Game Of The Month:
The STAR SOLDIER SERIES

STAR SOLDIER
(Taxan/Hudson Soft, January 1989)
game system: Nintendo Entertainment System

  You knew I had to review this one, eh? Here is the original Star Soldier for the old Nintendo Entertainment System. This game here was created by Hudson soft in 1986 for the Japanese Nintendo Disk Drive (the Famicon DD) and then it was converted to an cartridge here for us in North America if any of you care. Is the game worth dusting off and picking up though?

Star Soldier is all about a sole warrior's mission to rid the galaxy of the sinister Star Brain life forms that now control 16 huge areas of space. It's going to be tough but your starship, the Caesar, can pack some decent firepower so you can become a true Star Soldier of the galaxy. OK, that story sucked but maybe the actual game will be better?

Back in the late 1980's a lot of crappy shooters were released at that time for the NES (anybody remember Star Force, Mag Max, Xevious, and other junk out there that cause me to drink for example), but Star Soldier had a slight edge over the competition. This shooting game featured a cool power up system that gave you a shield and five way rapid fire shot at the same time once you are full strength. Not only that, it also changed the background music from a boring low key stuff to the more intense musical track to help bring you deeper into the action. The rest of the sound effects are standard shooter stuff and are not too exciting.

Another feature with Star Soldier that I'm not to thrilled with, is this weird map overlay system they have here. Sometimes your ship will go under a part of game's level map and this means that you won't get hit by that group of enemies and it sounds great in theory. The problem is you can't shoot in this state as well for whatever reason. Hudson tried to make the game too innovative but in the end this feature is just way too confusing and it happens too randomly. Unfortunately this annoying feature keeps Star Soldier from being a classic.

The graphics are pretty substandard even for the NES and that's pretty bad. The game is filled with several tiny, poorly drawn enemies and it's easy to get sick of the repetitive backgrounds here as well. The colours are also on the bland side with poor use of shading and lack of variety, but it's not all bad. The game has some cool looking Star Brain bosses and the game moves at a nice furious pace too.

Sure you got to love that name, but the first ever Star Soldier does definitely pales in comparison to today's standards thanks to it's weak graphics and sometimes unfair game play here. I think the game would have been much better if you didn't die instantly from a hitting a enemy and they got rid of that whole stupid mapping system. Hudson Soft really needs to hire me as a game tester, eh? To be fair though the game is still a fun fast pace classic shooter with some decent sounds, and a lot of challenge action here. The game may come with both minor and major problems holding it back but this Star Soldier game is easy to get it cheap for 1 to 5 bucks so it won't break your balls either.


Talk about a big boss, eh? Not bad for a 1986 shooter.

SUPER STAR SOLDIER
(Hudson Soft/Kaneko, 1990)

game system: NEC Turbografx-16

    I was surprised and excited when I saw this new game first in the previews back in early 90's, Super Star Soldier looked awesome especially when compared to the first game on the old NES and it looks like the TurboGrafx-16 was going to get another stellar shooter. After finally playing it "I was hooked!" First off this 4 meg game has some awesome game play features like four cool looking weapons, two special units, 2 and 5 minute modes (very cool by the way), and 8 stages in Normal mode plus the game also some fairly impressive sounds and some cool graphics here and there to add to the package. This game is sure to impress the shooter fan out there.

This Star Soldier hardly plays like the original at all, it plays more like Blazing Lazers which was released just a year before it. Blazing Lazers was one slick looking shooter that still has a decent cult following, but let's be honest here, it was just way too easy, this star soldier title here is anything but. Prepare yourself of 8 levels of prue craziness, because your enemies come from all sides of the screen (even from behind) and they are not afraid attack in large groups too. "Remember those useful Red Shields in Blazing Lazers?" No such luck here, folks! There are no shield power ups, you just get a weak bubble shield that only protects you from a couple of hits then you're dead. Once you play it a few times it's not so bad but don't expect to beat it on your first try though.


The Star Brains are back!

Even if you manage to beat the Normal game (and see the real pilot behind the Star Soldier's Neo Caesar), you can always play the 2 or 5 minutes Time Trial modes and get the high score (s). The Time Trials look like stages from the original Star Soldier too, complete with the Zeg bonuses to increase your overall score. Sadly, you can't save your high scores which kind of hurts.

Super Star Soldier graphics are sure a mixed bag of goods here. On one side you have some very detailed enemies, flashy weapons, and creative bosses all over the game. On the other hand some stages have very repetitive backdrops and some of these backgrounds are not too impressive to begin with like the boring buildings in stage 2 (the water base) and the flat dunes of world 3 (the desert) don't look so hot either (no pun intended).

Moving on to the music, this game easily has the best soundtracks of the long running series. Super Star Soldier tracks not only surpasses that of Blazing Lazers impressive music but this mostly heart pounding stuff fits the high energy game perfectly. Stages 2, 4, and 7 are some of my personal favorites.



Overall this shooter not only kept the Star Soldier name alive after a long absence, but it also created a legend that spawned many sequels and spin offs. Super Star Soldier has superior music, pretty good graphics, and solid game play. This little card is definitely a classic in my book and it will challenge anybody.

FINAL SOLDIER
(Hudson Soft, 1992)
game system: NEC PC Engine (Japan's turbografx)

    Because the Turbografx wasn't selling too well in North America, many Japanese PC Engine games were left in Japan.  Unfortunately this means that Hudson's Final Soldier didn't make the cut. I finally got chance to play it on my Turbografx thanks to a special import converter and it's not too bad as far as shooters go.

The game looks a lot like Super Star Soldier and even plays like it too but Hudson was kind enough to change a few things to end the series with a bang. Final Soldier has a new cool weapon set up were you can customize your cannons to fire different types of fire power. Mixing up your guns is a great reason to play again. You can also use a bomb attack if you have a side option available which help you clear up the screen but you also lose the side arm in process so you have to use it wisely.

The only thing really wrong with Final Soldier is the fairly weak looking graphics and poor sounds. Everything feels and looks rushed here in terms of visuals go because a lot of the enemy models like kind of flat or they just look too generic. Even the backgrounds are rather boring for a vertical shoot em up. The sounds don't fair much better either since most of the tracks sound like watered down versions of Super Star Soldier's music plus you can also expect a few bad voices as well.

Despite that fact this game has some weak presentation, the usual quick vertical action of the series is still present here. Final Soldier levels are action packed in design and the weapon system here is one of the best of the Soldier series. This game is worth importing for shooting fans.

SOLDIER BLADE
(Hudson Soft/Red, 1993)
game system: NEC Turbografx-16

   Because Final Soldier was supposed to be the last Star Soldier game, Hudson Soft created a new shooter that was more of a spin-off then a sequel.  Enter the Soldier Blade, a new starship ready to take on a huge armada fleet that was once earth's defensive army. The game features the same modes as previous games like the Normal mission and Time trials, but now things plays little differently.

You are now only aloud to get three different weapons this time (red, green, and blue), but if things aren't going to well then you can just sacrifice your gun and used as a bomb type weapon, up to three units can be stored at once you have to use them carefully.  For example; an blue unit gives you a laser shot that can be powered up normally or you can use up that blue unit as a thick laser blast that lasts about 10 seconds.  Unfortunately that's it for innovative features.

The weapons don't seem all that different from one another and their are no secondary power-ups like missiles and shields like there was in Super Star Soldier.  Also the graphics look kind of plain even for 1993's standards. A good example of the weak looks is the boring first half of level 4's forest area and the quiet dead space of level 5. I wasn't too fond of the sound effect either, the various lasers and explosions are nothing we haven't heard before plus the voice samples here are too scratchy. 

Overall this game is an rather average shooter, but still had it's good moments.  It had a nice building story over the course of the game and it's quite challenging too. Soldier Blade is no pushover.  The game also has some good music in certain levels, the graphics never get too boring like in Final Soldier plus there's always something to shoot on screen.  What the game doesn't offer is a deep weapon system. Soldier Blade not a very common game because it was released very close to the turbografx's death so this maybe an tough find now today. Worth picking up if your a hardcore shooter lover and you may like it better than I did.

STAR SOLDIER VANISHING EARTH
(Electro Brain/Hudson Soft, 1999)
game system: Nintendo 64


After six years of nothing, we finally get another Star Soldier game in the long running series. Special thanks mainly to Electro-brain for releasing it over here from Japan especially since these games don't always do so well here in North American. So how does the latest the Star Soldier stand up? Let's just say; "I love this shooter!"

The Zeograd Army from Soldier Blade is back and is ready to destroy the earth (or at least vanish it), but you got three Soldier ships to choose from this time.  The first ship is the standard Red craft, this ship is the only one that can fire from behind with enough power ups. This game is the official sequel to Soldier Blade despite its return to the Star Soldier name, there are 7 all new stages +3 hidden special levels with the usually 2 or 5 minute games that Hudson soft is famous for. The game has several all new features like the reflector shield that sends your enemies bullets right back that 'em (I really like that), plus there is new a combo system that can help increase your score. Another cool thing about this shoot them up is the Save feature, all your scores will be saved this time right to the game, and you don't even need a N64 Memorypak.

This Star Soldier may look similar to many other shooters of the past but it's all in 3-D this time with an overhead perspective. The graphics are now in 64-bit and they look pretty decent in 3D, but the graphics also lack the realisms of other new age shooters like Einhander and G-Darius for the Playstation, also up close some ships look blurry and messy thanks to the N64's poor texture spacing. However, the game still looks pretty colourful and there's plenty on screen enemies with no slowdown what so ever, plus these weapons look way better than Einhander's (you have to see that giant laser from the blue ship). The music and sounds are pretty good as well..... if you like futurist type music that's upbeat and stuff. The sound effects are good enough to gets it's point across with it's impressive selections of sound effects which includes various voice samples with loud explosions and robotic voices, but it's nothing too special.

    The game play in Star Soldier V.E. is easily the game's coolest feature. This game can be played both offensively and defensively thanks to your new reflector shield (R button). Each ship can perform the shield move and you can use it as much as you like but there is a 5 second delay before you can use it again, timing is very important. Plus we can't forget about Star Soldier V.E.'s interesting Combo scoring system, if you combo meter doesn't break then the more enemies you destroy them the bigger the bonus you'll earn, the combo system helps add replay value as your skills get better which especially works well in the time trials modes.

On the downside, I don't know why but there is a lack of changeable weapons meaning you can't change your ship and weapon set in the middle of a game. There's no multi-player mode either so your friends have to stay home, but the Star Soldier series never were like that anyways so this shouldn't be a big deal. You will like this game if you like the classic style shoot them ups of the past where the score is more important than anything else. You will hate it if you don't like the original arcade-like shooters in general. There's something else I must bring up here, it's nice to more game modes like the time trials in a shooter like the other Star Soldiers had. This is something that other great shooters like R type Delta and Einhander were missing. If you do get the game, you'll realize that Star Soldier Vanishing Earth is full of more replay value than most games in the discount bins, so don't pass it up.