Star Raiders Review
Publishers Atari
Platform PSN, Xbox Arcade
Release Date Out Now
Star raiders is a remake of a “classic” Atari title form the 70’s. Set in the busy world of space exploration and protection you would expect this to be quite fun and exciting if somewhat simplistic due to being a PSN game, but nothing could be further from the truth.
From the outset it is mired by a series of very avoidable problems. Simple things that could have been avoided easily such as the tiny text, that I had to squint to see on my 42” TV which I sit 4 feet from!. The control scheme which is quite complex, not being introduced during the tutorial but rather before it in the form of a stationary mapping of the controller with a vast array of buttons to try and memorise. The tutorial mission itself is a painful outing as it takes you through each of the three different flight options, But by the time you have finished it you have forgotten more than you knew.
The combat in the game is actually quite simple, a lot simpler than battling the messy control system and cryptic vastly convoluted and unnecessarily complicated menus. Once you do get into the actual game itself, it is pretty basic stuff. You have a few different weapon options which vary depending on which flight style option you are using. The different options include “Flight”, Assault or Turret. Swapping between each method plays havoc with the control set up as the left and right analogue stick swap their functions just to make things more confusing.
The gameplay is quit basic involves a whole lot of pretty repetitive missions, involving dog fights or picking off glowing orbs on the side of large space ships. The controls are difficult, slow and the large triangles that are used to mark an enemy’s location are quite poor. In fact they reminded me of something the Atari 2600 would produce, I’m not sure if this was intentional.
Graphically at times it looks pretty good, the ships can be impressive but at the same time space is quite bland.
When you run out of ammo you must return to your base to reload, this is time consuming and dying and respawning is a much quicker and more satisfying method of reloading. The cut scenes are basic and unimaginative.
Overall : I would love to be able to pick the good points and be objective with this title but even being as kind as I can I would find it hard to recommend this game to many players. Perhaps if you really like bad menu’s and difficult space flying then this will suit you but for the most part I found it a frustrating experience.
SCORE 4/10
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