GameTrailers has a meaty preview of Xbox 360's Project Sylpheed -- well, it's meaty for anyone who hasn't downloaded the demo yet. Reaction has certainly been mixed about the demo, which can either be the fault of the level choice demo or of the game itself (if it wasn't for the HUD telling you where to shoot would anybody know where the bad guys are?); however, at a next-gen budget price of $39.99, we're far more lenient in our judgment. Imagine if Katamari Damacy had been $49.99 or Shadowrun was $29.99, we think things may have ended quite differently -- price matters!
For space shooter fans who are looking for the next Wing Commander (and, no, Wing Commander: Arena does not count), Project Sylpheed may just fit the bill at a budget price. We'll wait and see on July 10 how the game actually is (although we may be a little busy). We're a little upset that the GameTrailers video calls it a dying genre, we like to think of it as an extended leave. Would it really be so hard to make the Kilrathi cool again?
The game already looks impressive as it is now. I remember the old Slypheed on Sega CD that I owned and I'm ecstatic that they're bringing this back, and by none other than Square-Enix. I had Einharder as well, and that was a really good game. This looks like what Star Fox should be like in terms of scale and improved upon. It reminds me as a space shooter version of Ace Combat. I miss these old space shooters, and I can't wait to get this when it comes out.
Its a genre ripe for rejuvenation. It was always a great (but kinda limited) single player genre.. but with the development of broadband and more complex online battle games like battlefield its ripe for a multi-player rise.
Games like Xwing VS tieFighter and Allegiance showed how cool and tactical a space shooter could be.. but the bandwidth and userbase wasnt quite there to make them big hits.
Plus everyone dumbed them down too much into simple blasters like Jedi Starfighter.. now everyone is used to grown up, more complex mechanics like battlefield it should be much easier to make a more complex game, with more complex rules.
WIng commander was never as good as the x-wing series though...
Sorry, this demo was jumbled crap. And I'm the kind of guy that will buy almost any space combat game. I just couldn't tell what the hell was going on very easily.
I already have this (yay for Europe getting something early!) and it's awesome. Takes a little bit to get used to but if you liked the demo you should like the full game.
It's not flawless though: no MP; you die from crashing into anything (annoying); and you can't change your arsenal without restarting the whole mission (some missions take place over several stages).
You can't beat the $40 price tag and it takes me back to my StarFox days on the 64, with next-gen graphics that don't disappoint. I can't wait for July 10th to pick up this gem.
I love Space Shooters, most aerial combat games actually. StarFox64 is probably my favortie game of all time, and I loved the underrated Crimson Skies on the orginal Xbox. I want a 360 sooo bad, but I feel like now is a risky time to buy one.
If you can make it through the tutorials and play through the first mission a few times you'll definitly get the hang of what's going on. I'm an old school gamer, back in the 8-bit days, so if I can figure it out anyone can.
I thought it was a blast, it reminded me of old Robotech or Starblazers cartoons, being plunked into the middle of one of those anime battles with thousands of ships. The fact that at first you don't know what to shoot actually makes the game feel *more* realistic, with so much going on the screen at once.
Tips:
- Use the radar and alternate radar views (down on the d-pad). You will need them.
- Make sure you know how to find the refueling ship (the blue dot, once you figure out the radar it's cake to find).
- Master the A+B combo to auto-rotate your ship to lock onto the closest target.
- After clearing the first wave of fighters go after the big enemy ships (the green ones).
I don't have the best twitch reflexes but found Slypheed pretty easy once you figured out the controls.
this is unrelated but PLEASE get rid of that Carl's Jr. add. It always opens up on me as I'm scrolling down. That is probably one of the most intrusive adds Ive seen and it needs to be gone.
Am I the only gamearts fan absolutely upset at them not getting their due for this game? It's really pissing me off on a level of a fan that's making me extremely angry. No, the banner ads are motherfucking liars. This is not from the makers of Final Fantasy. It's published by them, yes. Uh huh.
But it's FROM the people who fucking brought you Lunar and Grandia.
Being in Ireland, I got to play the game properly (and I got to pay the wonderful rip off price of €65 ($90) for it (Yes, ninety dollars. More than twice the US price. Doesn't Europe just RULE?)
Anyway, ripoff aside, the game is very good but it requires a bit of getting used to and is far too prone to people giving up on it. The good news:
-The demo mission is not part of the game. Surprise! There are a few escort missions, but not this one.
-Reasonable learning curve. Steep, but reasonable.
-Adjustable difficulty. Easy mode should calm a lot of people down.
-Generally flawless graphics, looks very nice in HD.
The bad news:
-Framerate can drop when things get REALLY hectic
-Some acheivements are glitched (ie, you can miss them (though you can get them again later))
-Infrequency of save points
-You lose all of your score if you fail after a mission update and restart from the update instead of the whole mission.
My rating: 7.5, definitely worth a buy. But the most important thing is not so much giving the game a chance as giving it three. Once you pick it up you'll be totally fine.
I agree with Fedule, #16, if you play the demo through two or three times *AFTER* doing all the tutorials, then it becomes pretty easy. I wouldn't call the control scheme that steep and I actually found this game easier than ArmoredCore4.
I'm glad it's a more hectic-paced game, means you actually have to acquire some skill to play the game, though not a ton considering how badly my twitch skills are in FPS games. I prefer it over a rail-based shooter or something that just requires button mashing.
They could have picked an easier level for the demo but then you'd be able to play through the demo in a few minutes, where's the fun in that? This way the demo can last a few hours at least. You actually get a pretty good feel for what it's capible of.
I really wanted to like the demo (and the game itself) at first but couldn't manage to after a few tries.
Until I had the brilliant idea of remapping practically all controls away from their default and into much more reasonable positions.
From there on out I loved the game. But it is a really bad demo.
Most people won't buy all the available equipment and then outfit their ship and especially people coming from Freespace (which is IMO still the undisputed king of space-shooters) will need to "re-think" their approach to the genre.
Sylpheed is MUCH more arcadey and much more forgiving. You will NOT save all or even most of the cargo-ships and you shouldn't really give a damn about them either. And enemy fighter's aren't the tough one-on-one rivals that you used to know. Their cannon-fodder. They randomly respawn in the dozens and basically act as nothing more than justification for having near-three-digit missle locks.
Select your anti-ship missle, head for a green ship, hold the lock on Button until you reach four locks, fire. Then blast it with your anti-ship gun until it dies. Rinse, repeat.
If you get a message about new enemy fighters arriving, immediatly break for them. Because they always spawn in a tight pack and remain that way until reaching the battle. So look for the largest group on your radar, hit the afterburner and select your anti-fighter missiles. You can quickly get up to one-hundred locks out of a group of fighters. Let the missiles go and head back to the main-ships you were attacking. Don't stay to watch how many fighters you killed, just keep an eye on the counter.
You can finish the mission with no pressure, maybe even lose all but one cargo ship (if you haven't gotten it down yet) and still receive a B-Ranking no problem.
I enjoy the game for what it is, while my expectations were low seeing how long it's been since the last great space-operas =(
I'm disappointed that the game is not a regular overhead shooter like previous Silpheed games. The fact that it's first-person leaves me wondering what this even has to do with the old Silpheed games (probably why they changed the spelling).
octoberasian, I hope you played the PS2 Silpheed, because that was the proper re-imagining of the original game.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Breserk @ Jun 30th 2007 10:40AM
We'll see.
octoberasian @ Jun 30th 2007 10:49AM
The game already looks impressive as it is now. I remember the old Slypheed on Sega CD that I owned and I'm ecstatic that they're bringing this back, and by none other than Square-Enix. I had Einharder as well, and that was a really good game. This looks like what Star Fox should be like in terms of scale and improved upon. It reminds me as a space shooter version of Ace Combat. I miss these old space shooters, and I can't wait to get this when it comes out.
t_m @ Jun 30th 2007 11:13AM
Its a genre ripe for rejuvenation. It was always a great (but kinda limited) single player genre.. but with the development of broadband and more complex online battle games like battlefield its ripe for a multi-player rise.
Games like Xwing VS tieFighter and Allegiance showed how cool and tactical a space shooter could be.. but the bandwidth and userbase wasnt quite there to make them big hits.
Plus everyone dumbed them down too much into simple blasters like Jedi Starfighter.. now everyone is used to grown up, more complex mechanics like battlefield it should be much easier to make a more complex game, with more complex rules.
WIng commander was never as good as the x-wing series though...
Harlock @ Jun 30th 2007 11:39AM
Wing Commander with anime's history and style. It's all good :-)
AirIntake @ Jun 30th 2007 12:11PM
Sorry, this demo was jumbled crap. And I'm the kind of guy that will buy almost any space combat game. I just couldn't tell what the hell was going on very easily.
zozart @ Jun 30th 2007 12:35PM
I already have this (yay for Europe getting something early!) and it's awesome. Takes a little bit to get used to but if you liked the demo you should like the full game.
It's not flawless though: no MP; you die from crashing into anything (annoying); and you can't change your arsenal without restarting the whole mission (some missions take place over several stages).
Still, definitely worth it.
Crazylink @ Jun 30th 2007 1:11PM
If I assume it's like Star fox mixed with Robotech for the Gamecube, would I be wrong?
Brandon @ Jun 30th 2007 1:18PM
You can't beat the $40 price tag and it takes me back to my StarFox days on the 64, with next-gen graphics that don't disappoint. I can't wait for July 10th to pick up this gem.
FAZER @ Jun 30th 2007 1:27PM
I love Space Shooters, most aerial combat games actually. StarFox64 is probably my favortie game of all time, and I loved the underrated Crimson Skies on the orginal Xbox. I want a 360 sooo bad, but I feel like now is a risky time to buy one.
Shawn O @ Jun 30th 2007 2:14PM
If you can make it through the tutorials and play through the first mission a few times you'll definitly get the hang of what's going on. I'm an old school gamer, back in the 8-bit days, so if I can figure it out anyone can.
I thought it was a blast, it reminded me of old Robotech or Starblazers cartoons, being plunked into the middle of one of those anime battles with thousands of ships. The fact that at first you don't know what to shoot actually makes the game feel *more* realistic, with so much going on the screen at once.
Tips:
- Use the radar and alternate radar views (down on the d-pad). You will need them.
- Make sure you know how to find the refueling ship (the blue dot, once you figure out the radar it's cake to find).
- Master the A+B combo to auto-rotate your ship to lock onto the closest target.
- After clearing the first wave of fighters go after the big enemy ships (the green ones).
I don't have the best twitch reflexes but found Slypheed pretty easy once you figured out the controls.
Overgauss @ Jun 30th 2007 4:51PM
Ok. This is gwn.
atg @ Jun 30th 2007 5:04PM
this is unrelated but PLEASE get rid of that Carl's Jr. add. It always opens up on me as I'm scrolling down. That is probably one of the most intrusive adds Ive seen and it needs to be gone.
Brad Lee @ Jun 30th 2007 6:41PM
I second Airintake's, uhhh, take.
I tried the demo twice and I felt like a dog chasing his tail, endlessly spinning in circles, getting nowhere.
Then the "action" is interrupted with an anticlimatic message, telling me that I lost because my cargo ships were destroyed.
Shit, I didn't even know what the fuck the cargo ships were!
Otis Whitaker @ Jun 30th 2007 6:42PM
Am I the only gamearts fan absolutely upset at them not getting their due for this game? It's really pissing me off on a level of a fan that's making me extremely angry. No, the banner ads are motherfucking liars. This is not from the makers of Final Fantasy. It's published by them, yes. Uh huh.
But it's FROM the people who fucking brought you Lunar and Grandia.
brokenscope @ Jun 30th 2007 11:06PM
...
Sorry, call em one someone makes a spiritual successor to freespace, or volition decides to make freespace 3.
Fedule @ Jul 1st 2007 12:05AM
Being in Ireland, I got to play the game properly (and I got to pay the wonderful rip off price of €65 ($90) for it (Yes, ninety dollars. More than twice the US price. Doesn't Europe just RULE?)
Anyway, ripoff aside, the game is very good but it requires a bit of getting used to and is far too prone to people giving up on it. The good news:
-The demo mission is not part of the game. Surprise! There are a few escort missions, but not this one.
-Reasonable learning curve. Steep, but reasonable.
-Adjustable difficulty. Easy mode should calm a lot of people down.
-Generally flawless graphics, looks very nice in HD.
The bad news:
-Framerate can drop when things get REALLY hectic
-Some acheivements are glitched (ie, you can miss them (though you can get them again later))
-Infrequency of save points
-You lose all of your score if you fail after a mission update and restart from the update instead of the whole mission.
My rating: 7.5, definitely worth a buy. But the most important thing is not so much giving the game a chance as giving it three. Once you pick it up you'll be totally fine.
Shawn O @ Jul 1st 2007 3:43PM
I agree with Fedule, #16, if you play the demo through two or three times *AFTER* doing all the tutorials, then it becomes pretty easy. I wouldn't call the control scheme that steep and I actually found this game easier than ArmoredCore4.
I'm glad it's a more hectic-paced game, means you actually have to acquire some skill to play the game, though not a ton considering how badly my twitch skills are in FPS games. I prefer it over a rail-based shooter or something that just requires button mashing.
They could have picked an easier level for the demo but then you'd be able to play through the demo in a few minutes, where's the fun in that? This way the demo can last a few hours at least. You actually get a pretty good feel for what it's capible of.
Blue_Six @ Jul 2nd 2007 8:01AM
I really wanted to like the demo (and the game itself) at first but couldn't manage to after a few tries.
Until I had the brilliant idea of remapping practically all controls away from their default and into much more reasonable positions.
From there on out I loved the game. But it is a really bad demo.
Most people won't buy all the available equipment and then outfit their ship and especially people coming from Freespace (which is IMO still the undisputed king of space-shooters) will need to "re-think" their approach to the genre.
Sylpheed is MUCH more arcadey and much more forgiving. You will NOT save all or even most of the cargo-ships and you shouldn't really give a damn about them either. And enemy fighter's aren't the tough one-on-one rivals that you used to know. Their cannon-fodder. They randomly respawn in the dozens and basically act as nothing more than justification for having near-three-digit missle locks.
Select your anti-ship missle, head for a green ship, hold the lock on Button until you reach four locks, fire. Then blast it with your anti-ship gun until it dies. Rinse, repeat.
If you get a message about new enemy fighters arriving, immediatly break for them. Because they always spawn in a tight pack and remain that way until reaching the battle. So look for the largest group on your radar, hit the afterburner and select your anti-fighter missiles. You can quickly get up to one-hundred locks out of a group of fighters. Let the missiles go and head back to the main-ships you were attacking. Don't stay to watch how many fighters you killed, just keep an eye on the counter.
You can finish the mission with no pressure, maybe even lose all but one cargo ship (if you haven't gotten it down yet) and still receive a B-Ranking no problem.
I enjoy the game for what it is, while my expectations were low seeing how long it's been since the last great space-operas =(
patrick Smith @ Jul 2nd 2007 12:39PM
I can't watch this on my iPone
neoalec @ Jul 8th 2007 1:48AM
I'm disappointed that the game is not a regular overhead shooter like previous Silpheed games. The fact that it's first-person leaves me wondering what this even has to do with the old Silpheed games (probably why they changed the spelling).
octoberasian, I hope you played the PS2 Silpheed, because that was the proper re-imagining of the original game.