Pulstar

"R-Type, meet your challenger"

A friend of mine was a shooter nut and he recommend me this game called Pulstar, I thought: hmm... it's got a nice name, maybe it's a cool game. So I get the game from my friend and tries it, boy was I right on the money; but wait, this looks familiar, now where have I seen this before, oh that's right it's R-Type, or is it? Enter Pulstar, a game in every aspect appears to be R-Type, but so much better. Why you ask, read on and find out.

Graphic: 10
It's really amazing how the NeoGeo system used every bit of it's capability and went beyond it to create such beautiful graphic. Backgrounds are bright and colorful, and movements in the background are smooth and detailed. For example, on the third stage as you crosses a section of space that's literally on fire, you can see a fire dragon leaping out from time to time, the detail of the dragon is simply awesome.

Enemy design are also an strong point, a varieties of weird looking creatures that ranges from the smallest insect fighters to the largest alien battleships you ever seen. Bosses in the game are massive creatures that strikes fear in you just before you even fight it.

Sound: 10
Simple and crisp, the sounds are clear enough to enjoy, shots, enemies death, bosses battle cry and many other sounds are well done. The music fits the mood quite well, and after playing for a while you'll find yourself start humming them in your head too.

Gameplay: 10
Control wise the game controls the same way as R-Type with some minor differences: joystick for movement, A button for shot and charging the beam cannon. After obtaining the drones for the side, the B button will lock the direction of the drones, something not present in R-Type. Also, after obtaining the force, pressing both A and B will launch the force out and detonate it into a thermonuclear explosion or a cluster of piercing energies and much more, another feature not present in R-Type.

Weapon wise it's been pretty much the same as R-Type's arsenal, though there are some new weapons such as the armor-piercing laser and forcefield laser and more. Learning when to use these weapons are crucial to your survival.

However, even with your powerful arsenal, the game is difficult. Now you would think, as least it's difficult like R-Type right? Wrong. Picture R-Type's difficulty, and multiply that by two fold and you get Pulstar's difficulty. That's right, it's twice as hard. Enemies comes in huge numbers and spews out shots even faster than a machine gun, overwhelming the screen and reduces your chance of survival. Bosses fills up a good portion of the screen and sling shots over to you like there is no tomorrow, and often these shots can't be blocked by your force or drone, reducing your option to pure evasion.

Replayability: 10
If you're a shooter fan and are the kind that likes to master each game their play so they can beat it perfectly, then you'll want to replay it again and again. Though no matter how good you are, it will still take quite a while to finish the game so take note of that.

My final word on this, Pulstar is a solid game and are especially welcomed by R-Type fans. Though R-Type came out earlier, Pulstar could be considered it's father, who knows, maybe there is a connection.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/30/06