Viva la Star Soldier R

I have been absolutely loving/cursing this game to bits since it released a couple weeks back. This game totally pwns me right now, I don't do much else when I have free time other than try to beat my high score in the 2-min mode. Currently I'm 5th in Canada, 17th in North America, and 474th in the World with my score of 1,010,700, using the name KiMO. Even with that score, which I know is pretty good (World Record at the moment is from Japan - like about 90% of the other scores - and is 1,122,100), I can see all kinds of room for improvement, and that's one of the things I love about this game. Even if you've played hundreds and hundreds of runs, as I have by now, you always see spots where you could've gotten 'just a few more points' that could've helped out a lot.

This is a total 'just one more try' game if I've ever played one, even if it's mostly the kind of game that would really only appeal to either high score whores or shooter junkies (guilty as charged on both counts, btw). The ease at which you can restart a level if you make an error (just press + & - together for a quick restart from the beginning), while a total godsend really, also serves to extend my gaming sessions way longer than I had anticipated, as the goal of "just one or two 2-minute runs" often turns into 20 or more aborted half-runs before even completing one to satisfaction. So in other words, 15 minutes or more just to finish one 2-minute run. Like I said at the beginninng, loving & cursing it. Plus, add in the fact that this game really works awesome w/the classic controller (the only way to play it IMHO, as analog just feels too loose + imprecise. Digital FTW!), and that means that I've been having some real wicked cases of "Nintendo Thumb" the last couple weeks.

Yes, this game is an endless source of fodder for perfectionists, a real hardcore gamers' game, and I don't think it's really getting the respect it deserves from the gaming media. Perhaps I'll write a review eventually that approaches the game from the proper perspective (which I think is what most of these reviews are missing), but first I have to get over my 2-minute run addiction and play some of the 5-minute mode (which I've honestly only tried twice so far, compared to the bajillion 2-minute runs I've made/started....).

The last time I was hooked this much on one game, to the exclusion of playing almost any other games, was either with Picross DS or Puzzle Quest. On a home console I'd say since not since Pac-Man: Championship Edition (which I still absolutely need to have released for DS w/wifi leaderboards already!!! Get on it Namco-Bandai!), which had me hopelessly addicted for weeks and weeks on end, trying to eek out a few more points here and there. Star Soldier R reminds me so, so much of Pac-Man: CE, actually, kinda like WiiWare's version of either that or Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on XBLA; that is, a short session, old-school game design, centered around getting the highest score in the land, that still feels fresh, and can have you totally and helplessly addicted.

I had been playing copious amounts of Mario Kart on my Wii prior to Star Soldier R being released, but I haven't even had one race, online or off, since I downloaded it. We just got Conan (360) last week, and my brother has been playing it like a madman ever since, and I want to try it, but like I said, any time for gaming lately is an opportunity to beat that score. Hey, it's only 2-minutes....

-Kimo (KiMO on the leaderboards, look for me @ #1 soon...heh...)