Starshot: Space Circus Fever Review | Shooting for the stars, ending in the can
The recent push from many game companies to remaster/re-release older forgotten titles is a movement that I support in full.
However, not all works come out perfect and unfortunately Starshot: Space Circus Fever suffers from this.
Aesthetics
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Ah yes, a weapon so dangerous that had to be sealed away: the slingshot-tank |
The 3d graphics used are peak Nintendo 64, with its heavy usage of colorful, saturated textures on the blocky models of the characters and world.
Like wise, the animations tend to be a bit exaggerated to give the general feeling of a cartoon.
The particles effects are ok, except the fact that the main protagonist is surrounded by these sparkly ones without any real reason, they're just there and are a bit annoying.
The voice acting is fine, many if not all characters receive a voice fitting their looks, if there are cases of bad acting, I don't remember them.
The soundtrack is ignorable, it doesn't stick out in the game and it didn't remain impressed in my mind, but at the very least it's not bothersome, the same thing is true for the various sounds.
Personally, I didn't have any game-breaking bugs or glitches, but some users are reporting issues, so read the forums if you want to know more.
A tip, press alt + enter to make the game go in window mode, it's smaller than full-screen, but it doesn't make the image stretch and it makes the pre-rendered cutscenes work properly.
All in all, it's good looking enough game for the time of its release in 1999, but some defects on the modern release may make this title less enjoyable.
Game Mechanics
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Jumping on a small gap |
The game is a typical 3d platformer, you jump around collecting stuff and fending off enemies with your attacks.
The character you impersonate is able to jump(up to a triple one), shoot a controllable star laser and fly.
The flying is limited and can be done only after founding the yellow collectables.
It's ok and it is even used in some stages to give a different kind of challenge.
The player is going to use these three tools to complete the game, they don't evolve in any significant way and you are not going to receive any new ones.
The controls are a mess though, the keyboard is clunky and the joy pad isn't fully supported to the point that you can't open the menu on it, as such, if you decide to buy the game, it's best to have both inputs near you, the joy pad for the game and the keyboard for menu navigation.
The movement being finicky, the camera badly managed and the hit boxes of the objects being not well calibrated don't help either.
In all the 7 worlds you are going to explore the main objective is to retrieve a particular object or creature, everything you are going to do centers around this premise.
I think the levels are fine, each one of them has a specific theme with associated gimmicks used until completion.
To save your game you must pass in the beam of light of the mothership, but the game saves also when you pick up a collectable or complete a part of an objective, as such progression is smooth, or almost.
You can die a lot, it's very easy since the cliffs seem to be very slippery and you don't receive any kind of invincibility frames when getting hit, meaning that an enemy can stun lock you to death, this is balanced by the fact that checkpoints are abundant and you have infinite lives.
There isn't any way to modify the challenge, nor it seems to exist a reward for harder optional courses.
The only collectable that matters is the red fuel, which is need to travel to the last stage, it's not a hard thing to do, it's very common, you are probably going to reach the needed 100 of these things more or less at the start of the third world.
It took me 7 hours to beat the game.
In short, there are good elements even if they don't evolve, but a broken control scheme hinders the experience a lot.
Narrative
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The dialogues are main and almost only way the title delivers the story |
The galactic space circus has just sent a rocket parade to advertise their coming on the planet Tensuns, but someone had an ad blocker installed and made the missile explode, I am joking about the ad blocker part, but the rocket did explode and the head of the circus is furious about it. He decides to send the best competent passable "available" performers at his disposal: Willfall and the juggler Starshot, to investigate on who destroyed it.
From here the adventure starts, in the shoes of the main protagonist: Starshot.
The main story evolves little from the initial premise and it's not very interesting, but the humor works enough to entertain.
The title focuses on two aspects: absurdist and cynical comedy.
There will be many occasions where the comedic effect is delivered by the quirkiness of the situation or the characters dialogues, since almost everyone is kind of jerk and talks in a sarcastic or sassy way.
If you enjoy this, you are going to have fun, otherwise you may avoid this title since there isn't anything else worthwhile in the narrative department.
No secondary stories, but a lot of lines from the various NPCs can give some intriguing bits about themselves or the world around them.
In conclusion, the game offers a very specific kind of humor that will make or break your experience, since it doesn't offer a great story.
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