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Review: Star Angel
Author: ChrisB
Added: 27/08/2003
Overall:
Average:7.25/10

Ah, another space game. I guess you have to save some planet or the universe from destruction, or something. I did a quick read of the text file and this is essentially what it's about:

There are two races, the Avenoids (good guys) and the Hemorrhoids (bad guys). The Avenoids were looking for Seven Gems, which were five in number and scattered across the galaxy. These gems would let someone have complete control of this galaxy. Unfortunately, the Hemorrhoids were looking for them too, and there was a war. Obviously, evil won the war, and now you have to use a ship that some guys built to get the gems back. If you win, there is peace throughout the whole galaxy, and if you lose you rest in peace with 20 virgins in paradise. Maybe. The story didn't really bother me so much.

Presentation:
Okay, on to the game. It looks above average, obviously someone had spent some time on it. The intro and title screen worked well, and the star background is good (even if the stars move jerkily ). Some nice effects, and has a clean look. 8/10 for presentation.

Graphics:
I chose to play the Arcade mode first. I chose my ship, and started playing. Now I was in the game. The ship graphics were clean and smooth, though not greatly detailed. Enemies are the same. Bullets are good, with fading trails for the Gem Ray (the only glitch is, after the main part of the gem ray is destroyed the trails suddenly go horizontal). It looks fine, but there's one big problem...

The window is too small!

I would be quite bothered if I didn't have a screen zoom facility. Please, don't make your screen so small unless you make it a full-screen game! I would've liked it bigger, in any case. I'm going to have to give the graphics 7/10.

Sound/music:
There is a different piece of music (I think, anyway) in each level, and all but one were composed by the author. The music fits in with what's going on, as do the sounds. There's nothing out of place here. There isn't actually a lot I can say, so I'll let 8/10 do the speaking.

Gameplay:
If any of you have played Fallen Angel's Solaroids, you'll be familiar with how this plays. The arrow keys move you in the direction of the arrow, as opposed to the 'Up to accelerate' movement of Asteroids. Given the tiny screen size, this is a wise move. However, the gameplay doesn't really change much throughout the levels. Keep tapping Shift to shoot, then press Control to fire your Gem Ray at enemies, collect the gems, then keep tapping Shift again. There is an option to strafe which proves useful in some of the enemy levels, but the toggling action can be awkward. A hold-down mode would be better and easier

In the Adventure mode, you have the opportunity to upgrade your ship as you collect credits and gems. However, you'll need to upgrade Star Points if you want to add anything powerful. New weapons and abilities give you some more ways of destroying the alien army. This increases longetivity, as does the fact that your progress is saved. Once you get the first crystal, the difficulty increases, and I died twice getting the second crystal and 6 times getting the third! However, since nothing really bad happens to you if you lose, it doesn't matter too much. Extra lives are also far too easy to get - perhaps the price should increase if you have lots of lives.

Overall, the gameplay is good, but it needed more work and would've benefited greatly from a larger screen size. 7/10

Lastability:
As I said earlier, this game is quite long and has a save option. You'll come back to this game because you know you can start where you left off. Unfortunately, I don't think you'll play it often once you complete the game, though you may try to buy everything. 6/10


Overall: Nice game, I enjoyed playing it, but it's far from perfect. 7/10



I think the Arcade mode should've been a V-Cade game.


Oh, there already are dozens of games like that already. Never mind.

Presentation:
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