Overall 9 Graphics 8.6 Sound 8.6 Addictive 8.8 Story 6.8 Depth 6.6 Difficulty 7
8.5
Gunstar Heroes - Heroes of Gunstar 9 Mynamescox44
Gunstar Heroes is a run n gun shoot'em up style game. It can be played solo or in co-op mode so try out the NetPlay feature to play with your friends. For it's style, it is by far my favorite shooter on the Genesis. The characters are the perfect balance of cheesy and serious, and the combat is fast and exhilarating. The environments and bosses are goofy at first, and get more serious as you go, but there's still plenty of humor to be found. Now, on to the review!
Graphics - I think the graphics look great. They may not be top of the line, but they certainly show the world perfectly. I really have to hand it to the designers who made this game, They managed to create character's and environments that look so beautiful and stand out. I'm not usually a fan of the style done here, but it just looks so darn good. The color schemes are dazzling, and the overall animation style is perfectly on the fence of seriousness and that goofy cartoon-like feel. Player and enemy animations are smooth, and even the different types of ammunition all look gorgeous. Having a screen full of enemies and them all exploding at once is a beautiful sight. Even something as simple as your character sliding has an animation for your boots scraping the ground. The bosses are designed to be extremely unique, and the detail for them is amazing. The giant contraptions they use are arguably the best looking things in the game. The enemy projectiles look great as well. The Graphics get 9 / 10.
Sound - The games sound is phenomenal. The background music is amazing, and fit each level perfectly. I really love the direction they went with the music here. It's all extremely upbeat and catchy tunes, but with enough diversity to differentiate each track. The boss music also sets the tone amazingly well, letting you know how important the fights are. The sound effects are just as well done. Every action in the game has it's own sound effect. Each ammunition type, each jump, down to each and every person and object having their own sound. I personally love the "Hi-yah" you're characters use when throwing an enemy. When finding gems, the "tink" sound effect used is perfectly fitting and always stood out to me. The Sound gets a 9 / 10.
Addictiveness - The game is so much fun, I don't feel I can do it justice with words. There are TONS of ammo combinations (you can equip 2 of 4 varying types at any given time), and the enemies are designed to be fun to destroy. And boy are there plenty of enemies. Each level will send almost endless wave after wave of enemies in your direction, but not enough to really be overwhelming. The first 4 levels of the game can be played in any order you choose, which is a nice change to this genre. There are 2 different modes to choose for your character. One mode is you can run while shooting (but can only shoot up, down, left, and right), and the other fixes your location when shooting but can shoot in 8 directions instead of 4. I personally prefer the fixed, but it's really a matter of preference. The bosses are (mostly) humorous, but still somewhat challenging. The game is easy to pick and up play, which also adds to the appeal. This game I feel is most fun when playing with a friend, but that's not meaning the solo experience isn't a joy as well. The Addictiveness gets an 8 / 10.
Story - For this genre, story is never a big focus. That being said, the story for this game is really good in my opinion. It follows the basic formula of "Heroes fighting to save their world," but doesn't do a whole lot to actually present it. The ending is really well done though, so they get points for that. It's more so the characters in the story that I feel bring something to the table. The professor is wacky and humorous. The female character (I don't remember her name. I think it was "Blue"?) is the kind and caring one. Green is the professor's brother who's being controlled to work for evil. And the main characters are the strong silent types. The main enemy bosses also have varying personalities which is nice to see for it's time. All said and done, the Story gets a 5 / 10.
Depth - Meh, this is where the game's biggest weakness comes out. It's extremely short, and doesn't offer a whole lot of content. If I'm not mistaken, a rushed play through can be completed in under an hour. My biggest gripe about the game is length. It's so much fun, it leaves you wanting more when it's over. I don't know if production was rushed, or the excellent quality of every other aspect shortened what could fit on a single cartridge. But all that aside, it's simply too short. If not for this aspect, the game would receive almost a perfect 10 in my book. The Depth gets a 4 / 10.
Difficulty - The game isn't really all that difficult. If you can find your right set up between firing style (moving / fixed), and different ammo combinations, the game won't pose much of a challenge. It may take a run or two through to learn how the enemy AI behaves, but after that it's gravy. I do wish the game was a tad more challenging, but playing co-op adds a level of difficulty to the mix, making the funner option even more so, which is something of a big plus here. The mechanics are easy to master, and the enemies, even bosses, are the exact same way. There's nothing else to say here, so the Difficulty gets a 6 / 10.
I hope you enjoy this classic as much as I did.
And I hope you enjoyed the review :)
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 8 Story 5 Depth 4 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 04-29-16
Updated: 04-29-16
Review Replies: 0
8
Gunstar Heroes Review TheFadedWarrior
Welcome to this faaahhbulous review thread. It's me, TheFadedWarrior again with my 5th review in total (and my 2nd review this day, Avenging Spirit being the first). I am going to review the well-known game Gunstar Heroes. I hope you enjoy! I warn you that this review has a really weird writing styleGraphicsFor a Sega Genesis, these graphics are pretty good. You look at other Genesis games, and they have good graphics for the current era. But then, there's those select games, such as Gunstar Heroes, that have great graphics for the era. There's all this cool gunfire flashing on the screen, with these armored dudes that shoot you and stuff. So, yeah. off to a bad review start I give the graphics an 8.SoundI really like the music and sounds in this game. The sounds your character make are pretty annoying ("Hwuh!"), but when you listen to the music, you're like, "Oh, this is rather pleasant sounding, mhm." My personal favorite tune is the music you hear in Black's Palace (the board game). You can find the full OST (official soundtrack) here. It all sounds pretty good, amirite? I give the sound another 8.Gameplay/AddictivenessGunstar Heroes is a game where you play as a seemingly 14-year-old kid with a gun. It's sort of like Contra, but a lot easier and with vitality, rather than lives. There are 4 main gun types - Energy, Lightning, Chaser, and Flame. Energy is a rapidfire baster that is basically just a normal machine-gun. This is pretty much an all-rounder gun. Lightning is a thin laser that pierces through your enemies, so you can hit many with one shot. This is helpful if you're fighting a group of enemies. Chaser is a gun that shoots homing particles of energy (which I am going to call bullets from now on). This is helpful if you are too lazy to aim. It's pretty powerful, too. And finally, Flame is a gun that's basically a flamethrower, as it has little range. This is useful in close combat, as it has a very short range, yet it deals a good amount of damage. You can have 2 gun types at the same time to create combos, which are very useful. A little tip: Probably the best combo is Chaser + Lightning. When you use it, you shoot a square laser that homes in on every enemy, rapidly dealing major amounts of damage, and lasts until you let go of the shoot button.This game is much more fun with 2 players. If you or a friend has the Netplay Item, I definitely suggest that you try out Gunstar Heroes together. The game becomes a lot easier, but there are some annoying results, too. Sometimes, the other player likes to be rude and steal all of the powerups. If you've played Gunstar Heroes on Co-Op before, you've probably been expecting the next one. If you hold the directional pad in any way, then press the attack button when at least 1 pixel of your character is touching your partner, you will throw the other player across the screen, depending on which direction you held. This happens accidentally very often, and in some cases, Player 2 will think you did that on purpose, then get revenge on you (sometimes resulting in a throwing-fight).With all of that said, this game is really fun and addictive. The fact that there are 15 possible gun types (including both combos and base gun types) is pretty awesome. I give the gameplay/addictiveness yet another 8.Sorry, I don't know too much about the story. I mean, I know a bit, but sadly, I'm too lazy to explain it. The story gets a 7. Woohoo.DepthThis game is fairly long. First, there are the first 4 levels. When I first played Gunstar Heroes, I was thinking the game was pretty short (maybe a 4 or a 5), but nooo. They game is pretty tough, which adds to the depth, and there's also an extra boss lair "level", which is pretty long. I'd say it would take you maybe 3 or 4 hours to complete the game. The fact that there isn't a save feature is pretty stupid, but not too many games had save features back then, especially on the Sega Genesis. Of course, here on Vizzed, we have emulators so we can use save states and load states (F2 and F4). I give the depth another 7.DifficultyThe game is actually pretty tough. The bosses can get a bit annoying and frustrating sometimes (especially the never-ending boss battle in the underground level). There's also Black's Palace, a "board game", which can get really frustrating, as it contains some of the toughest bosses in the game, and you have to try to beat it over and over again because of how hard it is and the "go back to the start" spaces. I give the difficulty yet another 7. (Three 7s in a row. Do I win the Viz Jackpot?)OverallGunstar Heroes is a great 2D shooter game. The graphics are great, the music is great, and it's really fun and addictive. The fact that there is a Co-Op mode and 15 gun types adds to the gameplay addictiveness. The story is nice, the game is fairly long, and the game provides a nice challenge. If you've never played Gunstar Heroes, now's your chance. We wouldn't want you to die before you play it, would we? I give the game an overall 8.I hope you enjoyed my review. Thank you for reading, and feel free to criticize it.
Graphics 8 Sound 8 Addictive 8 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4.6/5
Submitted: 04-23-13
Review Replies: 6
8.9
Gunstar Heroes Review Zircron Swift
Many games on the Sega Mega Drive weren't that good compared to other consoles. Sega were the overlooked gaming community over thrown by Nintendo. They had good games, but Nintendo produced better. Some say this is a view of perspective (and I am a pretty big Nintendo fan), but I think that Sega, in all their efforts, didn't support the best titles. However, they did have some exclusive titles that were superb in their own right. Although it didn't have the same charm as Nintendo seemed to breathe into their games, it did offer some superb game play. One of the best for the Mega Drive was GunStar Heroes. Possibly one of the best Hack and Slash type games without the hack or slash. What makes it a classic for Sega? Lets find out.
The game starts off with a cut scene of the story of the game. It looks like some guys are chasing someone or thing, as they are on a tight schedule. There seems like the earth was at stake and now.....Huh? A Mega Man 2 intro like thing were you pan up a very tall building. Whose up there? WHAT? M.Bison? A Street Fighter in a futuristic game? Well, as it turns out, this isn't M.Bison, but in fact Smash Daisaku, an evil menace who wants to (you guessed it) take over the world (of course!). I'm sorry, I just had to say it, I just had to. He wants to get four powerful gems so he can reawaken Golden Silver from G-9's moon. Golden Silver was a machine that traveled millions of miles to nom all the resources from G-9. Yet Dr Brown (sorry, not
that Dr Brown) was able to extract four gems from it's power supply and trapped it on the moon. And so we have a plot.
So you play as Gunstar Blue (or Red, depending on weather you are player one or two), and your twin brother Green has been taken by Smash and is brain-washed to do what ever he says. They got all the gems, it's your task to get them back and get Green back to his senses....oh, and to wallop that Smash guy. You have a selection of four levels to choose from. Each has a unique twist and epic outcomes. There's the village of adorable-tiny-green-guys, the mines, the rocket launch, and the board game level. Each has it's own boss (or bosses) which keeps variety within the game. Such as cube guy, or the multi-weapon robot (although they ado tell you the boss name, and the names of the attacks before you fight them.) Each boss has a health meter, but it's in numbers. When this number reaches 0, you have beaten the boss. The weapons system is superb. You get to choose what you start with. You get a fire blaster, a blue lazer gun, a gun that fires green homing arrows, and a flame thrower. But the best part about it is that you can combined the weapons together. How awesome is that? One property of that weapon is combines with the attack of this one! So you can get homing fireballs, or lazer throwers....You really have to try them out to see which suits you best.
You fight hoards of enemies with either your weapon, or your bear fists. You can grab them, and then throw them if you are close enough. I find this particularly epic, as you can do it in mid-air! You can jump, grab an enemy, and then throw then to the ground. That's the kind of thing I expect from Shinobi. Anyway, after you beat all four levels, you get into another level, with the heading "Kill them all", which matches perfectly on what has just happened. They sure do know how to make an epic last couple of levels. When you think it's over, there's another thing round the corner. Each of these puts in an epic level that some games only have one of. They really wanted to make this game good to have put the thought of really fun levels near the end.
The controls are near perfect. You have maximum control over Gunstar Red. You can press the jump button in mid-air to preform some dive attack. this is were throwing enemies in mid-air comes in. It's helpful to get by a level faster, and you can even wall-jump with this move ^^ Get in! The music isn't half bad either. Matches the mood and level style rather well. Not too good as it gets stuck in your head, but a nice tune to get passed a level. The difficulty is just right. With a choice between easy, normal, hard, and expert, there's a difficulty for everyone. It's got that rare level of difficulty were it's challenging, but not too much so for the new players. It only gets really hard at the end, and this is on normal difficulty. The satisfaction of beating the main boss at the end of every level (including the last) makes it a great game to play, even if you are playing it again.
Overall, I give this game a 8.9/10 It is a classic in it's own right. This has to be one of the best games not only on the Mega Drive (Genesis? Game Gear? Can't they just stick to one console per game? -.-), but probably one of the best side-scrolling shooting games of it's time. The effort put into this game really shone and shows just what the Sega consoles are capable of. As you progress further and further through the game, so does the epicness of it. The weapon combination system is a great way to make you explore all the possible weapons this game has to offer (my favorite one is the fire blaster with the flame thrower ^^). Although seemingly short on an overview, once played, it is very lengthy in game play.
Graphics 8 Sound 7 Addictive 8 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3.9/5
Submitted: 10-17-11
Updated: 10-17-11
Review Replies: 1
9.8
- sixstringmo
Graphics 8 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3.7/5
Submitted: 07-08-14
Updated: 06-07-17
Review Replies: 2
User Notice 
.png)
