Simply phenomenally impressive-looking new Dreamcast shooter which Here's a mini review:
After being blown away by the early videos of Sturmwind, there came the inevitable questions and doubts while waiting for it to be released: would it really look as good as it did in the videos? Would it play anywhere near as good as it looked? Would it feel a bit 'homebrew'? Would it feel like a Euro-developed game (of which I'm generally not a big fan)? Would it be too easy? After all, some people started to dissect the videos and notice that there was hardly anything going on in terms of enemies on screen and enemy fire. A later video showed more action but still, would it just be a walk in the park, a game where you could just sit in the middle of the screen holding down the fire button and never die (like Star Soldier on the N64) and just while away the hours admiring the lovely graphics (unlike Star Soldier on the N64)?
Well, getting straight to the point, I absolutely love Sturmwind. It's not only better than I expected it to be, it's every bit as good as I dreamed it would be (but didn't expect it would be). For the first few seconds, I was telling myself that of course, it's an entirely different type of game to what we've all been playing on the Xbox 360 for the last couple of years. Of course there's less enemies and bullets, after all, it's not pretending to be a bullet-hell game! But pretty quickly I decided that it wasn't an easy game at all. People who say it's easy, are they playing it on easy or what? So, rather than playing it on easy just to see how much easier it was, I decided to play it on hard to see how much harder it would be, if at all. Well, the game is just completely transformed when played on hard mode! The action is massively intensified and really is mental in places! It's a sight to behold and I found myself letting go of the controls for a couple of seconds and dying just to savour the intensity of what was happening onscreen and wondering what was wrong with people who said the game was too easy. I think the game needs to be played on hard mode. Even if you keep dying and can't get off the first 2 selectable stages for weeks on end, it needs to be played on hard because it feels so much more special. It feels like this is how the game was meant to be. It's got so much more heart & soul, so much more of everything basically in hard mode. I can't remember the last game I played which felt so different on hard compared to on normal.
So, does it look as good as expected/hoped? Yes, it looks amazing. I have nothing but admiration for the graphics in this game. You'd have to be seriously picky to bother picking out bits that look less than amazing. If you love Pulstar and/or Blazing Star on the Neo Geo, I expect you'll be completely blown away because it looks as amazing on the Dreamcast as those games did all those years ago on the Neo Geo.
Does it feel homebrew? In my opinion, not at all. Aside from looking awesome, it just feels very finely crafted, the ship movement and controls feel right. The weapons feel right: not too powerful with power-ups, not too weak without any. There's lovely little details here and there, like the way you shoot the 'Wave Bonus' letters which appear on screen, the way your ship overheats and explodes when you hold down the beam fire button for too long, which makes it unique amongst R-Type-style games and once I figured out what was going on, is something I love.
Does it feel like a Euro-developed game? Well, there's possibly a slight hint of that, probably because of the music style. If it had different music, I think it could pass off as a Japanese-developed game, which should describe how slight the Euro-flavour is. You do get a sense of connection to the action when you shoot things but maybe the balance would be better if you turned the music down slightly and the sound effects up slightly (which you can do), which would just pump it up a little bit.
The only real negative I can throw at the game, at least the first few times I played it, is that the visuals are very much all of a single piece, and it's quite hard to differentiate between the background objects that can kill you and the scenery which won't. I think this will put some people off a bit at first, a bit like how the shrapnel puts people off Battle Garegga. You do eventually attune yourself to it, partly from trial and error and partly just from getting more into the game and getting a feel for it.
All in all, I'm blown away by this game. It feels right. It feels good. It's solid and well-designed, there's hints of Hellfire (one of my favourite games) with the way you have to fire backwards at certain times. If you love R-Type or Gradius or Xexex of Pulstar or Blazing Star or even the Thunder Force games then you'd be absolutely crazy to miss out on Sturmwind: it's truly a special game. I think I need to send a bottle of Champagne or something to Duranik for absolutely nailing it with this game. I don't think they could have made it any better. The shooter genre is a better place with Sturmwind.
- Lee
Some information about the game itself:
- 16 levels
- 3 selectable difficulty levels
- Configurable controls
- Adjustable screen position
- Varied choice of weapons
- More than 20 large boss enemies
- Hundreds of different enemies
- FMV intro sequence
- Hybrid 2d/3d game engine
- Resolution of 640x480 pixels
- PAL50, PAL60, NTSC and VGA (with Adapter) compatible
- Region-free
- Works with any MIL-CD compatible Dreamcast
- CDDA Sound
- Supports: Gamepad, Arcade Stick (Analog/Digital), VMU, Rumble Pack (configurable)
- Internet WEBcode Hiscore Tables
- Award Trophy System with unlockable content
REGION-FREE. Brand new, sealed. 2nd print of the game published by Duranik themselves, not a dodgy ripoff.
After being blown away by the early videos of Sturmwind, there came the inevitable questions and doubts while waiting for it to be released: would it really look as good as it did in the videos? Would it play anywhere near as good as it looked? Would it feel a bit 'homebrew'? Would it feel like a Euro-developed game (of which I'm generally not a big fan)? Would it be too easy? After all, some people started to dissect the videos and notice that there was hardly anything going on in terms of enemies on screen and enemy fire. A later video showed more action but still, would it just be a walk in the park, a game where you could just sit in the middle of the screen holding down the fire button and never die (like Star Soldier on the N64) and just while away the hours admiring the lovely graphics (unlike Star Soldier on the N64)?
Well, getting straight to the point, I absolutely love Sturmwind. It's not only better than I expected it to be, it's every bit as good as I dreamed it would be (but didn't expect it would be). For the first few seconds, I was telling myself that of course, it's an entirely different type of game to what we've all been playing on the Xbox 360 for the last couple of years. Of course there's less enemies and bullets, after all, it's not pretending to be a bullet-hell game! But pretty quickly I decided that it wasn't an easy game at all. People who say it's easy, are they playing it on easy or what? So, rather than playing it on easy just to see how much easier it was, I decided to play it on hard to see how much harder it would be, if at all. Well, the game is just completely transformed when played on hard mode! The action is massively intensified and really is mental in places! It's a sight to behold and I found myself letting go of the controls for a couple of seconds and dying just to savour the intensity of what was happening onscreen and wondering what was wrong with people who said the game was too easy. I think the game needs to be played on hard mode. Even if you keep dying and can't get off the first 2 selectable stages for weeks on end, it needs to be played on hard because it feels so much more special. It feels like this is how the game was meant to be. It's got so much more heart & soul, so much more of everything basically in hard mode. I can't remember the last game I played which felt so different on hard compared to on normal.
So, does it look as good as expected/hoped? Yes, it looks amazing. I have nothing but admiration for the graphics in this game. You'd have to be seriously picky to bother picking out bits that look less than amazing. If you love Pulstar and/or Blazing Star on the Neo Geo, I expect you'll be completely blown away because it looks as amazing on the Dreamcast as those games did all those years ago on the Neo Geo.
Does it feel homebrew? In my opinion, not at all. Aside from looking awesome, it just feels very finely crafted, the ship movement and controls feel right. The weapons feel right: not too powerful with power-ups, not too weak without any. There's lovely little details here and there, like the way you shoot the 'Wave Bonus' letters which appear on screen, the way your ship overheats and explodes when you hold down the beam fire button for too long, which makes it unique amongst R-Type-style games and once I figured out what was going on, is something I love.
Does it feel like a Euro-developed game? Well, there's possibly a slight hint of that, probably because of the music style. If it had different music, I think it could pass off as a Japanese-developed game, which should describe how slight the Euro-flavour is. You do get a sense of connection to the action when you shoot things but maybe the balance would be better if you turned the music down slightly and the sound effects up slightly (which you can do), which would just pump it up a little bit.
The only real negative I can throw at the game, at least the first few times I played it, is that the visuals are very much all of a single piece, and it's quite hard to differentiate between the background objects that can kill you and the scenery which won't. I think this will put some people off a bit at first, a bit like how the shrapnel puts people off Battle Garegga. You do eventually attune yourself to it, partly from trial and error and partly just from getting more into the game and getting a feel for it.
All in all, I'm blown away by this game. It feels right. It feels good. It's solid and well-designed, there's hints of Hellfire (one of my favourite games) with the way you have to fire backwards at certain times. If you love R-Type or Gradius or Xexex of Pulstar or Blazing Star or even the Thunder Force games then you'd be absolutely crazy to miss out on Sturmwind: it's truly a special game. I think I need to send a bottle of Champagne or something to Duranik for absolutely nailing it with this game. I don't think they could have made it any better. The shooter genre is a better place with Sturmwind.
- Lee
Some information about the game itself:
- 16 levels
- 3 selectable difficulty levels
- Configurable controls
- Adjustable screen position
- Varied choice of weapons
- More than 20 large boss enemies
- Hundreds of different enemies
- FMV intro sequence
- Hybrid 2d/3d game engine
- Resolution of 640x480 pixels
- PAL50, PAL60, NTSC and VGA (with Adapter) compatible
- Region-free
- Works with any MIL-CD compatible Dreamcast
- CDDA Sound
- Supports: Gamepad, Arcade Stick (Analog/Digital), VMU, Rumble Pack (configurable)
- Internet WEBcode Hiscore Tables
- Award Trophy System with unlockable content
REGION-FREE. Brand new, sealed. 2nd print of the game published by Duranik themselves, not a dodgy ripoff.
