Customer Reviews

Red Star

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having never read Christian Gossett's graphic novel, I can't comment on how well The Red Star for PS2 captures its mood and style. What I can say is this is a very fun action game that proves there's still life in Sony's last-gen console. When I saw this listed at Amazon as a $15 special and described as a classical hardcore 2D shooter, I decided I'd give it a try. Having spent some time with it, I would gladly have paid $20.

There's a polish to this title that most licensed games lack. The gameplay is finely tuned, and spans multiple old-school genres. Melee combat reminded me of Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, and other classic "walk to the right and beat up guys" arcade-style brawlers. You also have a missile weapon, which you can fire in one direction while moving in another, a bit like Smash TV, except instead of a second stick for shooting, you hold the R1 button and press fire to stay facing in the same direction when you fire. This works fine, but I would have liked using the right analog even better. Finally, the boss fights, where the screen gets filled with so many bullets you can barely see straight, brought back fond memories of Ikaruga. Similar to that game, the collision detection is pretty forgiving, allowing you to be grazed by closely-spaced enemy shots without taking a hit. A changing camera perspective guides you between the various styles of play, from side view to top-down, and sometimes somewhere in between.

A few additional gauges round out the gameplay. When guarding against attacks, you'll need to keep an eye on your shield to be sure it doesn't give out. Your gun can also overheat and become temporarily unusable if you fire it too much in a short period of time. And you can't overlook the protocol gauge, a special attack that does a ton of damage, but you have to charge it up with melee combat before you can use it. Upgrades are available when you complete a level, and your rank (C, B, A or S) determines how many upgrade points you get. Better performance equates to better upgrades, which gives you an edge in the later, more difficult levels, so it's worth it to restart from the beginning once you've gotten a little practice. There are a variety of enhancements, from new weapons to more powerful attacks, to reduced damage, and even improved heat-up and cool-down periods for the guns.

Starting out you have two playable characters to choose from, Makita (fast and agile but not particularly strong) and Kyuzu (slow but powerful), and a third (Maya) is unlockable. I started with Kyuzu and found him a bit like God of War, with a triple-button-press combo attack that delivers increasingly powerful blows and can knock down multiple enemies at once, every bit as responsive but not quite as fluid (Kyuzu is a bit slow compared to GoW's Kratos). I haven't done as much with Makita, but her attacks are very quick and it's easier to dodge around enemies with her, though it takes somewhat longer to bring them down. The characters all have their own set of basic attacks, special moves and weapons, so it's a new experience playing through the game with each one and it forces you to completely redefine your strategy. There are a variety of enemy types, each of which must be approached differently, and new ones are constantly encountered as you progress.

Once I learned to string together moves -- such as impaling a guy on Kyuzu's spear, then spinning around and launching him at another enemy, sending them both falling off the platform -- I found this game to be about as fun and entertaining as they come. The graphics, while nothing eye-popping, look good on the PS2, and the music matches the action without becoming distracting. I haven't been able to try the 2 player co-op mode yet, but I can only imagine it being even more enjoyable.

In short, I'm having a blast playing The Red Star, and am glad I took a chance on it.

The Red Star has finally arrived and it's a blast:

If you like fun and easy shooters than this game is for you.
If you like throw back arcade style action games like Contra and Gun Star Heroes than this game is for you.
If you are the newer generation of gamer who is used to easier, hand-holding, and friendlier type of games this one will kick you in the face and may not be your cup of tea.

Nevertheless, the bottomline is this:

1. It's fast paced and fun!
2. It's easy to figure out the controls!
3. It's great alone, but even better with a friend!
4. The action is intense and the music matches it well!
5. After years the game is finally here!
6. The price rocks!

The negative:

1. It's for an older system so it's not as sophisticated as the next generation games we are being spoiled with in 2007 versus 2004 when this game was supposed to come out.
2. Some levels and enemies may just be too tough.

Overall I say this is a must buy for PS2 action gamers. I will say I am still disappointed this never came out for the X-Box, but at least it's here and I know I'll be keeping this one in my library of games for years.

A few years back, third party publisher Acclaim (best known for providing a number of lame, licensed titles dating all the way back to the 8-bit era until finally going under in 2004) had a few titles in the works before going down, and recently a few of which have seen the light of day. Red Star is by far the best of the bunch, and it offers some classic run'n gun action to boot. Based on the respected graphic novel, Red Star takes place in an alternate reality Soviet Russia as you run, gun, and brawl your way through the game, which provides solid blasts of action throughout. To spice things up a bit, every now and then the game's perspective shifts to a top-down shooter-esque type while throwing another horde of enemies your way. Co-op play is where the real fun of Red Star is to be had though, as memories of Contra and Gunstar Heroes will quickly flood back in your memory. The only real downsides to Red Star is that the game is pretty short, can get repetitive, and at times has a very steep difficulty range. All that aside though, you can't beat what you get with Red Star for it's budget price, making this game pretty much a steal. All in all, if you want some more than solid action on a budget with a slightly different flavor, give Red Star a look.

This game is awesome. This game is truly awesome. I love this game!

If you're a fan of the old double Dragon style games that used to be popular before the PlayStation two made sandbox style games popular and the Xbox 360 made first-person shooters all the rage, then you'll find most of this game familiar. You wander around with one of two characters (w/ an unlockable 3rd when if you can beat the game) pounding the living daylights out of enemies with your melee attacks. What adds a whole another level to this game is that it takes this type of gameplay and merges it with contra style gunplay. For the most part you can run through gunning down enemies from a distance or running up close to/from with your weapon. The game does encourage melee fighting more though, because your gun can overheat and melee attacks build up your super attack. You don't have the ability to jump, but you do have a limited force field instead. It overheats after repeated melee attacks or really fast after gunshots, but it takes the place of jumping out of the way.

I said that it encourages melee attacks, but that's only really against the general enemies. One of the coolest things in this game, is that they throw in mid and final bosses which are gigantic contra style bosses. Even better, they get the bosses right! For example on some of the tanks you can decide to shoot the main tank body or you can blow off individual turrets to reduce the number of shells coming at you. It's annoying that some of the regenerate, but for the most part you actually get a sense of accomplishment. The bosses are also fairly fair. At least until you get to maybe three fourths in, it's more about memorizing patterns that it is twitch gameplay. They do mix things up though with the patterns being overlap by other patterns of fire which keeps things interesting and difficult. When you get down to the last boss, you'll be lucky if you can him out.

There are a few problems, the first being no save function in level. That means if you get an and boss and he defeat you, then you're in for another 30 min. or so of beating up on peons just to get another shot at it. Speaking of that the game isn't all that long, were only about 18 or 19 levels and some of them are just fighting a boss. You do get upgrade points penning on how well you complete a level and you can use those to buy upgrades to make things easier, but the system is very restrictive and only let you buy things in between levels. So basically if you're doing good enough you can afford the upgrades you doing well enough the really don't need them in a lot of cases. This means you may have to voluntarily quit a mission and restart to get a better score or you'll have a hard time later on. You do get to see your final mission score before it saves so you can restart, but you don't see it in level and if you think you've blow in there's no easy way to quit you basically have to allow them to kill you and then reload. Bummer.

The end boss in this game is a monster. If you can't beat him though, you're not missing a whole lot. The extra character is interesting, but nothing Earth shattering. There is a bonus arena mode you get access to, but playing it for a while just reminded me how few moves I had and how much I preferred fighting the big bosses. If you do manage to beat an arena with a top ranking, you can unlock some cheats in the main game like no gun overheating or unlimited shields.

All in all a true hidden gem of a game. It could have used a bit more polish, less load times, and maybe some more enemy diversity in the peons, but at the price you can get it now, buy the thing!

A little bit of history is needed to understand this game. The Red Star is a comic book series based in Soviet Russia shortly after World War II, involving sorcery, technology and heavy warfare. The game is based on the same premise and was to be released right around the time the first comic series ended. However, Acclaim went bankrupt, and the game was shelved.

Fastforward to 2007, where the game is released as a budget title. In historical context, the game was to rely on the comic book series for explanation (Think X-Men). Without it, the game is sparse on story and expects you to know what is going on.

I'm not going to claim that this game is for everyone. Far from it. This game is a hybrid between a shooter in the vein of Strikers 1945, Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga, etc., and a brawler, i.e. Final Fight, Alien Vs. Predator, and Streets of Rage.

You truly need to be a fan of both (not one or the other) to throughly enjoy this game. The game, if broken into two games, isn't very good at either, but the fusion of both makes it quite enjoyable.

You start out with two different characters, Makita and Kyuzo, with Maya Antares as an unlockable character. The style of gameplay changes greatly between Makita and Kyuzo - Makita is quick, but lacks power in her melee attacks and loses health easily. Kyuzo is a brawler, takes punishment just as easily as he delivers it, but is exceptionally slow.

The combat scenes are generally in 2.5D, and shooter elements are strictly overhead view.

The game is relentless and extraordinarily well paced, and quickly changes from melee to shooter sequences. Some sequences, including bosses, involve both. The game has no qualms about introducing a new enemy, and quickly launching several to attack in the next melee sequence. The game can be downright sadistic in later levels, given how many bosses there are and how few health packages are available.

There is a small RPG element in that depending on how well you fare throughout the level, you get ranked, and based on that rank you can buy upgrades to your weapons. Naturally, the better you do, the more you can buy.

Sound is less that stellar, but passable. There's a funky techno beat that isn't memorable in any way. The sounds are generally limited to grunts, screams and weapon discharge - they're clear and simple. Given how the gameplay ramps up, it's a blessing in disguise as the sound even as simple as it currently is can be overwhelming.

Graphics are dated. They look like they're straight out of 2004. Some backgrounds are horribly pixelated, but very rarely will you stop to admire the scenery (I only noticed my third time through).

Controls are good... not great. One gets the feeling that the controls are geared towards the xbox controller and not PS2 controller. They're easy enough to pick up. The weapon change control is mapped to the D-pad, which is downright obnoxious when in the heat of battle.

Replayability depends on the person. With two distinct characters and an unlockable third character, the game may have no replayability or infinite replayability. Given my personal preference, I lean towards the latter.

Buy? Do not buy if you're not a fan of *both* genres. This game won't make you a fan. Brawlers have gone the way of the dodo, and shooters are very much a niche genre. This game very much pays homage to both, at the expense of newer gamers.

This game is based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel of the same name by Christian Gossett (Example:Red Star, Vol. 1 - The Battle of Kar Dathras Gate). This game has been delayed time and time again and was originally slated to be released on the PC, X-Box, and PS2. The game is currently only going to be released on the PS2 although if I remember correctly there was a PC demo some time ago.

The game feels like equal parts of Gunstar Heroes, Einhander, and The Bouncer. The integration of melee combat and shooter features is done well but from a gameplay standpoint it's nothing completely original although it's certainly one of the better examples. I like that you can level up your various abilities on your chosen character which adds enough variety to make it rise above a large number of run and gun games and it also allows for a certain amount of replay value by being able to try different leveling schemes with the 3 different characters. The graphics are alright, they're good for this genre but again they aren't ground breaking by any means. The graphics feel like a PS2 spin on Einhander from the PS1, which to me is a good thing. There's plenty of levels and a decent amount of challenge, but ultimately this game suffers from the same replay issues that most shooters do and that's where this game really fails for me. It's not like R-Type Final where there is a ton of unlockables that keep you playing it. Shooters are a style of game that really starve for replayability because from the get go they really aren't that complex or involved. After a couple of play throughs you will be done, again with the leveling up there is a little bit more calling you back but ultimately it isn't enough. You can milk it a little bit more given that the multiplayer is pretty sweet but this game isn't going to get the mileage most other games are.

At $20 you really can't argue though, it's a pretty good buy, especially if you're a shooter fan. Personally I would pick up R-Type final but this game has it's own charm to it and does provide some fun gameplay.

I went into the red star thinking "man I hope this game is good" but wow. I think the best way to describe the red star is take your favorite beat 'em up and seamlessly cross it with your favorite top down shooter and presto you have the red star in a nut shell. the games graphics are dated even for ps2 standards but the gameplay is flawless controls are spot on the and the enemies never feel cheap so if you die its your own damn fault. the only con I can think of is that the game needs a checkpoint system some levels go on for to long and you only have one life to make it through so its mess up once back to the start. I personally find that cool as it adds to the challenge but I can see others getting frustrated about it.
look this game has a long list of positive reviews for a reason pick it up you wont be disappointed.

I just started playing this game, and thought, it was hard initially, but it got easier, as I learned the moves, and special moves, and all the other nuances, that make this game - just so fun..! Overall, learning curve to get moving in this game, is about 5 mins, mashing just a few buttons, but it gets really fun, when you can pull off combos and special moves, really make the game - so much more worth, playing.. I recommend it to anyone who just likes to kill things and move on..

This game is an incredibly fun action shooter title. It is definitely worth the price Amazon is offering for it. Support the Red Star, support Chatterbox, and most importantly of all, you should support Ara Shirinian. BUY IT!

Don't let the red stars price tag scare you, just because it's the cheaper than wii carnival games doesn't mean it's anywhere as bad. With solid fighting and shooting elements, the red star is a great game. It gets pretty tough after a few levels but it's still fun, even more fun with a friend.

If you're looking for a fun, solid face melting game this is a great choice. Chatterboxers unite!