Take 2
XS Games
PS2
Retro/Shooter
1-2 (Offline)
£14.99
Out Now
The Red Star PS2 Review - 07/06/2007

The Red Star for PS2 has had next to know coverage in the media in the run-up to its release, perhaps because it’s had a troubled development, originally aimed for a 2004 release, but again a small, unknown game has come up trumps to impress us, with an innovative style but hardcore retro roots.
 
 
  It’s based on The Red Star graphic novel created by Christian Gossett, but the story is probably the worst part of the game. There’s lots of confusing Russian names, and it just revolves around a Sorceress named Maya Antares and her bodyguard and resistance-fighter friend. A rumour goes around that the U.R.R.S. (the United Republics of the Red Star) is actually under the control of a Dark Lord and his chief assassin named Troika, and so you have to set off to stop their reign of tyranny.

Troika launches an attack on the rebels, and your party decides on a final fight to unite the scattered Republics of the Red Star and liberate them from Troika’s rule. It really isn’t communicated at all well in the game, as you can probably tell by that description, but thankfully, it’s relatively unimportant in the scheme of things. What matters is the unique action and style of gameplay that developer XS Games have decided upon.

Much of the game takes place in the style of a side-scrolling beat ‘em up, prompting satisfying melee combos, but it switches frequently to a top down view, emphasising projectile attacks from your character’s long range weapons, and attack evasion, in more of an Ikaruga style. With that said, melee attacks are far more than just button mashing, and while they’re comfortable to pull off, it never feels tedious – weapon choice against certain enemies is similarly important, and there’s always a blend of projectile and melee enemies in each section.

For the bosses, which appear very frequently in every stage, the top down view is much preferred, allowing you to dodge their very retro-styled projectile attacks, before sending a retort of your own their way. However, the side scrolling (which actually feels more like a third person model at times) allows you to plan ahead far more, with a longer field of view. What’s great is that you don't choose the camera angle, so the developers have forced you into a certain way of play for each level, and have chosen the enemies and their weapons accordingly – making each differently camera angled level feel really unique and really breaking up the gameplay well.


A cracking example of the side-scrolling-like view

There’s three characters to choose from, one unlockable, each with their own fighting style and special moves. It adds nice variety, and as the entire campaign can be played with a friend in co-op, it’s a necessary yet well implemented feature. Whether you opt for the hulking behemoth warrior, with his brutal combos (one superb example has you spear an opponent, before spinning them round and flinging them into other enemies) or the nimble scout with her powers of sorcery, the game remains challenging yet fun throughout.

Everyone loves Communists, so a Soviet inspired game is always going to go down well. Each level is structured in a similar way, regardless of the viewpoint, with an early wave of easy enemies, an introduction to the level’s boss, followed by horrific barrages of death-dealing, shield wielding warriors, and the final boss fight. The early skirmishes allow you to get a feel for what will no doubt be the camera angle not used in the previous level, and the first showing of the level’s boss (often a relatively easy pummel-the-glowing-target challenge) gets you warmed up well. You need to be too, because as you progress countless enemies of different types will face you. Some will be firing projectiles, others more defensive with shields and the rest all wishing to melee-attack you into insignificance. This leads you to have to quickly switch weapons, dodge assaults and choose the best melee attacks for the situation.

The combat system works well, and is suited to the third person close-up and personal feel overall, rather than the distant run and button mash formula of most retro side-scrollers. You have basic melee attacks that you can employ with Square, using directions and multiple presses to vary the effect. You can also lock onto targets using the triggers, and then press Square, which produces different attacks again, far stronger and more interactive than before. With the spear attack mentioned earlier, you have to use the trigger method to initiate it, but once the enemy is impaled, you can release the trigger and tap square repeatedly to slam them into the ground as many times as you press the button. If you keep the trigger held, you can launch the enemy off the edge of the level, or into other opponents.


Co-op mode makes the boss battles (top-down view this time) all the more frantic and fun

Defensively, you have very little apart from minimal movement, and it would have been nice to have a last ditch dodge option at the very least. Instead, you have a weak shield that can be deployed with X, that blocks about four melee or projectile attacks before being rendered useless for about five to ten seconds. However, at the end of each level, depending on the speed of completion and your health, you are awarded a grade and points. With these points you can upgrade weapons and attributes for your character, potentially making the shield far more powerful, and actually a viable option in battle, which it otherwise is not.

As with all scrollers, you’re primary concern is avoiding enemy projectiles, dodging in and out of patterned attacks from the game’s bosses. However, the use of melee attacks completely turns the ethos of the game on its head, because you have to have your eye on two completely different styles of attack. When mortar enemies enter the game too, you potentially have three separate avenues of attack coming at you, from above, in the distance, and close up next to you, and it’s here that the difficulty increases.

The bosses are never too difficult though, nothing that a few restarts won’t fix, but it’s the enemies they’re accompanied with that cause problems. You may have to shoot a glowing bulge on a Russian mech-suit, avoiding the usual waves of circular projectiles and lasers (as with all these games, just learning the pattern or attacks all but assures you success), but the game throws melee soldiers at you too, meaning you have to lock off the main weak point of the boss, and defend yourself at close range. Hardcore, never-say-die gamers will be overjoyed, particularly because when your health bar depletes it’s back to the start of the level to rethink your strategy, but for the novices among us, you’re likely to lose patience towards the end of the game.


The variety of enemies and their attacks keeps the gameplay varied throughout

While the difficulty level is high, each level is short, and that is a mercy on the developer's part. While it forces you into more pretty meaningless cutscenes, it allows each mission to feel really manageable, even after four or five restarts. From a personal viewpoint, something I often feel is missing from games today is the difficulty of older titles, where if you died that was it, back to the start of the level, and it that sense, for me at least, Red Star hits the mark.

The game is pretty short, as you’d expect, but as with all these sort of games, after about five levels you already feel like playing through again, which is testament to the fun and generally rewarding nature of the game. Each character is genuinely really different to play as, and so it would not be at all unlikely to complete the game two or three times without the enjoyment of each level suffering as a result. All the enemies are really varied too, but the game provides you with a built in guide as you meet each one, optional of course, which tells you their weak points and how best to tackle them.

The production values of The Red Star are refreshingly high – the graphics are really well polished (which is a relief after the lengthy and staggered development) and it really does ooze the addictiveness of old classics; the mood in general is one of reminiscence, but with an entirely new game and innovative concept. Audio-wise, the game is spot on, with repetitive, but well suited gun-fire, enemy death noises and music – again, in the style of older games.


A mini-boss bringing back memories of classic games

Despite that, it feels genuinely new and modern. There are plenty of rewards for completing the game which you don't get much nowadays too, including the playable third character of Maya Antares and an Arena mode, where you face series of enemies advancing at you, and have to fight them off until you've completed all the levels thrown at you. These in turn unlock various cheats, such as stopping your guns from overheating, infinite shields, and a harder difficulty mode, if you needed it. All these can be combined, to make the new difficulty just about doable, if you dedicate your gaming life to it.

The Red Star is a refreshing, innovative and genuinely enjoyable title, which has a polished and lovingly crafted feel to it. The difficulty, lack of story and unusual (by modern standards) general structure will by no means suit everyone, which is unfortunate, but for any fans of the wealth of retro genres covered by this, or those just wishing for a new co-op romp (which truly elevates the game into being on the verge of brilliant), it's well worth a purchase. It's also worth noting that it works flawlessly on our PAL PS3, which is an added bonus.

At an RRP of just £14.99, you really can't not buy this – it was a pleasure to review and is still a pleasure to play - what gaming is all about, and the competitive price is something Take2 and XS Games should be well applauded for.


- Mike Hazleton