 A cookie cutter throwback Strengths: Faithful homage to the Contras/Metal Slugs of the previous arcade generation
Weaknesses: Gameplay aged without any console enhancements; feels like an arcade game without the nostalgia--lazy homage
Summary: Making budget titles falls into two discrete categories these day, either an online downloaded title or some sort of title that relies on an outdated genre. Red Star falls into the latter half of the description, as if it were an OEM producer, it hits all the "mandatory" requirements of a schmup but without any additional enhancements on the side.
Red Star starts right away with out pretense on what it is all about. Shoot, shoot, and if you have a buddy with you, the more forgiving the gameplay can be. These days, how often do you have a physical person next to you that is not a sibling or if you aren't stuck in grade school. An online co-op component would have worked wonders but alas, a game stuck in development hell for five years would have been asking for too much. Graphics are what you expect it to be, what passes for good -- the benchmark being 5 years ago on the ps2. With the final fantasys and metal gears or even the odin spheres since then, we know the ps2 can push more polygons ESPECIALLY with the gpu not having to do 3d graphics. So it is a relative disappointment, and shooters need the graphics to be WOW instead of meh because it is bereft of any kind of narrative.
There is nothing more to elaborate either than a simple pick up and play title that deserves your $20 on a random day. Don't expect it to dust it off your shelf again unless you have a good friend coming over because the monotony just kills you with the flat graphics and ragged gameplay that deserves no further consideration when playing solo. Rather, save the $20 and try to find the ever increasing hard to find Metal Slug Anthology for a good side scroller shootem up.
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