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 JASON MAHONY
Can't get enough super sugar crisp...Unless I get to punch in on some video punks!!
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Review:
The Red Star Video Game Walkthrough Guide for PS2 is coming to WDS!!
Release Date:04/20/2007
ESRB Rating: Teen
Genre: Action
Publisher: XS Games
Developer: Acclaim
What would you get if you blended such "oldschool" action favorites as Streets of Rage, Contra, and Ikaruga into one game? The Red Star attempts exactly this and pulls it off surprisingly well. It unabashedly borrows from these games and others you might notice some Strider, perhaps a little Gunstar Heroes, or even a bit of U.N. Squadron in there but The Red Star manages to maintain a spirit and feel uniquely its own. Its one of the best entries into the beatemup and shootmup genres in quite some time and nearly manages to hit the high marks set by the classics it borrows from.
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 | Its a shame that weve had to wait almost three years for The Red Star to finally see a release. Though the game was essentially finished in 2004, it sat in flux for a few years due to original publisher Acclaims bankruptcy. XS Games, with the help of Union Entertainment, bought the rights to the game, renegotiated the licensing deal, and even tracked down some of the original developers to help polish it up. Its a miracle The Red Star ever made it out but thank goodness it did. Its a game that deserves to be played, especially by fans of oldschool action titles. Where The Red Star is best is in its combat system, which brilliantly blends melee attacks, shooting, and blocking defenses. Theres an almost poetic beauty with the mastery of these, as you unconsciously perform incredible attacks by switching between and blending the three. Like in God of War or Devil May Cry, everything feels rewarding. The game regularly switches perspectives, requiring you to often switch up your tactics. Bosses, for example, are almost always so substantial in size that they require serious firepower to take them out but the game may throw melee or blocking challenges at you simultaneously. Speaking of the bosses, theyre some of the most impressive and inventive seen on the PS2 in quite some time; several are clearly inspired by those of previous Treasure games.
Despite its age, The Red Stars visuals are surprisingly in line what youd expect from a latergeneration PS2 game; it represents the comic books industrial Russian universe well. For those unaware, The Red Star is based on the Christian Gossett graphic novel of the same name (hes known for having worked at LucasFilm he came up with the doubleedged lightsaber that Darth Maul used and on the Bruce Willis PS1 game Apocalypse). It takes place in the United Republics of the Red Star (U.R.R.S.), a sort of neoRussia where sorcery and industrial technology coexist. You take control of three characters Makita, Maya, Kyuzo and attempt to take out Troika, who has the country under his control.
The three playable characters gameplay differs greatly, which offers a lot of replay value (a second player can even join in on the fun and control one of them). Its not enough to solve the games problem of repetitiveness, though. Perhaps as a preemptive measure to satisfy those who criticize similar games for being too short, The Red Star feels artificially lengthened at times. Coupled with a lack of midlevel checkpoints, the game at times becomes a chore as you fight the same enemies over and over while you formulate strategies for defeating bosses at the end of the level. Perhaps a throwback to the games of yesterday, the lack of checkpoints unfortunately detracts from the overall fun.
As a $20 game, though even considering the wide selection of budget and Greatest Hits titles available on the PS2 now The Red Star is a great deal, considering it was at one point set to release for more than double that. For oldschool action game fans, this ones a must for your collection.
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Posted by GameGuideDog.com Member on January 11, 2010
