Yet again when I play through a Sin and Punishment game I’m more confused than I was when I started. It’s not really a drawback, just more so annoying that the game makes you feel out of the rest of the story. At the very least you can’t get most of the story through one playthrough, and it annoys me to no end that I still don’t understand most of it. But aside from the story itself, Star Successor has a few more drawbacks to it. Mainly the fact that the majority of the stages are just too long for there own good. Sin and Punishment games are hard as it is, and adding more and more to each stage makes going through the game to get higher scores a pain. The game’s stages become ridiculous with their length once you get to the 6th stage though as you have to fight some 3 odd bosses, two of which have more phases to them, and one of them even has an instant death thing attached to it. The majority of the stages are just a wee bit too long, and when it gets down to it, makes the game exasperating. It really just gets to the point where you wonder why the stages are still going. I really think they could have just combined certain parts to make each stage shorter while also adding in more stages. It’s not that I have a problem with the games overall length, just each individual stages length. As well, going through all the bullet hell this game has to offer sometimes gets really jarring. Sometimes it’s just hard to shoot an enemy simply because a bunch of bullets are flying at you, so much so that you literally die because the visuals are missing up your aiming and dodging. I don’t mind dying in this game so much because of my lack of skill, but when my eyes start to hurt just because there are too many visual effects on the screen I get angry. Finally I still don’t quite understand the multiplier in this game, and I only bring this up because score attacking is a main draw to playing this game again and again. With most games like this, it makes sense what adds or lowers your multiplier, and while it still follows some rules that usually apply like getting hit, others are not so much. Sometimes when I use my melee attack the multiplier would go up other times it would go way down. The only thing I really know about why this happen was because I was hitting one target or something, but I’m still not really sure. Nor do I understand why my multiplier goes down when I use my charge shot all the way to full. Often I just feel like the multiplier doesn’t want you do use everything you have in your arsenal, and in turn you feel discourage to use all the tools you got. I mean, if things where explained to me better I wouldn’t mind, but Star Successor simply isn’t one of those games.
Despite all my complaints though, Star Successor is a better game than its original. The Wii mote really works wonders compared to the N64 layout, and really makes shooting more responsive and easier. The graphics, while still not on par with the ones the day game out, are much better than what you’d expect compared to the original as well. The fact you can also upload your high scores is a nice sign from Nintendo showing support for some online integration, but really would have been better if you could play online co-op, otherwise it’s just annoying having your safe file stuck to one Wii because of Nintendo’s stupid conditions for online game data. At the very least we are given Co-op, which makes it a bit of a blessing considering how hard Star Successor can be. And yes, like its predecessor, Star Successor is still a fairly hard game. Easy will still have you losing lives here or there, especially during the later stages, but for the most part Star Successor always feels fair when you die, as its mostly by your stupid fault for not dodging correctly. A lot of the game is also made better by having a lot of it play out like the stage that Kachi used her psychic powers to control a piece of a ship to fly around a navy fleet. So compared to Sin and Punishment, Star Successor has a lot more mobility to it, and offers a lot of cool stages to go through, including going through a underwater tunnel and traveling on the back of a mini-dinosaur. Perhaps the best way to describe Star Successor though, is how over the top it is compared to the first one. Everything is just bigger compared to the first, or more lively or simply more of. Star Successor is a bigger game compared to the original, and really makes for a fun, challenging shooter.
Final Thoughts:
Star Successor has a few problems with its oddly lengthy stages, confusing scoring system, and sometimes jarring visuals, but it is still a better game than its predecessor. Providing tighter controls due to the use of the wii mote and nunchuck; better combat, thanks to the focus on aerial combat, and charming visuals that are seen throughout the array of environments visited throughout the game. Star Successor is challenging, interesting, and overall weird enough to give it a look through for anyone. And if you’re a fan of on rail shooters certainly pick this one up.