Game review: Super Stardust Delta
As one of the Vita's cheaper launch titles, I was drawn to Super Stardust Delta by the graphics, and by early reviews that had compared the game play as similar to Beat Hazard, which is one of my favorite arcade shooters to waste time on. The comparison isn't quite right, but Super Stardust Delta is a fun arcade shooter with plenty of challenges in its six levels of hot and twin-sticky death.
You move the starship using the left analog stick, and the right shoots. The game can be run in Delta or Pure mode. Delta makes use of the Vita's touch features, but given how often I accidentally set off a black hole or a flurry of missiles when I didn't mean to, I tended to play pure more. So this isn't quite a knock to the touch screen options, just an admission that I'm a bit of a klutz.
What makes this game different from Beat Hazard is the globe you fly around. You're in a geosynchronous orbit with one of six planets, always keeping an eye on the horizons for the arrival of enemies or giant space rocks. The objective is to clear all the junk out of the airspace using a fire-whip to bust up asteroids, and an ice gun to break up comets. Both types of space rock contain green glowing chunks that will yield power ups for your weapons. Rocks and enemies also release stardust, and by collecting this glowing green dust, you increase a point multiplier and unlock some extra gifts along the way.
I'm not doing the game justice, though. Each planet is vastly different from the last, and the background graphics are gorgeous. The music is pretty standard fare for shooters, but it isn't grating on the ears. The music and graphics in combination with the simple game play make for a "sticky game" that keeps you coming back for more.
The main weapons are pretty cool. The fire whip can be wagged like a tail or fired around the ship at any angle. Or, to clear a lot of little asteroids quickly, rolling the right stick around fast will make a fire lasso. This can sometimes be a bad idea, as you end up hitting things you didn't mean to. So part of the game play is sorting out when is the right times to use one of three different shooting strategies, and that's just for the fire whip. There's also an ice gun, which grants higher levels of rapid fire multi-shot as you collect more power ups. Both the guns can be temporarily super-charged, meaning they'll lay waste to both space rock types with equal extreme prejudice, as well as any enemies unlucky enough to get caught in your crosshairs. Finally, for situations when the screen is feeling a little too tight for movement, you've got an EMP pulse that will clear a circular patch around your ship of everything; rocks, comets or enemies. But since you don't get these often, you'll want to spare these until you really, really need them. Also, they only give you a second of breathing room, so don't relax just because you've fired one off.
Playing through the game on normal mode didn't take me very long, but I've been going back to play the same levels over and over. The game can be fiendishly hard, particularly on one planet where nearly every square inch is bombarded with alternating rows of asteroids and comets, forcing you to switch weapons back and forth rapidly. And while you're busy focusing on clearing the rocks, you may never notice when more waves of enemies arrive.
There's probably about six or seven base enemy types at most, and 6 bosses. Each planet is divided into 5 stages, with the boss battles taking place after some real ugly firefights. And, as is typical of space shmups, once the big boss arrives, they often pump out enough energy bolts that you can get out of your ship and walk on them. But there's a pattern to the fire rates, and it is possible to fly between the bullets and get closer to the boss in preparation of a killing blow.
Even on Casual and Normal modes, the game is hard. Enemies aren't particularly bright, but when you've got a screen full of asteroids and comets, it's sometimes hard to see those suckers sneaking up on you. So you can be setting up a shot for something right in front of you, and never notice the jet that's creeping on your six. For as hard as the game is, and for as often as I died, I just kept restarting for "one more try." In fact, I drained my Vita twice in one day playing through the planets, AND I was still playing while the battery was charging back up. To me, it's just that much fun, that I can't put it down until my hands are sore and my eyelid is all twitchy.
I wish I could say the mini-games were as enjoyable, but the Vita specific gimmicks just aren't as much fun compared to the main game. The tilt axis games were really lame, and only slightly better was Crush, where you have to use the touch screen and rear touch at the same time. Pinching has been annoying in every game I've tried, and I'm not convinced there's a legitimate use for it. This is not to say the back touch doesn't have uses. Witness how much fun it is to use a sniper rifle in Uncharted: Golden Abyss or Unit 13, and then you will agree the technology has fitting uses. But pinching rocks (or characters, as in Escape Plan) is not all that useful, or fun. Finally, there's a mini-game where you get a tractor beam, and you have to swing green asteroids into each other, triggering explosion that will clear out all the surrounding enemies. But again, this isn't as much fun as the main game.
But setting the mini-games, the main game is mesmerizing and addicting. I'd be happy with this game if I'd paid 34.99 for it, and for 7.99, it's was a great deal. There's also a bonus pack that can be bought separately for 2.99, or as a combo with the game for 9.99. I like the main game enough that I'll be buying the other pack later on. I give Super Stardust Delta four stars out of five. I'd give it the full five, but the mini-games don't do anything for me. I'd still recommend this game to anyone looking for a PS Vita shooter with lots of action, great graphics, and addicting game play.
