Super Star Soldier (PCE, 1990)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-9 Challenge-8
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
+
Good bosses (some with multiple forms)
Some interesting weapons (twin flamethrowers, homing missiles)
Mini-bosses
Score attack mode
4 hit points (shield pods are rare though)
Speed adjustment on the fly
Smart bombs (as power ups, you can also make new ones by grabbing the same weapon again while fully powered up)
Can block bullets with side pods (which you can change positions of)
Obstacle courses with destructible walls
+/-
Unlimited continues
-
Trial & error (first mini-boss)
Generic art direction overall (rips off gradius and transformers)
Somewhat repetitive
No difficulty options (no options screen)
Some distracting backgrounds (oversaturated)
Hard to see some bullets (scorpion boss, fire and ring weapons obscure some bullets)
Fire weapon is near useless because you can't see enemy bullets
Red weapon is a lot more frequent than the others, lame ending
Fully powered up circle shot doesn't shoot backwards when it does at level 1
Some weak sound effects (explosions)
Somewhat uneven difficulty (green transformer (stage 5? of 8) is the hardest boss in the game)
Notes:
-Can tweak the enemy difficulty by accessing a hidden menu with a cheat code: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/tg16/589127-super-star-soldier/cheats
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5 Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
+
Good bosses (some with multiple forms)
Some interesting weapons (twin flamethrowers, homing missiles)
Mini-bosses
Score attack mode
4 hit points (shield pods are rare though)
Speed adjustment on the fly
Smart bombs (as power ups, you can also make new ones by grabbing the same weapon again while fully powered up)
Can block bullets with side pods (which you can change positions of)
Obstacle courses with destructible walls
+/-
Unlimited continues
-
Trial & error (first mini-boss)
Generic art direction overall (rips off gradius and transformers)
Somewhat repetitive
No difficulty options (no options screen)
Some distracting backgrounds (oversaturated)
Hard to see some bullets (scorpion boss, fire and ring weapons obscure some bullets)
Fire weapon is near useless because you can't see enemy bullets
Red weapon is a lot more frequent than the others, lame ending
Fully powered up circle shot doesn't shoot backwards when it does at level 1
Some weak sound effects (explosions)
Somewhat uneven difficulty (green transformer (stage 5? of 8) is the hardest boss in the game)
Notes:
-Can tweak the enemy difficulty by accessing a hidden menu with a cheat code: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/tg16/589127-super-star-soldier/cheats