Silpheed: The Lost Planet

"Fun game at a low price"

This is the first time I have ever played one of the slipheed games. I do happen however, happen to be quite a big fan of the old school shooters. So when I saw this in the store for 8 bucks you better believe I snatched it right up.

First impressions: The first time I played it I have to admit I had a lot of fun. I thought it was cool that you could assign different weapons to the left and right side of your ship. ( This however tends to be a bad thing unless they are the same weapon on either side. )The graphics were pretty good right off the bat as well.

Sound: This is my only complaint about the actual game. The game is fun, the sound could be better. The explosions were a little muffled and didn't quite have that impact that most games do. It was just not the best quality sound design. Weapons have there own interesting sounds, and so do the enemies, as well as bosses. The coolest thing by far was the fact that you can hear all your buddies ( who never help you ) talking back and forth across their radios to each other.

Gameplay: Typical shooter fare. You can move left and right, up and down. The difference I noticed though, was when you move further up the screen the sides of the screen restrict your ship from moving to the extreme right and left. At first it might mess you up, but it's not really a big deal. The one unusual thing to this game, is that your shop has a life bar you can set to take 10 hits or 5 hits. That makes things easier to get through a level. But, when you empty that bar, you have to do the whole level over again.

Story: The norm. Your world is being threatened by aliens...so you do the only thing you know how to. BLOW THEM UP!

Weapons: Now since you have about 9 different weapons to select from, you would figure that they would get progressively better. For me, I just used the V Vulcan that you start with for the majority of the game, and on occasion, the optic laser. I think they could have improved on this if it was done more like Axelay where you got more useful weapons, and could attach them so that they were not just firing off the right or left side. ( You can fire both at the same time by pressing X )

Overall: After putting all of the elements together, I have to say that this is a pretty solid game, with only a few shortcomings. For the price you can get it now, I would completely recommend that you go out and pick up a copy. Help keep the old school games alive.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/04