Sun Blast: Star Fighter

Awful Wii shovelware ported to pc.

I am 32 years old.

My ex-wife and I have a daughter together, and we adopted our son together. Both are now 4 years old.

When we were going through our separation, I felt lost and unhappy. I was self-destructive. One day, I was so angry with everything spiraling out of control that I punched a concrete wall in a moment of overwhelming emotion. This resulted in breaking my fifth metacarpal in my right hand—the hand I worked with, played games with, and used to carry my children to bed—the hand I desperately needed to ensure I could continue providing.

Upon learning the severity of the self-inflicted damage, I became almost suicidal. Keep in mind that just a few months before this, I was the happiest man, with no history of depression or anxiety. I had never experienced anger outbursts, nor was I the type to break down and cry, but I was in a tough situation that truly prevented me from seeing the light on the other side.

With nothing better to do, I looked for a game I could play WITH ONE HAND while recovering. Somehow, I stumbled upon this game and read some of the comments. I decided it was worth a try... I must admit I didn't beat the game, nor did I play as much as some of you. In fact, I may have played this game for only a day or two. That being said, after doing so, I had a new joy and hope for life. I managed to leave behind the pain and suffering that had been thrust upon me. I could experience the joy and happiness of other people. I relaxed for 5 ♥♥♥♥ minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.

After realizing this, I turned off the game and went back to work. My hand hurt a lot, but I was motivated. I stopped feeling so sorry for myself and became the father I needed to be at that moment, not the weak boy I was behaving like.

Today, I am close friends with the mother of my children. We don't fight, argue, or say hurtful things to each other. We are parents and friends.

Now I have 3 children. My third child is, wait, ALSO 4 YEARS OLD. The woman I am with was going through a very similar situation at the time of my separation, and we just unexpectedly stumbled into each other's lives. We have been dating for a year and are very happy together.

Moral of the story: you never know what life has in store for you, and if I had given up when all odds were against me, I wouldn't be where I am today. This silly little game helped me realize that.

Thank you.

Most of the time, I agree with reviews on Steam. But I have to disagree with them on *Sun Blast*.

First off, you have to respect this game for what it is.

This is a 3D space shooter that is stored on 80MB of space. That's right, 80MB of space!

Within those 80MB, you got different textures, music, and levels with lots of variety. Not only that, it supports a variety of aspect resolutions and ratios, including 1920x1200 (16:10). It has gamepad support. Even more awesome, it's got Windows, Mac, and Linux ports.

But beyond the impressive low spec requirements, I had *fun*! If I were to compare it to another game, it would be Silpheed -- an arcade shooter from the 1980s that had a similar perspective but simpler graphics.

And here's where perspective is important. The regular price of this game is C$2.59. At root, this is an arcade game. If I played this at the arcade, inserted my quarters, and had 10 solid sessions with Sun Blast, I'd be a very happy customer.

Considering the price, there's a lot of great *stuff* here. I've spent more money on allegedly "better" games, and I didn't get as much value out of them.

⠀

I think that the developer wasted a lot of effort while making this game. Had he yielded 3 or 4 very high quality levels rather than a broad of low quality phases, it would be much more enjoyable. Sorry, but the costs of spending your time on playing it outweigh significantly its utility benefits regardless of low price. I don't recommend it.

There should be an option to change the firing mode from single shot to multiple shots just by holding CTRL key, that would have been fun. This game is hard and challenging too with single firing mode. Overall a descent time killer!

Basic little arcade style 3D space shooter. Felt kind of floaty and wasn't very interesting compared to other arcade shooters. I might have dropped a few quarters on a machine like this as a kid but even then would have gotten bored after a couple plays.

Boring, bland, repetitive.
It has the bare minimum of features required to even be called a 3D space shooter.
Its only redeeming feature is the low price.
In this case you do (barely) get what you pay for.

Oh, how neat and positively suprising. This game is a mixture of old Amiga classics like the warp sections of 'Stardust', 'Wendetta 2047' and that freeware pearl 'Zero Gravity' hardly anyone seems to remember. The ship selection screen itself is deeply reminescent of 'T-Zer0' though (also available on Amiga only).

Newer examples of this type of game are the 'Iridion' games on Gameboy Advance. However I can understand the negative reviews, as this game features all the flaws this genre always had like the player's ship itself covering your sight, improper aiming controls and the next to impossible difficulty in higher levels.

But those 'flaws' are in fact what makes a game like this: You might need a bit to get into.
So when you give the game the time it deserves to learn it, possibilities are high you keep wanting to increase your highscore. And after finishing the campaign you can even continue doing so in mission mode.

I'd say you should for sure give this hidden gem of oldschool arcade pleasure a go even at normal pricing which is just a single buck at the moment of writing this review. I mean come on, you cannot even get a hot coffe for this amount of money. Else you're definitely hanging out in the wrong locations ...

I really went into this game wanting to like it. It has decent graphics and a really beautiful soundtrack. I liked that, as a shooter, it was a FPP instead of the general side-scroller or top down choices offered by most games of this genre. It made it a unique playing experience from the getgo.

However, I had not played long before I discovered that this was a gimmick driven shooter. The gimmick: make the ship take up 1/5 of the screen, have a tiny shot that shoots directly from the center of the ship, and then have all enemies spawn 5 feet in front of the ship (enemies generally taking up about 1/6 of the screen at the closest range). This means that most of the levels require luck over skill in order to pass them. If you happen to hit an enemy as it first spawns then you will hit it, otherwise you will probably either bang it with your giant ship or miss it all together. Even if you can quickly aim your ship at an upcoming enemy, your tiny, slow, centrally located shot has almost no chance of hitting said enemy before your giant behemoth crashes into it.

It really reminds me of the old arcade games where you are expected to fail quickly in short levels so that you will keep pumping more and more quarters into the machine in order to keep going.

The first hint that this was not going to be the kind of shooter one can just get lost in the flow of for hours of blasting satisfaction was that, of the three ships available, there were no damage, rate-of-fire, or armor stats to choose from just mobility differences: better x-axis, better y-axis, or even all around. So if you are in the mood for short bouts of "lucky dodging" then this may be a game to try out (it is very cheap afterall). If you are looking for a shooter with some depth, skill and tactics required, however, you probably want to keep on looking.

Do I recommend??? Um.. first I'd recommend a different game.

But if you've played everything else in your library in this genre, and this game is on sale for REALLY cheap and you need something else.. Sure... but set your expectations accordingly.

This game plays sort of like star fox... but with hardly any movement freedom, a horrible camera, only one weapon, no bombs, no special maneuvers/evasions...and no barrel rolls! :'( But, the main problem in this game is not being able to see what's going on and not being able to move you ship quick enough!

- Your ship obscures obstacles in front of you, and then moves too slow to avoid upcoming obstacles that you couldn't see!

- but in order to shoot any enemies you have to position your ship in front of them so you cant see what's going on! (at least to some degree. it's a noticably uncomfortable camera)

- combine that with the fact that enemy ships literally appear/'materialize' WAY too close in front of you. This shooting game quickly becomes a dodging game! You will not have enough time to get in front of enemies to shoot them unless you are already near it! (was this a mobile port that couldn't handle the 3D rendering of too many ships in view?) it is literally unfair how close the ships are in front of you when they fade into view

- that makes the timed attack missions (get X number of hits in Y seconds) difficult, not due to challenge/skill level, but rather by fighting poor & unfair game design
- Tunnel/dodging mission - once you pass obstacles/walls, they cover up half your screen so you can't see what's coming up which can lead to you taking damage. (So you may have to repeat the level and memorize it)

- and WTF is with that unnecessarily large info panel on the HUD that further obscures your view!!! could it not have been split up and moved to corners of the screen? There is so much wasted space that only serves to block your view. what do the little circle icons even mean? upgrades? I don't see them ever chaning during play (admittedly, haven't played much though) so they don't need to be on screen to tell the player NOTHING HAS CHANGED. the only things relavant I've noticed are the HP bar for bosses and timer/hit counter for time attack missions. seriously, move the HP bar to the very top of the screen and only visible when used. And timer/hit counter to top-corners. and if those circle icons do anything, put them in the bottom corners out of the way!


I made it through about 5 levels or so... but then I had enough of getting hit by things I couldn't see coming until it was too late because the game was blocking my view of them, or not being able to hit enemies in time... because the game won't show them to you in time!

Uh.. but there's still some fun to be had with this. Have a friend over to play... And then laugh as they lose to the unfair design.

Drinking game:

If you enjoy Aegis Wing, then you will probably like this game as well.

Resembles Aegis wings, but from a third person perspective in 3d instead of 2d side scrolling.

Seems aimed more for a younger audience, but can be enjoyed by adults as well.

Had some minor issues like passing through some objects, and shots not always doing damage.
Having said that the gameplay for the most part is solid. graphics are colorful, and the soundtrack is pretty good.

Great little space shooter you can get for your kids, and enjoy yourself from time to time.
Especially when you consider the low price of Free.

Don't take my word for it, and check out my video by clicking on the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmV1YSDsHYU&index=54&list=PLGCO4EfbVB6XXoAnQMUJjoEh3c2BLfHx8

Got it for $0.49. It's on sale until Feb. 6 2017, so if you think it looks like it's any good pick it up before then. It's a very simple game, with only flight and shoot controls. A hommage to the games of old. It's not as good as the classics, but in their absence it is enjoyable. Yes, I could easily hook up the old consoles to the TV... Or I could skip running wires on my day off, and play this on PC. All in all, it was worth what I paid for it. You can't get much for under a dollar these days, apart from small quantities of bulk food at the supermarket. I assume they're banking on a ton of people spending 50 cents for the game. In any case I enjoyed what I got, even though it felt somewhat limited. Worth all 50 pennies I paid for it.

It is a small space shooter (...as in you shoot in space, not that you shoot spaces) with simple 3D graphics and a 3rd person "behind the spacecraft" view. The game controls using exclusively the keyboard with the arrows or the WASD keys and space or ctrl for shooting. The gameplay consists of series of levels where you have a single goal which is one of shooting enemies down, avoiding obstacles, shooting a specified number of enemies in a given time limit or taking down a big boss. When you are supposed to shoot down enemies you also get powerups, but those persist only in the level (as does your health, which resets after each level).

Generally speaking, it isn't anything special to write home about, but it is a good "time waster" - especially considering the price. Personally i also really liked the background music.

On the negative side, i'd say that the game becomes repetitive after a while (so it is only good for short bursts between other games or for your lunch break at work). Also i am not fan of saving only every few levels because of said repetition.

Here we have another game that can be summed up in a single word: YIKES!

It's cute that Sun Blast's store description not only has the gall to claim that it was inspired by Star Fox, Space Harrier, and Panzer Dragoon, but it also says that it's "the best 3d space shooter on Steam".

Sun Blast was inspired by a dumpster fire. Never before have I played a shooter with such poor mechanics, sluggish controls, and awful mission-design. Dodging enemy ships and their bullets should be a relatively simple task, but instead it's messy and somewhat convoluted. This can be attributed to the odd perspective. It's not always clear where objects are in relation to the player-ship. So this results in lots of collisions. The bosses tend to have homing weapons, and they're exceedingly frustrating to deal with. Why? Because the player-ship can't maneuver around them, and the angle makes it difficult to tell where the homing shots are heading.

In shootemups, dodging a single bullet should be as easy as breathing. The developer makes the game more difficult by increasing the speed of that bullet, adding more of them, giving them unique properties, and so on. It's the constantly building intensity that keeps these games challenging. Sun Blast somehow manages to accomplish the opposite. Dodging a single bullet is far more trouble than in any other game I've played.

The missions are exceedingly generic and dull. For the most part they're also extremely easy, except for the bosses. Whenever I had to replay the last few stages, because I died at the boss, all I could do was nod my head and think "Yep. I expected this bullshit."

If I spend enough time with Sun Blast, eventually I could learn to handle it's many terrible qualities.
But why? This game suffers from a total dearth of entertainment value.

Before I forget, let's take a look at this statement: "the best 3d space shooter on Steam". I can't claim to know the Steam Store's library well enough to confirm that this is false. However, I will point out that Space Harrier II is available on the service. While it hasn't aged well, and the frame-rate is worse than Sun Blast's, this relic from the 16-bit era is a much better game. I suppose it doesn't include enough "3D" or "space" to fit the criteria, but it might actually be worth your time.

An enjoyable arcade shooter, pretty good music that fits the mood. A challenging game that gets tougher each time you hit the next level!!

Pros
When you lose you dont restart the entire game
Controller support
Unlockable challenges
3 ships
Steam trading cards and achievements
3 different game modes

Cons
Little variation in levels
Too short
Movement isn't that good
camera angle is what will cause you get hit alot due to objects on the screen blocking your view.

---{Graphics}---
☐ Masterpiece
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Will do
✓ Bad
☐ Awful
☐ Paint.exe

---{Gameplay}---
☐ Try not to get addicted
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Nothing special
☐ Ehh
☐ Bad
✓ Just don't

---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Not too bad
✓ Bad
☐ Earrape

---{Audience}---
✓ Kids
☐ Teens
☐ Adults
☐ Everyone

---{PC Requirements}---
✓ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Minimum
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{Difficulity}---
☐ Just press a bunch of buttons
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Not so easy
☐ Difficult
✓ Dark Souls

---{Story}---
✓ Doesn't have
☐ Something isn't nothing I guess
☐ Not great
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ Will make you cry or smile a lot

---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of tea
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ Depends on you
✓ Endless

---{Price}---
☐ Just buy it
☐ Worth the price
☐ Wait for sale
☐ Maybe if you have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
✓ Don't throw money into a trash can

---{Bugs}---
☐ Never had any
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Few bugs
✓ Can get annoying
☐ Ruining the game
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{Multiplayer Mode}---
✓ Does not even exist
☐ No players
☐ Only few lobbies
☐ Available lobbies everytime you wish
☐ Waiting for a place in lobbies for 5 years

что сказать, игра просто прекрасная, оконный режим, убийство метеоритов и конечно же!!! КАРТОЧКИИ!! наслаждайтесь, говорю игре - ДА! 10 МЕТЕОРИТОВ ИЗ 10


what to say , the game is just wonderful , windowed mode , the murder of meteorites and of course !!! Card !! Enjoy the game say - YES ! 10 OUT OF 10 meteorites

Gets hard for all the wrong reasons
The draw distance is horribly bad this is a pc game why can i only see objects when im so close to them i barely have any time to react and not crash into them?. this is a PC GAME not a wiiware game this draw distance is unacceptable and only makes this game difficult for all the wrong reasons it's like downgrading graphics of a pc game and trying to make the difficulty interesting by doing that and all it does for me is makes me believe this game is a failure.and it being a pc game only makes me feel that alot more with this abomination of a draw distance for seeing objects the gameplay is not that bad but the game gets hard because of a crappy draw distance not because of the level design which would have been a better way of creating difficulty like i dunno STAR FOX.did i mention this game was inspired by games that are way less barebones than this game? yes this game is basically flying through space doing different things for each space part with no cities or anything in between(at least as far as i made it).heck even space harrier another game that this game claims to be inspired by has a better draw distance.me personally i wouldint have bought this game if i would have demoed it first but that is a choice you get to make so i won't say buy or don't buy that is up to you me personally though im not satisfied with this game at all......

Your ship flies through a square corridor with invisible walls, you evade obstacles which appear right before you out of nowhere and/or shoot 'em. Would have become a hit on arcade machines.

Ваш корабль летит по квадратному коридору с невидимыми стенами, вы уворачиваетесь от объектов, материализующихся прямо перед вашим носом из ниоткуда и/или отстреливаете их. Стало бы хитом на аркадных аавтоматах.

At £0.19, this game is worth it. I would in no way recommend buying at £4.

I've not played a lot of this game, but I don't really need to: it is a slightly clunky but perfectly playable game. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a bargin bin, but along side the original Virtua Fighter or Pac-Man: Good but dated. Which is funny, because this isn't an old game, it just isn't very complicated.

Comparisons against classics of the genre are overly generous, but fans of the genre looking for a cheap & cheerful time-filler will enjoy this game's flatter-by-mimicry content. It even has unlockable 'challenges', which is a nice touch! Add to that the fact that this game will probably run on a toaster and what you have is a nice little offering.

★★★★★

Yes this is one you don't want to miss. And only playing this for less than fifteen minutes, is just how quickly you can become hooked on trying to complete that one- more -level cliche'. The graphics are crisp, music is good ,the sounds are great, and the control with an Xbox 360 controller is faultless as I can tell. You can select one of three spaceships at the beginning and it just depends on how you like your ship to respond in space. As you fly through space you destroy asteroids for power ups and generally try and avoid getting crushed to death. It is a good one.

This is an awesome game. It has no real depth but that's irrelevant. It's fast and addictive. It looks good as well and it's extremely smooth even with my old gtx 460 :P. It was a spontaneous buy and I don't regret it. The only thing that bugged me in the beginning was that it doesn't support simple usb gamepads which you can plug into your usb port. But I could solve that problem by downloading JoyToKey 3.7.4 (try a google search for "JoyToKey English Version.htm" and you will find an old version that didn't cost money back then).

With the gamepad it's a joy to play.