Gunstar Super Heroes

"Beat it in one sitting. NOT a good thing.."

I first saw Gunstar Super Heroes at Wal-mart, as a player's choice title, and needing some new games for a long airplane ride I picked it up. It's too bad it never made it on the plane, since I had already beat it.

Story: 5/10

The story isn't very good. First of all, the hero's have very original names (Yes, my sarcasm know no bounds), Blue and Red, while the villains are just as bad (Pink, Green, Black, etc..). I like to give the game the benefit of the doubt as much as I can, and I know that there was a game called Gunstar Heroes for the Sega Genesis. From the little bit of story I bothered paying attention to, I'm apparently supposed to know everything that's happened in Gunstar Heroes to Red and Blue up to this point. This is a big strike against the game, since they're assuming you know most of the story.

Gameplay: 7/10

The best part about this game, without a doubt. This game is essentially a Contra clone. Your on a 2-D plane, gunning your way to each stage's boss. The gameplay is very simple, yet very addictive. You have 3 different guns to choose from, each with it's own special characteristics, although you'll find yourself usually sticking to your characters special gun. There are also some neat things they added into the gameplay like an up-close melee attack, and the ability to hang off of ledges and drop through floors.

Unfortunately, none of that makes up for the overall lack of difficulty in the game. There are 3 skill setting you can choose from, but even at the hardest, the game was still extremely easy, especially once you get each bosses attack patterns down. The main enemies pose no challenge at all, despite the fact that there is an endless army after you. It is entirely way too easy to gun your way to the end of each stage. The gameplay is great, but it gets boring way too fast, as you are left longing for a challenge that the game just can't deliver.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics look great! Despite the large amount of sprites moving on the screen, I experienced no slowdown at all. All the backgrounds and characters look bright and colorful. The game definitely has an anime feel too it, also, as you can tell by the characters expressions. I especially like how they animated the melee attacks.

Music & Sound effects: 7/10

I'm just going to skip the music comment here, because frankly I have nothing to say about it. You will be hearing mostly sound effects in this game, anyways, since 90% of the time you will be shooting at something. This of course entails alot of gun and destruction sound effects, all of which fit perfectly in with what's going on. Pretty much what you would expect for an action shooter. I was going to give this a lower score, but music isn't really important in this kind of gameplay.

Re-playability: 6/10

There IS a decent amount of re-playability here, since the game keeps track of how long it took you to complete each level, on each difficulty. Because it does this, it can be fun to see if you can get through a level faster, or if your friend can beat you at it. But as I mentioned before, this isn't enough to suppress my disgust about how easy, and how short this game is.

Overall: 7/10

Overall, this is a decent game that is way too short, and way too easy. Just keep in mind the games biggest selling points: gameplay and graphics. Since it is so short, I really don't recommend buying it, either used or new, unless it is very cheap. We're talking less than ten dollars cheap. If you wanted to play it, I would try to borrow it from a friend. Have fun & keep playing. Later...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/26/07