Silpheed: The Lost Planet Preview

Game Arts is finally developing the latest installment of its classic shooting game, tentatively titled Silpheed: The Lost Planet for the PlayStation2. By coincidence, it seems, a new game in the series has come out every seven years. The original appeared on the NEC PC88, and its sequel followed on the Sega CD seven years ago. The developers of the game have stated that that they want to make the experience of playing this entertaining shooting game similar to that of watching a movie. This includes making it entertaining down to its settings screens. They also want to keep the game at a moderate difficulty level that does not require too much memorization or experience in the genre.

The story takes place in a distant future where interstellar migration is a reality. It is 31 years after the last civil war, and just when the human race thinks it is a time of peace a new threat emerges. Above the colony planet R-72, an alien battle cruiser appears and threatens the human race.

The game at this point appears to heavily use 3D polygonal graphics integrated into its orthodox top-down scrolling shooter format. Depending on your score, you will acquire different types of weapons. You can choose up to two types of weapons, which can be exchanged with others between levels. The difficulty of the level will differ depending on what weapon you select. Each weapon will have the normal shot and a charged shot.

Silpheed: The Lost Planet for the PlayStation2 is scheduled for a summer release in Japan. Developed by Game Arts, the title will be published by Capcom.