576th played so far
Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Playstation 3
Year of Release: 2007
Developer: Housemarque
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Time to go in for another shooter. Super Stardust HD is a remake of the 1994 Amiga game of Super Stardust, itself a sequel, that has you flying around destroying asteroids and enemies across different levels.
It looks like the upgrade has made more changes than just a graphical upgrade, but those are the ones interesting to explore now.
Our Thoughts
Let’s start with the most interesting upgrade. The original game played out on a standard rectangle screen. Here, however, the game has changed to take place around a planet – moving around in circles, looping as you would expect them to. It’s pretty fast paced and means that danger can keep coming from all directions. Things spawn behind the planet, making reacting more challenging.
It makes for a more frantic version of Asteroids at first, firing at rocks to destroy and get rid of them. Rocks have certain weapons they are weak against, and as you collect those from drops, the game can switch automatically for you to make killing them easiest. Then later, enemy spacecrafts come in and hunt you down, making it even more tense as you’re not just dodging set courses, but need to avoid more actively – can’t just clear your way by shooting ahead.
Changing to the spherical playing field enhances the graphical upgrade as well. It creates a slightly different look that works quite well, making the game feel more 3D than known shooters like this have. It’s enough to make it feel modern.
Final Thoughts
Super Stardust HD is a strong shooter. The update makes this a new game in its own right (based on Youtube videos of the original Super Stardust) that feels fresh, slightly more challenging without going too far. Fun to play around with – at least for this type of shooter.