An old-school shooter with new-school gameplay variants, Soldner X: Himmelsturmer is a fantastic experience.
The game is comprised of four levels--which doesn't sound like much, but for what they're worth, they're quite lengthy and involving. You take control of a ship piloted by an unnamed hero who isn't so much anti-heroic, but rather someone trying to make sense out of what's going on and hoping to return to a world where he can indulge his reward money (if he survives to get it). That story is told in cutscenes, but the real breadwinner is the frenetic gameplay. Your ship can switch between one of five weapons--three of which can be found later on in the game. To rack up an impressive score, you'll shoot as many enemies on screen as possible to build up score chains that increase in level. The trick here is that you must continually switch weapons on the fly to keep the chain running. When the chain reaches its peak, you'll need to switch yet again to release the item encapsulated in your status bar--ranging from temporary shot upgrades, health, bonuses and bombs. Keeping up with successful chains will increase your chain level by one, giving you more opportunities to rack up ten digit scores quickly. You with me so far? Didn't think so, but don't worry about it. At first, it all seems as complex as the game's title, but once you get the hang of it all, you'll immediately go with the flow in no time split.
Unlike traditional shooters where you can fire to your heart's content without having to worry about consumption of ammo and such, your weapons are prone to overheating, or in this case-- expending weapon energy, from prolonged rapid-fire. In many cases, you'll have to switch weapons again to keep up the fight and allow for overheated ones to cool down (some weapons are used up indefinitely)--even if it means running the risk of breaking your score chain or temporarily forfeiting your favorite weapon for a few seconds. While it might sound harsh, in all fairness, weapon energy is generously abundant and doesn't deplete too quickly, but make no mistake--it will run out. So long as you take it moderately easy with the rapid-fire button and switch weapons when necessary, you'll be fine.
You can adjust difficulty settings to suit your playing preference, but be warned. Throughout the beginning levels, everything's easy. But, further inward, Soldner X shows its dark side and becomes unbelievably cruel---almost to the point of being hell-bent on stopping you from completing the game. You can beat it, of course, but expect to take massive damage and lose a few ships in the first couple of runs. At any rate, when your health depletes to a significant point, your ship will enter berserk mode--which increases your defense parameter and firing capability for the time during when your health is at dangerously low levels.
In addition to saving the galaxy from an unknown threat to all mankind, you can also aim for trophies (which aren't too hard or too easy to get) , seek out all 20 hidden keys scattered throughout the levels to unravel a significant secret (which I won't spoil here), play a local game cooperatively with a friend (there's no online play), and prove your shooting skills to the world with online leaderboards. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous--keeping homage with the old-school feel while taking full advantage of high-definition displays. But they seem to cordon off to obscurity during the third and fourth worlds--transitioning from beautiful jungles, futuristic cities and caverns to a generic outer space and boring stormclouds-- which in itself is disappointing. The techno music is pretty good, but not really all that memorable.
Soldner X: Himmelsturmer presents itself purely as an old-school shooter with new-age elements that keep it fresh while maintaining true to its influences. It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but for those willing to take a chance on it, you'll be thoroughly entertained and challenged every step of the way.