IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF FUN, MAV?
Continuing this series of reviews, it's time to hit the shmup scene and things get dangerous in Binarystar Infinity.
Don't let the graphics fool you.
Depsite its apparently simple look, the core gameplay of Binarystar Infinity is as intense as some contemporary classics like Zanac A.I. where speed and simple-but-surprising bullet patterns created a challenge combined with fast scrolling screens. You're granted a variety of three weapons to provide support: Your default weapon which is a frontal vulcan that increases its width on each power up, the Laser beam which is another frontal but powerful weapon and the 5 way spread shot that has a rebound capability on full power allowing it to bounce on the floor and ceiling. The challenge factor of the game verges on the hard-but-fair level despite of being fast and sometimes overwhelming with those asteroid segments. The only unfair instances is in one of the last levels where do you have to take down tentacles while avoiding collisions with the surface, which is sometimes hard to know what's part of the background and what's the surface, giving a little "Silver Surfer Dilemma". The game is somewhat gentle with the 1up dropping rate as it throws item carriers constantly allowing you to recover fast and even stay on the game a little longer.
Its do or die when it comes to a one-on-one confrontation like this.
Each stage has its respective boss fight. Some bosses have attack patterns that require both memorization and a good weapon to attack while you're out of their reach. Like the first boss that will try to ram you after firing or crush you with a laser wall as they split in two, and you have to memorize when the beam blinks so you can cross with no harm. Also, the speed of their attacks intensifies as they're close to death.
This game is one of those shmups that require a hard challenge for trophy hunters since some of the trophies require to complete from a stage to the whole game without getting hit a single time, someting quite difficult due to the speed of the game's pace. If you are asking for challenging trophy progression, then you'll be right at home.
YOU ARE THE GREAT AND EXCELLENT PLAYER!
AND YOU ARE SPLENDED SPPERRIOUR CONSPCUOUS AND PERSISTENT PLAYER!
LET'S TRY ANYTHING ELSE WITHOUT THE VIDEO GAME
After surviving 8 intense and action packed combat zones, the game will end. But you'll get two new modes to try on.
Survival and Boss Rush are now waiting for your challenge. The question is "are you up to the challenge?".
How much and how far can you survive?
Survival is the first unlockable of this game, and like its name implies, the main objective here is to reach the highest score and the longest time possible. You'll probably reach 30 minutes easily at the point of committing suicide to end the run since the game drops 1ups very often. Also, you can oversaturate the ship with rotating orbs, creating a "wall" around your ship.
It's you against all the bosses. Clear the first loop to leave in glory.
Boss Rush, the second unlockable, pits you against the game's bosses until you run out of lives. You'll be getting items in good enough numbers for fast powering up and recovery if you lose a life.
Sooooomething eeeeevil's waaaaatching over yooooouuuuu.
Coming from the sky abooooove, and there's nothing you can dooooo.
Rather than using 3D or SNES like 16-bit art, the game uses a very simple black, white and red palette to do the graphics in a "1-bit" style. But that doesn't mean it has to limit itself to an Atari 2600 styled sprites. Instead, we have a very elaborate universe with well detailed combat zones, from artificial structures to organic creatures. It looks more like a homebrew MSX computer game. A solid, well done homebrew for an old computer. It's hard to pull a great work with very limited resources, but Ricci Cedrid Design made it, making it worthy of an applause. You can change this horizontal view for a vertical one, but it will leave black spaces on the sides without wallpapers to fill the voids left.
The music, is more of the Electronic style that borrows influences from Giorgio Moroder's "Pre-Top Gun" era, Gamma and Tangerine Dream as it also cues some 80's Synth beats without being as 80's galore as Endocrisis or Star Hunter DX. I want to think of this combination as if the MSX computer had a hypothetical CD add-on of some sorts.
TRIVIASTAR INFINITY
- The name of the game comes from the term "Binary Star" which is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other.
So that's how you get that trophy, huh?
- The "Weapon of Choice" trophy baffled both PSN Profiles and TrueTrophies since the game doesn't specify which weapon is the Railgun. Well, here's the answer: Use your default gun, that's the Railgun.
We've just finished Part II, Nina.
There's still more games to review here.
Despite some minimal flaws, Binarystar Infinity is a nostalgia-packed shooter that homages the classics with enough speed to challenge both newcomers and experts alike in pure Compile style.
The "Lea Scale" hits the positives again.