[3]
The game was set in 1996, and the player is given various selected scenarios to fulfill, from mundane tasks such as setting up a simple space station to developing and supplying a specified amount of high-grade, zero G pharmaceuticals to being the first to contact alien life. The game also is a cutthroat strategy game in multiplayer, as players compete over finite resources and resource management.
Computer Gaming World in 1987 gave the game a mixed review. While the single-player portion was praised, the review felt the game had too high a learning curve to be really suitable for multiplayer. The user interface was particularly bothersome, described as "a textbook case of how not to design a window/menu/graphics interface." The documentation was similarly described as poorly organized and cryptic.[4] In 1992 and 1994 surveys of science fiction games the magazine gave the title two-plus stars of five, calling it "An interesting failure ... the logistics just are not that much fun".[5][6] Compute! reviewed the game more favorably, stating that "EOS offers a level of challenge unusual in space-related software. To succeed at this game requires careful thought".[7]