Starblade

"Average Shooting Game"

Starblade was a 1994 shooting game from Namco. Although there were better games in the genre available at the time, it's still a decent game with a Star Wars feel to it.

The story? If there was one, I don't remember too much about it. Cannons, federations, something like that, but the main part is that you're a jet driver with the traditional first-person perspective. Like most shooting games, you shoot and aim at everything in sight.

The control of the game has it's ups and downs - it's quite simple, actually. You aim with the D-Pad and shoot one weapon with each of the buttons. That's all there is to it, you don't steer you ship, grab items or do anything else. Although this makes things easier, it takes away a lot of the fun and challenge that most shooting games have.

Starblade has average graphics for this time period. They're polygon-based, of course, and as said before everything looks a lot like Star Wars. The downfall to the graphics is that everything is so detailed and there are so many things going on that your targeting cursor gets lost a lot.

The sound is good as well. The music is good, and you get to hear other pilot's voices over the radio systems. Zings, zaps and explosions make everything more realistic.

If you haven't played too many shooting games, you might enjoy this one. For experienced shooting fans, though, don't bother, it's too easy. Also a good choice for younger players.

(All Ratings are assigned as if they would have been when the game was first released)

Graphics: 7
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 7
Replay Value: 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99