Star Parodier

~ STAR PARODIER ~

Hudson Soft

Super CD-ROM

1992

I know I pull the "too easy" card a lot when I review shooters. And when I do it, I bet I sound like a no-life-having, Sinistron-loving snot (which, of course, I am). But I feel entirely justified in labeling the Star Parodier default-settings experience too easy. The very first time I played the game, I accumulated a stock of twenty-four lives before some bum finally managed to kill me. The second time I played the game, I finished with a surplus total of thirty-three. Now, that's just ridiculous.

The lack of difficulty isn't due to a lack of things to shoot at. In fact, there's PLENTY of stuff to shoot at in this game. But extra lives are available in such abundance and your armaments are so overpowering that you end up with pretty much nothing to fear. I didn't view that as a good thing; without at least some fear of ship-losing involved for the player, shooters don't seem to have much steam to run on. I realize that much of the focus here is placed on humor and personality, but heck, Parodius knew how to flip the switch and be charismatic and challenging at the same time. Star Parodier was fun, but (you knew it was coming) far too easy (and I mean FAR too easy).

But then I cranked up the difficulty, and SP redeemed itself. The bosses really pick up their games on hard mode, and even the standard foes become more aggressive and display more mettle. Now, a good player will still accumulate twenty-plus lives and wreak plenty of havoc, but the key to the challenge in SP hard mode is that if you die during the hectic later stretches (and lose your power-ups in the process), you might be staring at a string of a dozen or so deaths in a row. This sort of challenge will drive some players batty, I'm sure, but it gives the game the exciting boost I was looking for in it, that threat of dying and having to pay bitter consequences. And after discovering the harsh joys of hard mode, I was more forgiving of default, as even I don't mind a stretch of relaxing shooting here and there as long as I can crank the toughness back up when I so desire. As an added bonus, you get a different ending for conquering the sterner setting.

And that's about enough on the difficulty, because there's a lot of other good stuff to talk about. SP is a success as a charismatic parody. Soldier series fans will find plenty of nods to the serious space odysseys SP caricatures (and perhaps a little Gunhed influence as well). Underwater stretches and snow lands and Tetris-block terrains may not sound very exciting in concept, but SP's are so colorful and gorgeous that it doesn't matter if other shooters feature similar sections. The weapons are quite cool and fun to use (even if they do come down too hard on the default enemies); and the bosses are a likable lot, from the snowman who tosses his own head at you to the evil giant bomberman. Adding to the fun are comedic little between-stage stills that relate to each boss battle. And the soundtrack is really nice: the upbeat ice land tune makes me nod along, while the mellow opening notes of the giant fish and snow guy boss track are appealing in an entirely different way (I kind of wish the number remained low key instead of going crazy after the first few seconds).

SP is an absolute must-get for shooter novices and, on hard mode, an enjoyable option for the pros. Of course, its serious-minded Soldier fellows, Blade and Final, are also PCE essentials. Super Star Soldier can go to hell.