The Red Star for PS2

[RadarScope1]

Anyone played this? I'm about halfway through it right now. It's WAY old school gameplay with (mostly) new school polish. The descriptions of it being a mash-up of a brawler and a shump are spot-on. Basically you melee and combo your way through oncoming baddies, then a couple of times each level -- and usually each boss -- the camera kicks up for a more top-down view and it turns into bullet-dodging blast fest. To fight the second boss you actually fly a ship and it's a true shump for a bit. Not necessarily a ground-breaking one, mind you, but still.

There's are a few things about it that are particular throw-backs (for better or worse), such as:

- Between levels you use the credits you earn from rankings to fill up attributes. Think Super Off-Road.

- Many of the later enemies are the exact same as previous enemies but a different color. Think pretty much any old side-scrolling brawler. You could call it lazy, but there's a certain charm to it.

- You die, you start at the beginning of the level. No checkpoints. Think Ghosts n Goblins (IIRCC...).

- The story is basically non-existent. (Sorry, fans of the comic, I'm not following it.) You have to read the manual to know any exposition, and then between levels some dude with a still photo tells you a bunch of jibberish you really don't need to know. Think Bionic Commando.

- During 2P co-op, there's a lot of "you get those guys, I'll shoot these guys" type of teamwork. Think anything from Gauntlet to Battletoads.

Anyway, despite the lack of checkpoints and somewhat repetitive gameplay, I'm really digging this game. I know that not many retailers are carrying it, but it's worth hunting down IMO. Recommended.

[wyatt]

Yeah there was some discussion of it upon release

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... t=red+star

[RadarScope1]

Whoops. I've saved what I wrote if one of the moderators wants to delete this thread....