Sigma Star Saga

"Awesome game with few disappointments!"

The only things 'wrong' with this game are the lack of auto-run/speed-up (for both walking and flying), the battles are, as many people have said, too frequent, the enemies practically never shoot at you (though there's lots of kamikaze enemies to compensate), and the flying battle sequences are too plain (hah, "plane" get it? -_-;).

I hate having to hold the B button ALL the time, so whenever I play a game like this, the auto-run feature is turned on. But there IS NO SUCH OPTION! It isn't too bad during the walking sequences, since you don't have to spam the other button at the same time, but when you beam up to your ship, it drives me insane. I have a nice way to get around that (use index and middle fingers for the buttons), but it leaves the R button hanging (oh well, since you can't switch between custom gun settings, it's useless anyway). If the B button was a brake/slow-DOWN button, that would be WAY better. Actually, no one needs a speed change. Make the B button the bomb, and L or R change weapons. THAT would rox.

The battles, as I've said, are too plain. It's just you flying around (or not really around, cause there's not much to dodge), a couple guys die, and it ends with little to no health gone. They're too short, too frequent, and not hard at all. The end-of-chapter ones are great, though. A lot could have been done to make the SHMUP sequences better (good thing that's not all this game has), but that's not really what Wayforward is known for. I love the weapon customization system, though.

So far this review has been pretty negative... But how is it a 9? Well, good question, I don't really know myself. Though I went pretty deep into the drawbacks, this game still shines, I want you to know that. The story, the graphics (Matt's pretty good), the music, they're all great!

You really get to know the characters, and they all have very unique and distinguished personalities. If you've ever played a Wayforward game before, [insert free advertising for Shantae(GBC) here] you'd come to expect that.

Overall, this is a fun game. The RPG part is great, and the SHMUP part is a good introduction for new players into the genre. If you value story elements, you'll love this game. If you're one of those nubs that skip all the dialogue and all that matters to you is gameplay, you won't like it as much. At least there won't be any complaints about t3h gr4fx.

Gameplay: 8 (RPG: 9, SHMUP: 7)
Controls: 7
Music: 10
Graphics: 10

Yay! ^_^

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/05