SoulStar for Sega CD

Review #12116

SoulStar

If only the gun worked

Sega CD 1994 Core Design Shooter Shooter › Corridor
SoulStar screenshot for Sega CD
Screenshot used for review/reference purposes.
3 / 5

Gameplay

I really wanted to love this game but it has a couple of deal killers. First off, you weapon is weak and ineffective. I felt like I rarely killed an enemy despite firing constantly and doing a decent job of lining up my shots. Even powering up the gun with a couple of pickups did nothing to improve its lethality. There are a couple of subweapons (bomb and missile) with better power but switching to them is is slow and they get used up quickly. Before long I found it was easier to simply avoid enemies than try to kill them. That is, until I got to stage 2 when you have to kill them all. That's when the game lost my interest.

3 / 5

Level Design

Two kinds of stages - corridor and free roaming. It's like Star Fox 64 for that.
I enjoy the corridor stages. They play like Star Fox or the GBA Iridion games. The free roaming stages are good in principle but suffer due to the nigh invincibility of your enemies.
Destructible environment

4 / 5

Theme

Generic shooter setting but the excellent graphics paint a convincing sci-fi world. I wish I could explore more of it.

5 / 5

Art Style

Some of the best graphics on a 16-bit Sega system. Impressive sprite scaling with excellent ship design and other pixel art. Sprites have convincing 3D shading. Looks like a PS1 game.
Excellent use of color.

3 / 5

Audio

Music is a brass march that feels more like an exploration theme than a space shooter. It's good, but doesn't fit here.
Sound effects are too loud and repetitive but can be turned down.

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