[Wings of Bluestar] Zarak Arcade Normal ALL CLEAR (Score: 2,445,910) [CC Commentary]

Channel:

Weeb Nerd Gaming

Subscribers:

449

Published on March 5, 2023 2:57:12 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEg40AEmhMk

Game:

Wings Of Bluestar (2020)

Duration: 36:10

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6

This game is a rare breed for me. I like to hate this game! Mainly because it's a disappointment.

I tried the demo around 3 years ago? It was pretty promising. But there are higher priority games at the time so I skipped this game, but at least I promised to tackle this game one day. And now I've recorded a 1cc run of it. The first impression was pretty good, but as you progress further...

The jaaaaaaaaannnnnkkkkkkksssssss!!!

Let's... say the good stuff first? On its fundamentals, this game works? This game is a horizontal shmup that is surprisingly mainly a bullet clearer, despite not looking like one and has the shield pod girl be the marketing mascot, which since you've seen this video's title, no, I don't like playing using her, disappointingly. I'll explain later. You can shoot, rotate options use the special attack of the corresponding character. Both characters' main shots are functionally similar, but one is clearly much more superior than the other. They mainly shoot out wide shot for the main shot. Their options are their main differentiators. Aya's options shoot out normal bullets. Sounds fine, until you see that her bullets are very small! Not to mention, slow! I don't mind the bullets not having special properties other than 360゜aiming with the right analog stick, but with such a small bullet, I can't hit anything and the enemies in this game are small yet thick! Also weak DPS. Zarak's laser is the complete opposite. You can't focus fire on one direction, but it more than makes it up with its PIERCING PROPERTY! It pierces both terrain and enemies! Many of the game's enemies are shielded or hide behind a bigger hitbox, so this alone makes Zarak too OP, trivializing many of the stage designs. Funnily enough, the original PC game seem to intend that the laser doesn't go through terrain.

Wait, wait, let's get back to the good stuff again. Nice music, nice handdrawn graphics and I do like the enemy and boss designs, nice backgrounds too with scrolling and mech details. That's really commendable! It actually doesn't fall to many Euro-shmup trappings either. No inertia, good fire rate, good response, the basic stuff.

Okay, back to the bad stuff. The special attack is also not well balanced. For Aya, doing so will discard her shield. Her shield is destructible yet this is her only way to survive with such a fat hitbox! Okay, that doesn't sound bad in isolation, but Zarak? You know where am I going. It's a bullet-cancelling laser. You need to charge it, but the cooldown is very fast, cancels (almost) every bullet, and it's INFINITE! Zarak doesn't have a shield for a reason: The unlimited bomb laser! I myself is not immune in such criticism, but the power discrepancy shouldn't be THIS bad!

I can deal with bad character balancing; certainly many players tolerate games with bad character viability, and I'm one of them. Yes, the main reason I hate this game is the stage design and the subtle mistakes that add up!
Firstly, all enemies have more than 1 HP. No popcorns. Really, the smallest enemies can't be taken down in a single swoop.
Second, the difficulty curve is very uneven. This is very apparent in the boss fights!
Third, cheap enemy placements, especially considering this is a no-bomb game, so to speak! It can be as bad as deciding the safe spot is the far right so suddenly!
Four, very sensitive hitbox! You see, CAVE bullets' hitbox are actually just coordinates, which adds the benefit of reducing CPU load. The fat one is the player hitbox. This game has both hitboxes FAT! That means you can't squeeze between spread patterns, which is the very point of bullet hell games! Don't tell me I have a shield! The shield can get destroyed especially in boss fights! When it's very possible I get naked, shouldn't the pattern cater at least I can survive in zero power state?
Five, surprisingly awful Gradius Syndrome. The DPS downgrade is super apparent when you get reset to your weakest! How annoying!
Six, enemy bullets BLEND WITH ITEMS! This is because in many cases their color match up! Red items beside red bullets, blue items beside blue bullets, so on!
Seven, the enemy spawn indicator is at best, lazy, or at worst, LIES! Just one warning on the left yet the danger zone is actually above and below it. Great!

I think this is mainly to the lack of knowledge to the 1cc culture. Sounds gatekeepy to say, but as the game designer you need to have some experience superplaying in the genre. Shmup is one of the most delicate genres in the game design standpoint. One wrong design aspect can ruin the game very easily, notably when scoring is at stake. Don't get me started with the rather lazy difficulty setting where it jacks up the enemy HP! I HATE THAT!

I personally do NOT recommend you to torture yourself with this game, except if you understand what you're doing.

This is the Nintendo Switch version.
https://store-jp.nintendo.com/list/software/70010000032407.html

#stg #shmup #nintendoswitch

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