[PS2] The Red Star

You folks might recall my mentioning this game adaptation of the comic (official site) a good while ago... indeed, it was practically complete and even floating around on demo discs when Akklaim folded up.
According to this tidbit on Gamespot, it has been adopted by XS Games; current estimates point to an early August deployment.
The game itself could be described as a blend of Contra and Final Fight; for the community's edification I present the following coverage:

• Gamespot;
• Gamespy; and
• IGN

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've played and beat the retail on a modded Xbox when it was leaked. It's actually a really really good game and is a blast with 2 players. Imagine Neo Contra meets Ikaruga, plus a solid Final Fight beat-em up. You can even upgrade your guys as you go along, and there is this arena mini-game too. The game is also pretty long for these type of games, and lasts at least 5+ hours. Probably more, depending on how good you are as you'll be dying A LOT.

Only negatives is that there's pretty much no story, and the difficulty only suddenly ramps up at a certain level. I would have liked a "super hard" mode kind of thing as well. Anyways, I'm psyched that this game is finally getting released for real. I'll definitely be picking this game up to support the guys because I really hope they make a sequel. At budget price, I highly recommend everyone to buy it if you're fans of games like Gradius and Contra, cause it's a steal.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I bought a novelization of the first couple of issues, thinking that the Red Star wasn't a comic book at all (...). I kind of liked what I read, but I think I'd rather read it in it's original format.

I'm eager to try the game out. It looked pretty interesting back in 2004.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I believe its currently the comic of the month in the comic subforum here so you can download the entire comic is based on.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages...
The. Wait. Is. Over.
You can now hit up your gaming store of choice for a copy. In addition to the previous links, the GameFAQs board is alive and buzzing, and the game has even gotten itself an article in USA Today. And then there's this Got-Next review which had been floating around since last October.

Most amazing jew boots

I made a new thread about this the day before GFF went down so it's lost forever ;_; but yeah, this game is awesome. Well worth the ten thousand year wait. The combat is awesome and hides a fair bit of depth, and the game isn't bogged down with anything, it's just all gooooo.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Fuck. Nothing in my area still. And Skills already has one. What the hell.

Anyway, if you've read the comic, the story occurs after one of the characters is met. The comic itself is rather engaging itself so I read it every now and then while waiting for the game.

Oh what the hell, I might as well drop by EB this weekend and shout at the employee about the status of this game.

FELIPE NO

You'll probably get the same "Huh, What?" response that EB has been shitting out when you ask about anything these days. They did it to me for Raiden III and when I preordered Senko as well. "The hell are you talking about? Senko no what?". Yeah, whatever. And don't even try asking about Radirgy for the Gamecube. That's not even in their machines yet. (Wow, that was off topic.)

I have seen copies of this around, surprisingly. My Walmart had some, and I saw ONE at an EB across town. So it's actually out, but I guess the likelyhood of finding a copy is kinda slim. On the plus side, no one is going to buy it unless they know exactly that they're looking for it, annnnnnd it's only 20 bucks.

Infernal's right, though. It's pretty god damn awesome. I like how I have magazines that are two years old that REVIEW this game on the Xbox. I'm still surprised this is actually out and not lost to limbo.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

...can be found here. Nice to see that good scores seem to be the norm for this game; what we have here seems to be a 'sleeper hit'.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'm probably gonna pick this up within the week (or next), along with Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the 360. I'm looking forward to The Red Star, even though I've... kind of forgotten what kind of game it was. Beat 'em up?

Who cares. If it's cheap, I'll get it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Mudkips

Beat 'em up?

Shooter.

Anyway, nothing still. Fuck damn, I might as well buy one online. Stupid EB.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'd go so far as to say it's a sort of beat 'em up/shooter hybrid. There are sequences that borrow heavily from staples of one genre or the other throughout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ApKHGLbyAw

That's probably the best clip I could find to showcase the different types of gameplay.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Colonel Skills

I'd go so far as to say it's a sort of beat 'em up/shooter hybrid...

I see that trailer and raise you someone playing through chapter six, and later facing the final boss of the Al'istaan portion of the game. Note that while the campaign has 19 stages (right now, I'm slogging through stage 16), some of them are 'merely' boss battles.
So, what do you get for beating the game? Well, the following are unlocked:

1. third playable character: Sorceress-Major Maya Antares;
2. new-game-plus (I think);
3. EX (as in EXtra-difficult) mode; and
4. challenge arenas (I haven't seen this yet, but I am reminded of Smash TV - each of the arenas awards a toggleable cheat for A-rank or better)

I was speaking idiomatically.

Red Star iiissss





What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Firefly

So, what do you get for beating the game? Well, the following are unlocked:

1. third playable character: Sorceress-Major Maya Antares

What. I seriously thought she was in the initial lineup along with Makita and Kyuzo.

I mean, it could have been someone else like:

Spoiler:

Her husband, Marcus.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Terminus

I mean, it could have been someone else like:

Spoiler:

Her husband, Marcus.

Given the game's take on the storyline, there is room for a sequel, wherein that 'omission' could well be addressed...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?