Super Stardust HD reviews

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:14 pm

Since the theme of the last stardust thread was 'preview'; I figured I should start a new thread.
Also, when it comes out on 29th; if any of you will buy the game from the playstation store; and wish to post your impressions; please do it in this thread. I will forward your comments to the developers.

Sequel is also considered, so your feedback may be useful.

Anyway, here's the first review courtesy of eurogamer:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=77354

http://www.pro-g.co.uk/ps3/super_stardu ... eview.html

EDIT: another review added.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:56 am

Another positive early review for this shmup, this time from IGN.

edit: IGN have now posted a second opinion review also.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:01 am

Question:

any chance to see it ported over XBLA?

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:07 am

Sadly, no

Sony's got exclusive rights to publish the stardust title on PS3.

What the heck, I might get blu-ray some day anyway..

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:33 pm

MRJ, are you in any way involved with the development of this game?

You talk like you've actually worked on it

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:36 pm

I like the way one of the reviewers states the game as the most fun he's had on PS3

Now all we need is updated versions of Banshee and Overkill and I'll be well happy

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:29 pm

Nah
bring me updated versions of Uridium 2 and Apidya

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:53 pm

Shatterhand wrote:MRJ, are you in any way involved with the development of this game?

You talk like you've actually worked on it

My involvement is not really worth noting. I gave some ideas and playtested early prototype last december. In the credits I'm included as the first name in the 'special thanks to' -list.

I've known the project leader almost for 20 years and worked on many other projects. I did not work on this project because at the time I was bound to other project I did not want to leave.

Ps. Uridium 2? I'd rather play an update from the first uridium..

bcass · Post by **bcass** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:11 pm

Shatterhand wrote:Nah
bring me updated versions of Uridium 2 and Apidya

Absolutely. This game is crying out for a new outing on new hardware.

Those reviews for SSHD look promising. The Amiga originals were always lacking in the playability department IMO. All gloss and no substance.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:15 pm

Shame that the man behind it, Andrew Braybrook, haven't worked in a single game for more than 10 years now.

It seems he still works as a programmer, but in a insurance company or something like that. He also doesn't have the long hair anymore, heh.

MJR, did you use to post in any Amiga forum in the past? I don't know, I just seem to link your nick to someone else....

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:04 pm

Yes, I posted in http://eab.abime.net under nick cai24.
But haven't had much time for that recently.

The game is now out in the US. Anyone here got it yet?

aesthetik · Post by **aesthetik** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:59 pm

I downloaded it a few hours ago, and I'm absolutely loving it so far. Great gameplay, nice graphics, and awesome music - I'm glad it has a good soundtrack, as that's one of the main deterrents of me getting better at Geometry Wars. I've unlocked all but the last planet, so I haven't seen all of the game, but I like the difficulty level thus far. Also, I've never played the other iterations of the game, but it was super easy to pick up and start blasting.

I'll try and get my buddies to come over so I can check out the co-op mode; I'm really interested to see how that plays out.

Anyways, I highly recommend the game, I think it's better and has more longevity than Blast Factor, even though I really really like Blast Factor.

MJR, do you know if there are any plans for add-on content?

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:25 am

I don't remember them telling me anything about that. Maybe we'll have to wait and see how well this sells.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 1:48 am

I bought the game today, and it's exceeded my expectations.

The gameplay is interesting and intense. I would describe it as next gen Sinistar meets Geometry Wars. With what could end up being the shmup-soundtrack-of-the-year (turn up the music volume with a good set of speakers or headphones). It's also one of the best looking shmups I've ever seen (I'm running it at 1080i, but it's supposed to natively render all the way up to 1080p). The whole production, top to bottom, is a testament imo that Housemarque have improved by leaps and bounds since The Reap.

I rarely make blanket recommendations, but I think everyone with a PS3 should buy this shmup, it's amazing value for the tiny price it's being sold for.

Any folks here with a PS3 who want some friendly leaderboard score competition in Super Stardust, can send me a PlayStation 3 friend request. My PSN Name is Psyvariar. Good job Housemarque!

JJG · Post by **JJG** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:15 pm

No online or downloadable content?

Goemar · Post by **Goemar** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 2:04 pm

I've played and I must say its really good. However fist time you fight a new boss you normally die as learning the patterns is essential.

It would be nice for a boss mode or something so you could learn how to ace them.

Still a very good game. Its just a shame NO game seems to support using your own music on it (like the sad person I am I think DoDonpachi music would sound great on this).

I've yet to play the Co-op yet (how does one move round the planet on this? Unsure how it will work yet). But overall the game mechanics seem flawless just a shame a few bonus things can't be dowloaded like extra planets, ship skins, boss mode and online play would be fantastic.

Shocky · Post by **Shocky** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 11:30 am

SSD HD is super intense, I love it. The original Amiga game from 1993 was ace, nice to see how that simple and addictive old school asteroid bashing has updated to 60fps HD and millions of polygons and particle effects. The original and its later incarnations already looked amazing, but this HD version really paints a beautiful picture of the future of gaming. The first planet's music is catchy, the second one didn't impress me so much (could be because I was concentrating on the new surroundings). Didn't get to the third planet yet.

The game is so full of nice touches, like gaming references dating from 1984 ("Lave") to the contemporary memes ("Massive damage")... and old demoscene type of greetz. Actually from the credits I realized that I know three of the creators, but I had thought they were just doing some boring snowboarding games. If I had known they were actually making an (arena) shmup, I'd have pestered them with suggestions...

I give this one 11 out of 10 for the time being. Maybe the fun will be short-lived, but then again, I don't have time to play one game for too long nowadays anyway. Today is especially painful, I downloaded the game yesterday but don't have ANY time to improve my score for the next 1,5 weeks... Dammit I need my fix!

Good thing that the game doesn't rely on motion sensors like Blast Factor, this will make a great co-op game with Sixaxis + Dualshock. I heard that the firepower doubles when the two ships are so near each other that the energy link appears between them.

The best moment: To see suddenly dozens of those red impact indicators appearing everywhere and trying to escape in panic while blasting the way clear! That's just an epic feeling.[/b]

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:28 am

Wow, this American IGN review, claims that it's actually better then Geometry Wars!

:

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/800/800566p1.html

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:38 am

Oh, I love this quote from the IGN review, it really sums up their knowledge of shmups:

"Over the last two years, there hasn't been a single arcade shooter that competes with the Xbox 360's Geometry Wars."

LOLx100!!!

mulletgeezer · Post by **mulletgeezer** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:42 am

I'm surprised at how positive the reviews for this game are. I find this game to be boring, lacking intensity and far too easy. The level design is extremely bland, the weapons are pointless, the music is eurocheese. Also a twinstick robotron control method doesn't work at all for an asteroids game. I managed to reach the fourth world on my second attempt at this game, basically by slowly moving in one direction and always targetting the nearest rock/enemy. The only slightly tricky part is when enemies warp in around your ship, but the boost move makes that very easy to avoid. The original amiga game is in a different league to this one.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:47 pm

mulletgeezer wrote:I'm surprised at how positive the reviews for this game are. I find this game to be boring, lacking intensity and far too easy. The level design is extremely bland, the weapons are pointless, the music is eurocheese. Also a twinstick robotron control method doesn't work at all for an asteroids game. I managed to reach the fourth world on my second attempt at this game, basically by slowly moving in one direction and always targetting the nearest rock/enemy. The only slightly tricky part is when enemies warp in around your ship, but the boost move makes that very easy to avoid. The original amiga game is in a different league to this one.

Really? That's the first negative review I've heard for this game. I would love to try it out for myself, but none of the PS3 demo units in stores out here have PSN games for play, which, IMO, is pretty dumb of either the stores or Sony (or both).

@TWE, yeah, IGN are shmup ignorant; but they cater to the mainstream like every other major gaming site.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:44 pm

MJR, just to let you know, I also used to post at EAB, but haven't posted there for ages.

Have you heard about Paul "The Green Amiga Alien" passing away? Very sad...

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:21 am

Yes, I read about it on my last visit; though I must confess that he's not familiar to me. Still, it's not very uplifting when you go to amiga/c64 news site and first thing you see is an obituary (i.e. richard joseph for example).
I guess we just have to get used to it in the future..

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:54 am

I have forwarded your comments to the developers, also the negative one!

antime · Post by **antime** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:24 am

The Consolevania guys weren't too impressed with SSDHD either in the last episode.

MJR, why don't you tell them that what we really want is an updated version of The Reap on PSP.

MJR · Post by **MJR** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:27 am

They know that it is wanted. I've been asking it many times over.
But unless sony wants it too it ain't gonna happen. I think the only reason why stardust hd ever happened was because their old friend at team17 was lobbying it hard to sony, or at least so I heard.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 11:39 am

I've played it and enjoyed it immensely. Yes, I do miss the old Asteroids-style controls but if you try not to compare it to the originals and take it as in on its own terms its probably the most fun to be had on the PS3 at the mo IMO. I'll try and post my impressions on DAM soon.

I managed to reach the fourth world on my second attempt at this game, basically by slowly moving in one direction and always targetting the nearest rock/enemy.

I find that very hard to believe.. I didnt play that long but the game gets incredibly tense very soon with those 'chaser' worm enemies which NEED TO BE RUN AWAY FROM. Not to mentionthe likelihood of blimmin great asteroids landing on your ship from a great height. At least in the games I played, staying still was certainly not an option..

Mike B

overkill55 · Post by **overkill55** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:25 pm

I watched the trailer for this game and while the visuals look amazing (which they should), the game seems a little one-dimensional

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:08 pm

Super Stardust HD review now up on DAM so pop on over for my impressions

http://www.stickycarpet.com/dam/damsshd.htm

Mike B

ahnslaught · Post by **ahnslaught** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:01 pm

I got this last week, and I am totally loving it so far. I seem to be drawn to it for at least one more go whenever I turn the ps3 on.

Kinda tricky at first since I never really enjoyed 2 stick shooters before, but definitely getting the hang of it. Once you do, it's easy to get a rhythm going. As for criticism, I think I might prefer a system where you lose all or at least some of your powerups after you die, because by the middle of the 3rd planet, I'm at 100% on all three weapons with tons of bombs. It's just a battle against increasing numbers of incredibly easy to kill enemies, which makes it rather easy when your weapons are constantly powered up. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, but hey, aren't we all?

How are you guys going with it so far? My high score's just over 45mil, which is downright shameful compared to whatever #1 is...isn't any of you guys on this board, is it?