Fun little trivia: prior to your purchasing of Star Soldier R, there’s a little warning letting you know that the game comprises nothing more of 2 modes: one mode lasting 2-minutes and 1 level and a second mode lasting 5 minutes and 2 levels. And there’s also a quick shot mode that gauges how fast you can mash a button. That screen, right there, tells you everything you need to know about the game. There’s no campaign to play through, there’s no hidden secrets to discover, and there’s no storyline to follow. The object of the game is to score points and hopefully make onto an online leaderboard. And that’s it.
For the most part, the fact that they were nice enough to give you a brief-but-detailed description of the game’s actual content is rather helpful in determining whether it’s worth your 800 Wii Points. For those looking for storylines or a long enduring gaming experience, turn away now because that’s not what this game is all about. Not at all. It’s about how many points you can score within a short amount of time and how your score compares with everyone else in the world or in your own country. Beyond that, this is a really lightweight package that won’t appeal to anyone looking for intertwining stories and 20 hour gameplay sessions.
So all that’s left are those who are big fans of space shooters and enjoy leaderboards. Is this worth 800 Wii Points? Let’s dive right in, shall we?
Star Soldier R is (at the time of writing) the latest entry in the long-running Star Soldier series of shooters by Hudson Soft. As previously mentioned, the game is fairly lightweight, comprising of the aforementioned two Time Attack modes (or Caravan modes, as it’s usually called) and Quick Shot modes. During these two modes, you have an unlimited number of lives and can die as many times as you would like, but must complete the game’s two levels within that amount of time, while the while racking as high of a score as you can by blowing up as much crap as humanly possible. Once time expires, your score is tallied and ranked with the rest of the world to see how well (or how badly) you fare.
That’s it, that’s all.
You’ve got a couple methods of controlling your ship; either with the Wii Remote, Wii Remote & Nunchuk combination, or Classic Controller. These work fairly well, but I found that using the Classic Controller works best with this game. The Nunchuk configuration is somewhat awkward after a while and the Wii Remote’s D-Pad is the best ever devised. With the Classic Controller, everything seems to work well. The game itself is typical Star Soldier fare; you can collect power-ups to increase the amount of bullets you shoot, force pods to defend your ship or attack others, and you can even control your speed. In that respect, Star Soldier R does follow the series’ legacy rather well.
Graphically speaking, Star Soldier R looks fairly good with some crisp visuals and effects, but nothing amazing or mindblowing. They’re not an eyesore, to say the least. There’s virtually nothing in terms of slowdown or clipping issues – as far as I’ve seen thus far. The sound in Star Soldier R is not great… don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, but it’s merely average. Indeed, past Star Soldier games have had much better background music and it’s unfortunate that the music here isn’t on par with previous titles. But that’s okay.
Overall, Star Soldier R is best suited for those who are obsessed with rankings and leaderboards, since that’s pretty much the whole point of the game. If you’re a fan of shooters or Star Soldier specifically, you’ll probably want to give this game a go for a quick fix of SHMUPing action – and in terms of a quick fix, that’s Star Soldier R’s main specialty. The only gripe is that the lightweight nature of the game does very little to actually justify the 800 Wii Point price tag, but then again, it does gives you ample warning and what it does offer is done rather well.
Recommended for shooter fans, leaderboard fans, and those with money to burn.
BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 8/10 (Everything looks solid and crisp – no slowdown or clipping)
Sound: 6/10 (Pretty generic background music, but otherwise sounds okay. Nothing to complain about really.)
Gameplay: 7/10 (Various control methods, tried-and-true Star Soldier gameplay still holds up well)
Challenge: 6/10 (Levels themselves are moderately difficult at best – it’s all about the points, baby)
Replay Value: 5/10 (Depends how obsessed you are with leaderboards and rankings)
OVERALL: 7/10
dtm666 