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| Summary: Save this for the bargain bin
67
The game known as "Star Soldier" has gone through many changes. This review if for Star Soldier on PSP, which is a port of the Gamecube version which is a remake of the PC Engine version. Many levels from the PC-Engine version has been remade and a few have been added on as new levels. Visually the PSP version is on par with the GameCube version.
Now what Hudson has done as an innovative approach to the PSP is to have the player turn their PSPs 90 degrees counter clock-wise to play this shmup(Shoot em' up). So far holding the PSP this way hasn't been an issue and although playing the game horizontally is possible, vertically is easier for me since thats how they made the game to be played. So instead of having the game in its original 4:3 aspect, they went ahead and made it 9:16.
The menu of the game is entirely in english, same with the ship descriptions when choosing a ship. The only things that weren't in english that I could see was the directions on how to play the game in a vertical position, but even that was easy since there was an image.
Gameplay:
The game features three ships that feature different shooting styles. These include All-direction, forward focus, and rear focus. Each ship also features a secondary attack which eats the enemies bullets, sorta like in Ikaragua. There are no bombs to be dropped like in other Shmups, so its all shooting and the occasional secondary weapon to clear the bullet fields. They secondary also use a meter to determine how long you can actually use it, once it has depleted it will take two seconds to replenish it so you may once again use the secondary attack.
Each weapon can also be upgraded to a total of 3 times using the power-ups that are randomly scattered on a stage or a special enemy will drop. You will know when your ship has maxed out when you hear a guitar riff.
The enemies pattern can quickly be figured out, same with the bosses so the game isn't necessarily difficult but is still challenging. The levels are also designed to be very different, some take place in space, some stages are aquatic.
Also load-times are little to non-existant. The game only takes a couple seconds to load everything in the beginning. Finally the game also offers unlimited continues, its just you have to restart the whole stage all over again, but with a full set of lives. There are also about 10 levels so that should keep you busy for a couple of hours.
Also im not sure if there was a story to the game, but from all the things that were happening, I inferred a story. Based on what I saw, I guess a bunch of big robotic heads come and all these ships would like to attack you? I guess theres no story for this game, like many other shmups game.
Controls:
Controlling the ships work well enough in the game, although the analog-nub would be preferred verse using the D-Pad. As mentioned before, the game makes you play the game with the PSP slanted to the left and the directions carried with your left hand, and the right hand controls the firing at the top the of PSP. I actually found the best way is to control the D-pad with my left thumb, with my right thumb on the circle button and right-index finger on the are Trigger. This way provides the sturdiest way of holding the PSP while playing and quick button-presses for the game.
Graphics:
The developers could have gone a level better and reworked every single sprite and polygon enemy but instead chose to leave the gamecube ones alone and straight port the game. The game looks just as crisp as the GameCube version and the only thing that has stretched is the screen, so they didn't compensate by stretching the enemies or ships as well.
The particle and explosion effects look fantastic on the PSP's screen. The bosses also seemed to be more jagged than the GameCube version, although it isn't immediately apparent. When I say its a little more jagged, it isn't one of those deal breaker things, just a small thing I noticed.
Value:
The game doesn't offer much in choice of replay-value unless you would like to beat the game each of the three ships. There are the three difficulties that some may find challenging but after you would beat this game, most likely you would put it away for an extended period of time to maybe pick up later on.
There are some other modes in the game, like 2minute and 5minute mode. Basically in these modes, you have to kill as many enemies and bosses as you can in those allotted time frame. The game also features a game sharing option where you can send a one level demo to a friend with a PSP. Also, there are three modes that you can unlock, I don't want to ruin it for you but one of them is a sound room where you can listen to the music.
Sound:
I actually found the sound in this game very enjoyable. Some of the music reminded me of Lumines, while the other had an upbeat futuristic techno sound to it that fitted the theme of the game. Although the music is nice, much of it is forgettable leaving only a couple that you may actually remember. I actually even forgot there was music in the game.
Concusion:
Although an honest attempt from Hudson, the game just doesn't offer much compared to the gamecube version. They could have at least added a few more unique levels or a couple ships. Nevertheless, this game is the kind where you can just pick up a play at any time, not necessarily everyday but every once in a while. I'd recommend if you are interested in this game to purchase it as soon as it hits the bargain bin. Probably around 20$ USD is a fair price for this game. In the end, there are much better shmups than this game, such as Ikaragua, 1942 or Raiden.
Pros
• Short Load-times
• Beautiful particle and explosion effects
• Pick-Up and play gameplay
• Occasional fun times with massive amounts of enemies on screen
Cons
• Redundant gameplay, with not much replay value
• Only three ships
• Many enemies are reused in all the levels. Get Creative!
• Doesn't offer much more to the shmup world.
REVIEW IT
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