Shooter: Space Shot

"It was a bit too short and easy but it was still a fun game"

Genre: arcade style side view shooter
NOTE: though this may be an arcade style side view shooter it is FAR more easy than most shooters. I beat it on my first try. Using only three continues.
Price: Used: $10-$5 (new is extremely rare)

Game Play: 8/10
The objective of each level is to make it to the finish without being destroyed. You have two main ways to attack your enemies. The first is to use your basic Vulcan (machine-gun) the second is to attack with guided missiles, to lock on with them you just move your rather wide (flashlight like) beam of purple light over your enemy. Then let loose HORDS of missiles on your now overpowered enemy. Dodging is an easy task in Space Shot, mainly because of a very unique ability you have. The ability to dash short distances at extemely high speeds. This will not only let you go through enemy fire, but let you destroy enemies by ramming them. This means if you get in a bad spot, you can just dash your way out. Because you can dash it makes playing around very fun, but takes away from the difficulty that most shooter fans have come to expect. And sadly, the game only has five, very short levels.

Difficulty: 8/10
Space Shot is very easy for a shooter. It took me around 20 minutes to beat, and it was my first try (I used only three continues). Though your enemies are great in numbers, you can dash through a lot of them and dodge the rest. Plus ... the game has one major flaw ... you have unlimited continues! This means no matter how bad you are at the game you can always restart the stage you are on as much as you want. Plus it is way too easy to dodge. But don't be fooled. If you have never played an arcade style shooter your gonna have a hard time at first. Space Shot isn't easy, but it's not nearly as hard as R-Type, Gradius, Ikaruga, or any other shooter you may have played. It's defiantly one of the easier shooters.

Graphics: 6/10
The graphics are only ok... for a PSX game. The game is very blocky, though you can make out your opponents it can still become slightly hard to see with you fire off missiles. Plus things aren't too clear. The computer sequence's look terrible, not only are the characters blocky, but they're grainy. This takes away from the feel of the game. For the most part the graphics don't matter, but they still where not as good as they could have been.

Sound: 6/10
Well, the music is ok, there are only a few songs and they are very repetitive. The sound effects on the other hand don't sound too good. It sounds a lot like (I'm not joking about this) like a pinball machine. This isn't too bad, but it can become very annoying. If you get this game you might want to play with the sound turned off.

Replay Value: 1/10 :(
Well, this is the only game I have ever played, beat, and stopped playing in one sitting. It took me about twenty minutes to clear the game. And since there is no reward for beating the game you won't feel like playing again for a long, long time.

Overview: 7/10
The concept is simple, shoot and dodge, shoot and dodge. Luckily they threw in a nice ability, the ability to dash. This nice little extra lets you feel super powered and gives you a great feeling of "the poor fool never stood a chance >:)". Unfortunately the graphics and sound lack severely. The areas look very grainy and blocky, and the sound effects can get annoying. Space Shot has it's flaws but it is fun, it gets a steady seven out of ten

Rent or Buy:
Well, you can't really find this game for rent. And if you did, it would cost nearly as much as a used copy. So I would say: BUY!

(regrets)
The game was too short, it was fun, but it only took around twenty minutes on my first try. And had only five levels. If it had had four more stages it would deserve an eight out of ten

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/05