Want to play a shooting game and a puzzle game at the same time? Hey, don’t us all!
Overview
Here is something you don’t see everyday in the gaming world. From the efforts of both SNK and ADK comes this unique fused game of puzzle playing that doubles as a shoot'em up called “Twinkle Star Sprites”. It sounds really weird and it does, but the result is an original, different, and very creative game if you ever see one.
Graphics 7/10
The majority of the animation within the game is childish and cute, which may prove too much of a turn off for some people. The intro and cut scenes, themselves, will make you feel like you are playing a game that is strictly aimed for kids under ten. Have enough tolerance and you will find yourself calmingly accepting the game’s environment and humor. I love the part where you see the loser getting flung from afar in the winner screen. The actual battles are bombarded with bright and colorful effects screaming in excellence.
You will be amazed at how much detail has gone into the special attacks, explosions, and surprises when it comes time to occupy the fields. Each area’s enemies have the same purpose, but when you dig deep into it, it is astonishing. The way they produce the frenzy from bubble covered shields to tiny sprites of enemies to the unpredictable movements of bosses, Twinkle Star Sprites really does tests your hand/eye coordination to the fullest. The backgrounds are simple and repetitive. Not ultimately fantastic, but they fit with the themes of what they are trying to get across. I did kind of wish the shooters themselves were more viewable, as they were too damn small when surrounded in chaotic moments.
Gameplay/Controls 8/10
Many cool gimmicks bring Twinkle Star Sprites to stick out more than your average normal puzzle games. The tutorial in the beginning is extremely helpful in getting the concept of what this game is really about. Choosing one of the three different options is nice and organized. “Story Mode” explains the adventures of Lord Ran, “Character Mode” is all the shooters in a free-for-all, and “Competitive Mode” is straight up versus against another player.
On the battlefield, the screen is split up in two for each player to take one of the vertical sides. The drill is to shoot down the monsters, in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Destroying plenty of them at once sends them over to your opponent’s side as small fireball projectiles, causing your rival many problems. The victor is the one who still holds onto their heart points without running out of them. You can counter and bounce their offense back onto their side with more dangerous setbacks and the opponent can do the exact same thing to you.
Constant back and forth action, like chain combos and reversals, can produce extra offense or even bosses to crush your opponent. An awesome feature that caught my eye was the usefulness of the super meter in Twinkle Star Sprites. Starting as level one, the more enemies you shoot down boosts the meter, making your shots more powerful, so you can quickly yield larger paybacks.
Power-ups can also be obtained and range from restoring bombs, given out bonus points, popping bubbles, or instantly throwing double your attack offenses towards your rival. Great when executing it, but not so great when you’re enduring it. Hell, even the grim reaper makes an appearance if he thinks the match is taking too long.
As for the arcade board layout, thankfully, the control setup on the NeoGeo arcade is limited to the right actions. All you need is the joystick and the two buttons, A and B, beside it, just like most puzzle and shooting games. An annoying factor I had to deal with was the amount of unnecessary shaking and bashing of the buttons to get some monster off you when they leach onto you.
The first couple of tries against the computer is going to be gruesome for newcomers and will take some time to adapt to the opponents’ “show no mercy” physics in random cases. Unless you are a fast learner, your opponents are not going to be as forgiving and will never feel sorry for you. Sadly, the remaining negatives of this game contains is when too much stuff is happening on the screen at once, it can slow down the game big time and some special attacks sometimes do too much damage, shortening your time to stay in the round longer.
Sound/Music 7/10
By now, you should know when something is designed cute, the voiceovers and music is sure to follow that same road. When hearing the characters saying their dialogue (Still in Japanese), it gives each shooter a distinct tone form of their own identity.
To tell you the truth, some of the soundtrack kind of helps balance it by not only having songs with the cuteness factor, but also blasting out songs that have a Caribbean feel or Euro-dance type beat that you wouldn’t mind listening out in public…as long as you have headphones.
Replay Value 7/10
Lord Ran is the only character you can play in story mode while nine funky shooters (Not counting the hidden) are fully selectable for character and competitive modes, showing their stats of their speed and how powerful their shots are. Also, they also profile what kind of monsters and bosses the player can unleash when gaining the upper hand.
The challenge is definitely high against the computer, no matter if you are a novice or an expert. After everything is done, all that is left is to play is against another person, where it really gets interesting. Seriously, the two human player battles is the glue that holds this game together when all the desired goals are met.
Overall 7/10
Twinkle Star Sprites is solid for what it’s worth. Addicting as a puzzle and addicting as a shooter, this game has provided its own persona and showcase some great technical aspects.
The atmosphere is bizarre and some of the puzzles are insane, but that is what makes Twinkle sparkle. It comes with it obvious faults, but the final verdict is that you will most likely never get to watch and try a game quite like this ever. Pick it up, put it in your collection, and the next time you want to play something out of the ordinary, you can always take out Twinkle Star Sprites.
- By Mr. Boombada
