Solar Striker

"Makes a good chew toy for your dog"

Solar Striker pits you in the role of a lone star pilot against hoards of alien foes. Sound familiar? Tell me about it. I had R-Type goose bumps popping up all over. The only real difference is opposed to the side-scrolling action of R-Type, Solar Striker has you planted at the bottom of a vertically scrolling screen. A innovative twist? Hardly.

Gameplay: Just like games like R-Type Solar Striker pits you a lone star pilot against hoards of alien foes. To draw further similarities to R-Type, S.S features an insane level of difficulty. The difference being Solar Striker gets a bit too ambitious when it comes to difficulty. Do you understand the meaning of artificial difficulty? Well, the game presents you with a scarce amount of lives. Initially I was disappointed that the game only has ten levels, but that doesn't seem to be a problem since I couldn't ever get past level 3! Trust me, I've tried far too many times then I care to count. I haven't found too many games that I couldn't beat, but some how this old GameBoy cart has taught me a much needed lesson in humility that is for sure.

Graphics: Dreadfully basic. Little dots line the screen to represent stars, and laser blasts look little more then blobs and lines. Your ship is as basic looking as they come, but the alien fly ships actually look decent. The best part of the graphics has to be the boss ships, but don't expect to be blown away. Lastly, why the heck is the expanse of space white in this game?

Sound: Horrid! Solar Striker is a total disaster in the audio department. Yuck! Lame! Basic! Those are just a few words that well describe the aural experience in this title.

Control: The control scheme is very simple. Steer Left and Right to dodge enemy attacks, and shoot back. So simple even a small child could get. The control is also responsive and without problems, but that is to be expected of such a basic control scheme.

What we have here is a overly hard clone of R-Type, and not even a good one at that. Yes, I know R-Type is a very tough cookie as well, but this game takes it to the extreme. The very fact that I couldn't beat the third level was more then enough to convince me. Honestly, the only reason I could possibly recommend buying this piece of trash is if you like really difficult games. However, after a few rounds you may find yourself humbled.

Score:2/10

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/02, Updated 08/31/02