Let the side-scrolling carnage begin.
Like in the classic game you play as either Red or Blue (Red's a girl now though… transvestite… I don't know) and General Grey has lead the Empire (yeah the super duper evil organization is just called the Empire… weird) and has started doing some bad things concerning power gems and there's all this other snargle bargle about a god called Golden Silver, Outside Space and stuff. Now why anyone would name their children after colors, how the villains have come to worship this Destructor god and why do you care so much about the story in a 2D shooter is beyond me. Games like Gunstar Super Heroes aren't known for their stories; although GSH's isn't bad and it gets the job done. So just know that its enough to keep things moving, plus there are different endings depending on who you play as and what difficulty you play on. Also you won't have to of played Gunstar Heroes to understand what's going on, but you may not appreciate the story as much, many of the characters from the original make appearances.
GSH pans out like an extreme action montage. By the end of the game your thumbs will be sore, you will be dehydrated and you won't be able to blink; these symptoms are welcomed by some (like me) but gamers without the sweet tooth pangs of old school action will chicken out. All you do really is just move from left to right, blasting, kicking and slashing anything in your way while trying to stay alive. A new close-quarters combat (CQC) system has replaced the throwing system form the original, whether that's better or worse depends on how much you liked the originals CQC system. Overall GSH is really just the tried and true basic 2D shooter formula; but GSH delivers it at such a frenetic pace with so much style and detail it feels like a breath of fresh air.
All the levels are a nice blend of various 2D gameplay styles as well. Some levels have portions where you will be on top of a small ship and can rotate 360 degrees in a circle around the screen, these portions are cool for the first time, but then they become slightly annoying later on, thankfully there are only a handful of these sections. Other times you will be piloting a spaceship or a helicopter, these are decent sections and they do mix things up a bit, although they are a bit simple and limited. And for one level you will be traveling in a mine cart in a deep uderground mine. Actually its not really a mine cart more like some weird archaeopteryx cyborg capable of walking on ceilings and hovering in mid-air, needless to say this level is probably the best sequence in the whole game. Then the boss at the end of the mine is Seven Force; a big shape shifting screen-filling badass that will go down as one of the greatest and toughest bosses ever. One level pans out like a game of Monopoly where you have to roll a dice to advance on a board. Oh and there's one part where you have to gather baby chickens and lead them to an exit… yeah… don't ask. Like most shooters, the last level has you battling the games bosses for a second time, but they are all different and its not the same as the first time you fought them. Needless to say for the duration of GSH, the game will keep you entertained and on your toes.
The GBA controls are perfectly suited for a game like GSH. Every action is easy to pull off and intuitive, so dishing out 8-way directional shooting punishment is a snap. Unlike some 2D shooters, GSH has 2 fire buttons; one is for locked strafe shooting and another for directional pad override shooting. This is a really handy feature, when you want to shoot diagonally upwards to your left and move your character to the right use the strafe button. Then you can run to the left and shoot to the left, and switch to shooting diagonally upwards while still moving left with the other button. Unlike the original you have 3 weapons on you at all times, easily switched through in real time. In the original you could hold two weapons; you had a choice to either use them individually or combine them to make new hybrid weapons. But to compensate for the omission of gun crafting, GSH gives each gun its own special attack meter. As you fight using a weapon its meter will fill, once it starts blinking you can unleash a spectacular uber powerful attack whenever you choose.
Graphically GSH is quite possibly the best looking GBA game ever. The environments look very detailed and a nice use of parallax scrolling gives it a lot of depth. There is an obvious Japanese infused charm in the visuals, it looks a little anime-ish especially the characters. But if you hate anime don't fret the gameplay sprites are still out of proportion slightly with their big heads but it's such a fantastic looking game you won't mind. The locales you travel to are really sweet as well, lush jungle villages complete with little innocent pygmies running around, a gritty casino with some really freaky mini-bosses and many other such bizarre and interesting locations. Everything in the game, from multi-segmented monstrous bosses, to zany enemies and gorgeous explosions animate very fluidly. Plus the framerate never drops, never, absolutely no dips at all. Character design is really unique as well, the Gunstars' armor is slick and the common enemy grunt has the funniest pair of goggles ever. However cutscenes are a joke in GSH, simple still art pieces pan out in slideshow fashion. Sure it still looks good but come on if you can make a beautiful game then I'm sure some simple moving cutscenes are doable. Even one short FMV clip would have been nice. The audio department gets the job done and is mostly forgettable, there are some scant snatches of voice acting (get ready to read text when characters talk), which adds to the games quirky appeal. Sound effects are top-notch; your close-quarter blade swish sounds especially nice it has a nice twangy-ring to it, and when you kick someone it sounds like your kicking gravel, very satisfying.
However, GSH is only a single player game. The lack of multiplayer is a shame as most shooters benefit hugely from cooperative play; taking down the Empire with a buddy would have been much more awesome than it is going solo. Also GSH is very short; even on the hardest difficulty you won't even approach the 2 hour mark (unless you're really bad at 2D shooters, then maybe). But GSH has a wonderful design that makes it suitable for quick 20 minute bus-ride play time segments and one-session sit down speedruns of the whole game. It's also very replayable, there are no unlockables but some different endings are enough to make you replay it, plus it's just an amazing experience.
In the end GSH is a shooter/action gamers game to get. The lack of multiplayer and the short length are the only glaring flaws in an otherwise phenomenal package; it looks and sounds great, plays smoothly and is just a bundle of plain old fun. If you love old school teeth-grinding intense run 'n' gun games, then GSH is for you. Actually anyone looking for a high-octane action game will enjoy GSH.