The title sort of says it, or at least provides the summary of the review that's incoming. Now, when considering RPG Shooter Starwish, there are really two elements here: The side-scrolling shooter game, and the plot.
The side-scrolling shooter is passable. It's got a lot more options and upgrades than your ordinary space shooter, which is fun, and there's a good variety of enemies and hazards that you need to learn how to deal with, especially on hard mode. That said, even Hard mode isn't extremely difficult, and you can pretty much cruise through the game holding down fire and moving up and down to dodge terrain. As a whole, the game is decently forgiving for new players and the real gameplay challenge is either in "new game plus" or going for a specific achievement or challenge, like "no deaths" or the special requirements for various endings.
Then there's the plot side. It's a fun little space-fantasy plot, and the characters are all decently memorable, even if you're you've seen some of them before somewhere. Interacting with the characters, though, is what really makes this game memorable: on hard you've got almost 60 conversations with the different characters over which you learn about their eccentricities and the world, not to mention the LONG cut-scenes between missions. It's well written, and for the benefit of later play-throughs (or people who just want the space shooter), there is a 'skip' button.
In some ways, this tries to be for Flash games what Planescape: Torment is for normal role-playing games: immersive and character driven, with a plot that could stand on its own without a game to go behind it. In some ways, I suppose it meets that goal. Neither the story nor the game is truly great, though for an online Flash game they're both substantially above par, and together they make a quite enjoyable experience. If you enjoy shooters and soft sci-fi, you'll probably enjoy RPG Shooter Starwish (and if shooters aren't quite your cup o' tea don't worry, it's easy and you spend more time reading dialogue than flying your ship.) All said, it's not a great game that will be remembered, but it's a good one and worth a look.
VideoGame RPG Shooter Starwish: This game is OK!
The title sort of says it, or at least provides the summary of the review that's incoming. Now, when considering RPG Shooter Starwish, there are really two elements here: The side-scrolling shooter game, and the plot.
The side-scrolling shooter is passable. It's got a lot more options and upgrades than your ordinary space shooter, which is fun, and there's a good variety of enemies and hazards that you need to learn how to deal with, especially on hard mode. That said, even Hard mode isn't extremely difficult, and you can pretty much cruise through the game holding down fire and moving up and down to dodge terrain. As a whole, the game is decently forgiving for new players and the real gameplay challenge is either in "new game plus" or going for a specific achievement or challenge, like "no deaths" or the special requirements for various endings.
Then there's the plot side. It's a fun little space-fantasy plot, and the characters are all decently memorable, even if you're you've seen some of them before somewhere. Interacting with the characters, though, is what really makes this game memorable: on hard you've got almost 60 conversations with the different characters over which you learn about their eccentricities and the world, not to mention the LONG cut-scenes between missions. It's well written, and for the benefit of later play-throughs (or people who just want the space shooter), there is a 'skip' button.
In some ways, this tries to be for Flash games what Planescape: Torment is for normal role-playing games: immersive and character driven, with a plot that could stand on its own without a game to go behind it. In some ways, I suppose it meets that goal. Neither the story nor the game is truly great, though for an online Flash game they're both substantially above par, and together they make a quite enjoyable experience. If you enjoy shooters and soft sci-fi, you'll probably enjoy RPG Shooter Starwish (and if shooters aren't quite your cup o' tea don't worry, it's easy and you spend more time reading dialogue than flying your ship.) All said, it's not a great game that will be remembered, but it's a good one and worth a look.