Competitive vertically scrolling shoot 'em up featuring world wide high score tables.
The battle against the Core Brain would demand something extraordinary – so the J.F.E quickly completed the prototype fighter ship CS-00A "Caesar" and launched it into space.
Core Brain is determined to rid the universe of humanity, and a new battle for survival is about to unfold.
Star Soldier R is the 2008 WiiWare exclusive addition to the Star Soldier series. It isn't a direct sequel to any Star Soldier game, but it does build on the very same game mechanics seen in previous Star Soldier games.
You play as the pilot of the "Caesar" prototype and your goal is basically to destroy everything in sight. This is a vertically scrolling arcade-style shoot 'em up, but it is basically only playable in a so called "Caravan Mode" in which you play to score as many points as possible in a single stage 2-Minute Mode, or a two stage 5-Minute Mode. As such the game is very limited in scope and instead focuses on perfecting player performance across the two- or five minute challenges.
During the game you'll be able to pick up two different kinds of power-ups. There are Energy Units and Force Units – pink and turquoise capsules respectively. The Energy Units will upgrade your weapons one level, up to a maximum of six levels.
Force Units grants your "Caesar" ship a Force Unit, and these are special drones that circulate your ship, protecting it from incoming attacks by absorbing incoming bullets. Your ship can have five Force Units attached to it at one time. Picking up more Energy- or Force Units than your ship can hold will grant you 10,000 bonus points, so they're of great value.
The third pick-up in this game is the Material Unit. It simply gives you 2,000 points when picked up, and they are plenty. They play a huge role when going for the top scores - so you should try to pick them all, but in the heat of the action it's tricky to say the least.
If your ship takes damage you'll first lose one of your Force Units. If your ship takes damage when you have no Force Units, your weapons will be downgraded by three levels. If your weapons are at a low level and you take damage you will die. You are given infinite amount of lives, so all that dying does is that it prevents you from collecting points during the time it takes to spawn a new ship. Because of the strict time limits in this game dying is a no-go if you hope to get to the high score tables.
Force Units can assume an offensive formation to actively help you in your battle. This is controlled by the press of a button. When you release your Force Units from their standard defensive formation, they will spread out and act as stand alone cannon turrets. They're powerful in their own right, but they will leave your ship vulnerable. Once they're released they'll consume energy – and thus turn from red to blue. You can recharge your Force Units whenever you want by pressing the release button again – they will then assume the defensive formation and recharge.
It's important to balance the offensive formation with the defensive formation. When done right, it will save your life and help you fight the endless enemy attack waves.
This simple mechanic gives the game another layer of depth, because you'll need to learn how the Force Units behave once they're released and how you can utilize their powers best.
There are numerous different enemies that you'll encounter. There are more than 20 different enemy types and more than 15 different ground targets. The official website has a strategy guide that has information on how much points they're worth. This information is very important if you want to play this game in a competitive way.
Other than the the two main game "Caravan Modes" in Star Soldier R, there is a bonus game mode called Quick Shot mode in which your goal is simply to press your fire button as quickly as possible during a set time limit of ten seconds. The game will then simply calculate your average shot-per-second rating.
Star Soldier R features online high score tables via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Network. These score tables are divided into domestic and world tables, allowing you to compare your scores on a country basis and on a world wide basis. Both the 2-Minute- and 5-Minute Modes are accounted for, and the score tables are very extensive. Only your best score will be posted on the Wi-Fi rankings though.
Because of this feature the game is heavily competitive and can really put any would-be shooter hero in place.
It should also be noted that you can't adjust the difficulty level of the game – that's not to say that the game is hard per se. The difficulty in this game lies simply in scoring the big points – you must love playing the same few stages over and over again.
You can play this game with three different control setups. Simply using the Wii Remote held sideways, the Classic Controller or a combination of the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk. It doesn't really matter which way you play. Playing with the Nunchuk would require you to fire shots with your thumb, using the A button, but the game has an autofire feature, so it's still a viable option if you prefer steering with a thumbstick rather than a D-pad.
Just like previous Star Soldier games you can freely adjust the speed of your ship with the press of a button. Utilizing this to your advantage is obviously a key aspect of the game.
The graphics are very satisfying. It's blazing fast, smooth and crisp. It's rendered in 3D but it has a strong resemblance to the old-school 2D shoot 'em ups. Its color scheme is rather dark and thus looks a bit gloomy, but there are plenty of shiny details and glowing lasers to spice things up.
Even though the screen is swarming with attack drones and you're blasting the living hell out of a space platform full with "A-3 Turrets" the game maintains its solid frame rate.
Both the enemies and the backgrounds generally has well thought out designs and it all makes for a believable world with lots of details.
The music has an epic feel, and it does sound like your typical up-beat Japanese shooter techno. It's somewhat catchy and goes perfectly with the game. Even the title music sets the mood and quickly becomes iconic to the game.
The sound effects are quite generic but still get the job done. The explosions aren't quite as massive as one would have wished, but other than that its good.
Star Soldier R stands as a very elitist game. If you aren't willing to replay the same few stages over and over again, this game really won't satisfy you. Being limited to the two- and five minute game modes doesn't really do justice to the legendary and epic Star Soldier games. Instead this game feels like an Star Soldier off shoot.
It's nice however to see that shoot 'em up genre can be made very competitive by simply adding world wide high score tables. If you're a fan of the "Caravan Mode" gameplay this game is definitely for you – but even then it falls a little short.