WarpSpeed

"Pathetic human scum, I have come to destroy you and enslave your women!"

Doesn't appear to be any reviews for this game, so I'll make one. When my SNES sparkled atop my shoddy television set back in the Nineties, there were four games I played primarily: Yoshi's Island, Mortal Kombat II, NCAA Basketball, and Warp Speed. A trifecta plus one? Eh, not really.

Story

The date: sometime in the future. The setting: space. You are a pilot aboard a STINGER-class Starcraft (yes, that's what it's called) and the nearby quadrants are being attacked by vicious aliens! Familiar plot to any space shooter, but the story is more beneath the surface because, frankly, it doesn't really matter. The game reminds you of your accomplishment to the human bases at the start and finish of your missions, and by a few radio transmissions in between, but it's rather superfluous besides. That just means you can play the game without paying attention and still succeed.

Gameplay

If there was one reason to play this game, it would be for the reasonably engaging space battles. Many enemies can appear on your screen, but you fight them one at a time in a type of intergalactic dogfight. You chase him in first-person point of view and shoot, and he tries to evade and shoot you -- typical for the most part, except you can either speed up to evade his shots and the background enemies', or simply turn on an axis and shoot your cannons and missiles. It doesn't seem like a stellar highlight to the game, but it's all it's got going for it and it's not too shabby.

Besides that, you navigate through the quadrants (8x8 map, 64 sectors) to seek and destroy, using black holes to warp to other areas, encountering asteroid belts and mine fields, and heading back to base to receive commendations and ship upgrades. The navigation part on the map is the tedious part and almost offsets the fun one can have shooting down the dregs of alien rwarfare.

Missions are often bland for the most part, often stepping up the challenge by adding more quadrants, black holes, and more enemies. The only one that presents any innovation is the 'Skirmish' mission, which has your radar functions knocked out so enemies don't appear on the map. This makes it harder in a different way, but at least it's different, right?

Graphics

Mediocre, to say the least. The background while fighting is simply stars whizzing by and faraway enemies look like puffs of cotton or red triangles. When some get up close, however, they seem to be rife with detail so that they look like actual starfighters and not the letter 'y' (for one). =p

The only in-game visuals are the above screens and going back to base, which has a nifty downward spiral to the docking area. Sadly, that makes up all of the graphics, and while it doesn't inhibit the gameplay, it's still a rather shoddy attempt. Enemies rarely vary, and are instead end up pallette-swapped.

Hard to fault a 1991 SNES game for such things, though.

Music

There are five or six songs and only the weird docking theme is memorable. If you're looking for nifty space music, look anywhere but here 'cause it won't deliver in this aspect. I mean, they even reuse the main title theme in battle!

Replay Value

I suppose it's decent for an afternoon sitting, but there is far too much similar content in the Warp Speed world. Enemies have no coordinated tactics or very much AI for that matter, so there's no difficulty except for damage you incur; heading through the quadrants is as boring as they come, especially after seeing the same warp visual a thousand times; missions aren't fulfilling, or are the side-missions.

I play the game because I remember how much fun I had, but maybe I can still only have fun now because I've forgotten how bad it was. Not the worst game I've ever played, but it doesn't bring anything back to the table when you've nothing to do.

Pros / Cons

+ Battles are fun to a degree

- No replay value
- Missions are bland
- No styled enemy AI
- Repetative music and, what's more, barely any music to begin with!
- No character development <u>anywhere</u> (you basically play as a ship)

The Verdict™: Playable, perhaps, but hardly worthwhile.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 05/05/06