Soldier Blade
Reviewed by Michael LoCascio
Soldier Blade is the third and final chapter in a trilogy of
shooters that began with Star Soldier on the NES. Both
Soldier Blade and Super Star Soldier (the second episode in
the series) were released for the Turbografx-16, and both
were modeled after the classic NEC shooter, Blazing Lazers.
Unfortunately, rather than taking some of the best aspects
from Blazing Lazers and building on them, NEC chose to make
Soldier Blade a direct clone of their premier shooter. The
result was an unoriginal, uninspired shooting game that is
merely average in almost every respect.
Just like Blazing Lazers and Super Star Soldier, Soldier
Blade is a vertically-scrolling shooter that requires you to
pilot a high tech ship and annihilate the forces of your
enemy. There are only seven 'operations' contained within
this game, but all of them are painfully long and quite
challenging. If anything, it can be said that Soldier Blade
is tougher than it's superior predecessor - but it's
difficult for all the wrong reasons. The action isn't all
that fast-paced or intense (when compared with Blazing
Lazers, Soldier Blade seems to contain the excitement of a
fishing game). However, many enemy attackers can take a
ridiculous amount of shots before they're finally disposed
of, even if the weapon that you are using has been
powered-up to its maximum strength.
Speaking of weapons, there are only three different types of
power-ups that you can make use of in Soldier Blade. Green
icons denote a wave-type weapon, blue icons grant you a
powerful laser beam, while red icons give you back your
basic, boring shot. Picking up an icon for any type of
weapon will make an option appear by your side, while
grabbing an icon for a weapon that you are already using
will strengthen your shots. You can choose to make use of a
'super shot' for a few seconds that will maximize the
power of your weapon and annihilate most any type of
opponent that you will encounter, but it will be at the
expense of the weapon itself. After you make use of a super
shot, you'll lose the weapon you were using and be forced to
make due with the last type of gun that you had. The game
will only keep track of the last three weapons that you had
attained, so you won't have an unlimited amount of super
shots at your disposal.
The controls in Soldier Blade are quite basic, as you might
expect from such an uninspired game. Holding down Button II
will allow you to fire your weapon continuously, while a
single press of Button I will release a super shot. One nice
aspect of the controls is the option to adjust the speed of
your ship by pressing the Select button, although you'll
only be able to choose between 'High' and 'Low' speeds.
Once you've played through an operation or two, there really
won't be any reason to continue. The action is awfully
repetitive, and there just aren't that many unique, exciting
sequences in the game. There is very little variety in the
types of enemies that you will face; after the first three
stages, the same types of attackers will appear over and
over again. There are tons of mini-bosses to contend with
along the way, but they can all be destroyed in the exact
same manner (blow up one piece of the attacker at a time).
There isn't much diversity in the looks of the levels
either, and they aren't connected in any sort of logical
manner. You'll spend one level soaring through outer space,
and the next flying over some sort of military base. Not
that it really matters what the levels look like, anyway;
the game play and the types of enemies you'll face will
remain exactly the same.
The graphics, like most every other aspect of the game, are
dull and disappointing. While the enemy ships are quite
large, they have an odd, flat look about them. Perhaps I've
been spoiled by the 3D visuals sported by recent advanced
video games, but the enemies in Soldier Blade look like flat
pieces of paper rather than sleek pieces of machinery. The
background visuals are rather boring as well, with most of
the levels taking place in the dull depths of outer space.
The music in Soldier Blade is decent enough, if a bit quiet
and underwhelming. The sounds consist of your typical blasts
and explosions, along with a muffled voice that says
'Alert' when a major enemy is about to appear.
Unless you really need to have every shooting title that
sees the light of day, there isn't any reason to get this
game. The action isn't very intense, the graphics and sounds
are dull, and the game play is absurdly repetitive. Granted,
the later levels will provide a decent challenge, but
chances are you won't want to play long enough to get
through them. If you own a Turbo and you're in search of
good shooters, stick with Blazing Lazers and don't even give
Soldier Blade a second thought.
Overall: 5 out of 10
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