Game: The Red Star
Developer: XS Games
Genre: Beat ‘em up/shmup
Verdict: Hail alternate-future Mother Russia, she makes a solid genre-blending beat ‘em up.
Pros: Multiple distinctly-playing characters; great blend of shoot ‘em up elements with the beat ‘em up genre; more complexity than the average beat ‘em up; game has surprising length to it
Cons: Can be frustrating at times; controls are wonky when trying to execute moves that are based on towards or away from the enemy.
Price: $14.99 (Exclusively on PSN Store)
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
The Red Star is based off of an alternate history graphic novel series of the same name, which involves Soviet Russia and futuristic airships and some craziness like that where you need to run through and kick some asses because it’s futuristic Soviet Russia OH NOES. The actual history of the game itself is far more interesting – this is essentially a lost game, cancelled back in 2004 when Acclaim capsized, but eventually picked up by XS Games and according to Wikipedia, was finally released back in 2007. The game is getting a third wind now thanks to XS Games releasing a PSP version and an iPhone OS port. I’ve wanted to play this game for years…and never realized the PS2 port ever came out. Whoops.
Off the bat, you’re given the choice of 2 characters, with a 3rd unlocked by beating the game. Your 2 initial choices are Kyuzo, a big bruising brawler who loves to impale his opponents, and Makita, a svelte speedy striker, who relies on multi-hit combos and her agility to take care of enemies. You have your melee weapons with their own attacks, but you also have guns that can be used to take down enemies from afar. They’re not just cute little pea shooters that deal puny amounts of damage and are just there to use up a face button, they deal decent amounts of damage, so they’re great for attacking enemies from afar, except for those enemies that resist projectile attacks.
The other use for the guns? Well, The Red Star is as much a shmup as it is a beat ‘em up, and many boss fights will shift you to a top-down perspective and have you facing enemies you can only take down by shooting at them, and you’ll be dodging complex bullet patterns all the while. The Red Star freely blends the beat ‘em up and and shmup genres as it sees fit. Still, melee combat is a key portion of the game as many enemies do not take damage from bullets, so you need to get up close and personal with them – more basic enemies will let you just step up and wail on them as you see fit, but as you advance, you’ll run into enemies that have attack patterns that you’ll need to find the proper time to attack them with, and to use your defensive shield wisely to try not to take damage, as your only health pickups come after boss fights. You have to be smart, analyze your situation to take down the most pressing threat to your health bar.
That’s right, The Red Star is a beat ‘em up that requires far more intelligence than ye olde Golden Axes and Streets of Rages – the enemies present a credible enough threat that they are almost more challenging than the bosses themseves because of their combined threat and challenge – the bosses almost seem simplistic by comparison, as their strategy is often just shooting and dodging ad nauseam, versus having to time an enemy’s specific attacks, and knowing when to block, or just simply get away. To help you in your offensive and defensive exploits, you have not only a defensive shield that can take limited amounts of damage before overloading (note that it seems to vary by quantity of hits more than quality of hits – it’s not recommended to use it against bullets as a couple bullets will overload it the same way a powerful enemy strike will), and the ability to perform special moves by locking on to an enemy and using the analog stick along with the melee attack button.
Now, these special moves are where the control issues start – your attacks vary based on whether you point the stick towards or away from the enemy – using the PSP’s at times inaccurate analog nub meant that it became a hassle to use these attacks. What I eventually did was to try to position myself in a way where my character would have the back to the screen, so I’d know which direction to pull on average to get the attack that I’d want. For example, Makita has a powerful combo attack where she knocks an enemy up into the air, and then can slam them down into the ground, which does a credible amount of damage. Now, you have to pull this move off by locking on, pulling away from the enemy and hitting Square, then pressing the joystick towards the enemy and hitting square again. The only time I could ever consistently get this move to be executed was if my back was toward the screen. If I initiated the combo like that, then I would pull off the combo without any real difficulty; any other orientation, and I know I won’t be pulling off the attack I want. To say that it’s frustrating is an understatement. The lock-on is also frustrating, as it’s based on which direction you’re facing, and if you want to target an enemy that’s in the same direction as another, it may be a crapshoot as to whether or not you actually lock on to the enemy you want. The ability to quickly switch between lock-on targets would be nice, but on the PSP’s limited controls, it’s an impossibility, I’m aware of that.
The Red Star is certainly impressively deep for a beat ‘em up game, between the strategy in its combat, to its between level ranking system that earns you points to gain new weapons and upgrades. You can unlock 2 new guns, although I found neither to be a huge improvement over the stock gun, so I’d say to just focus on improving that gun. There’s a lot more here than your average shmup or beat ‘em up, which is very much appreciated.
The fun of The Red Star is that it’s the thinking man’s mindless action game. There’s the fun of just beating up and shooting enemies, along with more advanced technique and strategy – there was a reason why The Red Star intrigued me 6 years ago when I first read about it, and it still holds up well. The game is challenging and at times frustrating, and I had to put the game down several times to try and resume it later when I was ready to give it a second shot (as a related technical note, I had issues with the music not playing when waking up my PSP 2000 from sleep mode). The genre-blending elements add an air of uniqueness and a variety to make this not just a typical beat ‘em up. Sadly, the console version’s co-op play has been omitted from the PSP release, so part of the fun of the genre is lost in translation.
I waited 6 years to play The Red Star; in retrospect I could have found a PS2 copy but that’s beyond the point. The Red Star does not disappoint as a long-awaited final product. The design here is ingenious and refereshing for a genre that doesn’t often do a lot of different things, and despite its control issues, The Red Star is a great modern take on the beat ‘em up. Even if it has its origins in a game originally supposed to be released circa 2004, which says something about how little the beat ‘em up has truly advanced since its inception, and how just a little bit of innovation can make a game like this feel so fresh.
The Red Star is based off of an alternate history graphic novel series of the same name, which involves Soviet Russia and futuristic airships and some craziness like that where you need to run through and kick some asses because it’s futuristic Soviet Russia OH NOES. The actual history of the game itself is far more interesting – this is essentially a lost game, cancelled back in 2004 when Acclaim capsized, but eventually picked up by XS Games and according to Wikipedia, was finally released back in 2007. The game is getting a third wind now thanks to XS Games releasing a PSP version and an iPhone OS port. I’ve wanted to play this game for years…and never realized the PS2 port ever came out. Whoops.
Off the bat, you’re given the choice of 2 characters, with a 3rd unlocked by beating the game. Your 2 initial choices are Kyuzo, a big bruising brawler who loves to impale his opponents, and Makita, a svelte speedy striker, who relies on multi-hit combos and her agility to take care of enemies. You have your melee weapons with their own attacks, but you also have guns that can be used to take down enemies from afar. They’re not just cute little pea shooters that deal puny amounts of damage and are just there to use up a face button, they deal decent amounts of damage, so they’re great for attacking enemies from afar, except for those enemies that resist projectile attacks.
The other use for the guns? Well, The Red Star is as much a shmup as it is a beat ‘em up, and many boss fights will shift you to a top-down perspective and have you facing enemies you can only take down by shooting at them, and you’ll be dodging complex bullet patterns all the while. The Red Star freely blends the beat ‘em up and and shmup genres as it sees fit. Still, melee combat is a key portion of the game as many enemies do not take damage from bullets, so you need to get up close and personal with them – more basic enemies will let you just step up and wail on them as you see fit, but as you advance, you’ll run into enemies that have attack patterns that you’ll need to find the proper time to attack them with, and to use your defensive shield wisely to try not to take damage, as your only health pickups come after boss fights. You have to be smart, analyze your situation to take down the most pressing threat to your health bar.
That’s right, The Red Star is a beat ‘em up that requires far more intelligence than ye olde Golden Axes and Streets of Rages – the enemies present a credible enough threat that they are almost more challenging than the bosses themseves because of their combined threat and challenge – the bosses almost seem simplistic by comparison, as their strategy is often just shooting and dodging ad nauseam, versus having to time an enemy’s specific attacks, and knowing when to block, or just simply get away. To help you in your offensive and defensive exploits, you have not only a defensive shield that can take limited amounts of damage before overloading (note that it seems to vary by quantity of hits more than quality of hits – it’s not recommended to use it against bullets as a couple bullets will overload it the same way a powerful enemy strike will), and the ability to perform special moves by locking on to an enemy and using the analog stick along with the melee attack button.
Now, these special moves are where the control issues start – your attacks vary based on whether you point the stick towards or away from the enemy – using the PSP’s at times inaccurate analog nub meant that it became a hassle to use these attacks. What I eventually did was to try to position myself in a way where my character would have the back to the screen, so I’d know which direction to pull on average to get the attack that I’d want. For example, Makita has a powerful combo attack where she knocks an enemy up into the air, and then can slam them down into the ground, which does a credible amount of damage. Now, you have to pull this move off by locking on, pulling away from the enemy and hitting Square, then pressing the joystick towards the enemy and hitting square again. The only time I could ever consistently get this move to be executed was if my back was toward the screen. If I initiated the combo like that, then I would pull off the combo without any real difficulty; any other orientation, and I know I won’t be pulling off the attack I want. To say that it’s frustrating is an understatement. The lock-on is also frustrating, as it’s based on which direction you’re facing, and if you want to target an enemy that’s in the same direction as another, it may be a crapshoot as to whether or not you actually lock on to the enemy you want. The ability to quickly switch between lock-on targets would be nice, but on the PSP’s limited controls, it’s an impossibility, I’m aware of that.
The Red Star is certainly impressively deep for a beat ‘em up game, between the strategy in its combat, to its between level ranking system that earns you points to gain new weapons and upgrades. You can unlock 2 new guns, although I found neither to be a huge improvement over the stock gun, so I’d say to just focus on improving that gun. There’s a lot more here than your average shmup or beat ‘em up, which is very much appreciated.
The fun of The Red Star is that it’s the thinking man’s mindless action game. There’s the fun of just beating up and shooting enemies, along with more advanced technique and strategy – there was a reason why The Red Star intrigued me 6 years ago when I first read about it, and it still holds up well. The game is challenging and at times frustrating, and I had to put the game down several times to try and resume it later when I was ready to give it a second shot (as a related technical note, I had issues with the music not playing when waking up my PSP 2000 from sleep mode). The genre-blending elements add an air of uniqueness and a variety to make this not just a typical beat ‘em up. Sadly, the console version’s co-op play has been omitted from the PSP release, so part of the fun of the genre is lost in translation.
I waited 6 years to play The Red Star; in retrospect I could have found a PS2 copy but that’s beyond the point. The Red Star does not disappoint as a long-awaited final product. The design here is ingenious and refereshing for a genre that doesn’t often do a lot of different things, and despite its control issues, The Red Star is a great modern take on the beat ‘em up. Even if it has its origins in a game originally supposed to be released circa 2004, which says something about how little the beat ‘em up has truly advanced since its inception, and how just a little bit of innovation can make a game like this feel so fresh.
Popularity: unranked [?]
No comments