GUNSTAR HEROES REVIEW - August 1993
| Games with two-word, four-syllable titles are always
Stuart Campbell's favourites. And we do like to keep him happy, so we gave him this one.
(You wouldn't like Stuart when he's angry. Or any other time, probably.) If there's one thing I can't stand, it's (A remarkable and welcome improvement in your level of tolerance for the rest of the world? - Ed) slavish, unquestioning devotion. I wince visibly when I hear someone described as 'a CapCom fan', I sneer dismissively at anyone who says 'Aren't all Electronic Arts games great?', and I positively throw up over anyone who fawns over some new release from Hudson Soft, say, before they've even played it. That said, you can't deny that Konami have been responsible for some pretty corking games over the years. One of their finest moments ever, in my opinion, was a game called Super Probotector (or Contra Spirits, or Contra 3) on the Super NES. It's perhaps less of a shock than it ought to be, then, to see the first Mega Drive game from ex-Konami developers Treasure. Gunstar Heroes, it has to be said, borrows from the aforementioned SNES game so heavily it's a wonder there's any room left in its kitchen cupboards. The formula's the same, some of the weapons are the same, it's even got several of the same letters in its title. None of that matters very much, though, because (a) 'Sampling' game ideas is all very big and hard and clever and post-modern these days, (b) Super Probotector's on a completely different game system, (c) Gunstar Heroes is a fantastic game, so who cares anyway? and (d) I said so. From the second the logo spins 3D-ishly onto the title screen to the moment when the last boss explodes in a blaze of glory and flaming body parts, this is a rollercoaster ride of fantasticness. There isn't a dull moment - it starts off with a huge assault on your senses, with guns blazing, explosions exploding and the screen shuddering about like there's an earthquake on, and it never lets up from then until the end. If you want to accurately compare Gunstar Heroes to something, forget about Mega Drive games - try Reservoir Dogs, or the arcade version of Total Carnage, or the Vietnam war. It's an overwhelming thrill-fest, throwing new and wonderful things at you one after the other until you can't remember how to tie your shoelaces, because your brain's full. You only get four levels, but it's a blessing in disguise - you'll be so knackered after slaughtering your way through to the end, you'll be glad of the chance to have a bit of a lie down and some intensive psycho-therapy. I know I was. But hey, it's not all gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. There's some neat visual trickery on display here too for technical wizardry purists, like the bosses who spin around and scale in finest SNES Mode 7 style. There's more going on onscreen than in just about any other Mega Drive game you've ever seen too, with no hint of a slowdown when things get busy (for comparison, check out Golden Axe 3 when there're more than four sprites on show at a time). Presentation's lovely too - you can start on any of the four levels you want, you can choose which weapons you want to start with (and swap them around at various points throughout the game), you get two easy-to-use control methods to choose from, and you can generally fiddle with things to your heart's content. The thing is, you won't want to, because you'll want to get on and play the game again as quickly as possible. There's really nothing especially out of the ordinary about Gunstar Heroes. It's platforms and shooting, and that's all. But you've never had platforms and shooting like this before. It's fast (really fast), it's thrilling (really very thrilling), and it leaves you with a stupid grin (a really very stupid grin indeed) plastered all over your face within 30 seconds of picking up the joypad. I'm not going to explain why any further, because I want you all to go out and buy a copy now and find out for yourselves. You won't regret it. Ooh blimey. |
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