PS2 Underrated Gem: The Red Star
157To see me cover this game along with four other underrated gems go here: https://youtu.be/oRXH0q_9WNU
This is a series of gameplay vids I'm doing highlighting overlooked games for the PS2.
Based off of a graphic novel of the same name, The Red Star can best be described as successfully combining Contra, a beat 'em up, and a bullet-hell Shmup like Ikaruga.
It successfully combines all those genres into one great package. You can play through it as one , or as you see in this vid, two players. It's got that old school feel to it, and as you go on, the levels get tougher. This is another one that requires that old school gaming patience at times.
The game doesn't have much of a storyline, but it really doesn't need it. It's just a straight up action game. Kill everything that moves, and you get graded on your performance in each level which translates to points you can then spend to upgrade your characters.
If you missed this one, and are a Contra fan, you really need this game.
The Red Star is only available on the PS2. It was going to also be released on the Xbox, but due to the death of Acclaim, that never happened. It's also on the PSP via a PSN download (on the US PSN store), so you can also find it that way. My main focus is on consoles, so as far as console versions go, it's only on PS2.
Here's what I wrote about the game in my recent "My Gaming Week number 17" vid:
I remember back when Acclaim was having financial trouble, I used to visit their website a lot for some reason. I hoped to see them pull out of it, because I had faith that they could make great games even if they chose not to the majority of the time. In fact their entire history was filled with some really bad games, and a few really good ones. Near the end they seemed to wake up to the idea that they had acquired an image of crap, and finally started to develop games that looked really good. One day when browsing their website, I came across The Red Star which was still in development. Just reading about the game made me want it so bad. However, Accliam went under before they ever released the game. The only remnants being a PS2, and Xbox demo of the game. I was bummed, because I really wanted to play the game.
Then I was browsing one of my regular game sites in 2007, and there it was, a review for The Red Star. It turns out XS games picked it up, and finished developing it. The game just rocks. Think Contra meets a beat 'em up meets a bullet-hell Shmup, and you have some of the idea. It even allows for co-op gameplay. I'm not sure how much of the game is still Acclaim's, or how much is new, but this game is proof that ever developers that are looked upon as being crap are capable of making great games if they focus themselves. I can't recommend this game enough.