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From the retro charms of Galaga to the psychedelic majesty of last year’s Geometry Wars Galaxies, there really is nothing like a good old-school 2D shoot-em-up.
The blend of adrenaline pumping bullet dodging and wholesale destruction make it one of the purest and most addictive of genres; and for older gamers like me, who grew up with shoot-em-ups in the arcades and on consoles, it’s been sad to see the slow decline of what was once a popular and ubiquitous staple of gaming.
It’s unsurprising then that shoot-em-up fans have been looking forward to Star Soldier R with baited breath; could it be the kind of classic shooter we’ve rarely seen since the days of Ikaruga?
First, the good news: Star Soldier R looks and sounds superb, with detailed polygon-based graphics and punchy sound effects. Some of the enemy designs look a little familiar (the first end-of-level boss is very similar to one last seen on the Sega Saturn’s Layer Section, for example), but then shoot-em-ups have never been about wildly original looks or gameplay; they’re about arcade thrills, and Star Soldier certainly delivers on that front - at least for a while.
Which brings me on to the bad news: Star Soldier R is pitifully short, with only two levels to play through. For reasons best known to themselves, Hudsonsoft have given us a time attack game with the emphasis on highscore achievements rather than campaign-style progression. While the challenge of beating your own score and those of other players (through a neat online ranking system) is fun for a while, there’s not really enough content here to keep anyone but the most hardcore highscore fanatic happy for more than a few days.
It’s not really clear why Hudsonsoft decided to only release a third of a game; if Star Soldier R had been released with a proper arcade mode with, say, five or six levels then this could easily have been one of the best shooters in years. As it is, we’re left with a playable demo that will thrill and frustrate in equal parts.
I can only hope that Hudsonsoft are testing the water with this release, and will put out a full set of levels should Star Soldier R prove to be a success.
While Star Soldier R is still a good purchase at only 800 points, the decision to release such a game so brief is an odd one, like Warner Brothers only putting out half a film or JK Rowling only writing half a novel. Very, very strange indeed.
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