Gyrostarr Review

Published by: Ignition
Developed by: Ignition Banbury
Release Date: October 15, 2007
Genre: Puzzle / Logic

Intro
High Voltage Software's Gyrostarr is a June '08 WiiWare release that promises to "challenge you and up to three additional players to pilot your way through a series of twisting, turning, techno-plasma tracks while battling a variety of deadly alien foes at ever-increasing speeds." For those of us old-school gamers it will remind you of Tempest; you have a limited area to navigate (side-to-side) and your targets appear mostly directly ahead.

image via ign

Story/Premise/Setting
This is a not your everyday side-scrolling shooter - this is a semi-vertical scrolling shooter that placers you in a half-pipe. The enemies, energy and power-ups appear at the other end and you will shoot them as usual except that you cannot forget to collect energy that allows you to advance to the next level. Fail to collect enough energy and your ship will explode instead of making the portal jump. The bonus stages are nice as you can rest your shooting thumb and concentrate on collecting energy.

image via ign

Graphics
The team has done a very good job on their choice in graphics - just flashy enough without overloading your eyes. The background shots have been inspired by NASA's Hubble telescope pictures and are very nicely rendered. The track graphics do their job just fine as does the energy "cloud" colors. The ship itself as well as the enemies are a bit blander than the others tho'. Overall a fine job.

Level One

Controls
There are multiple controller options that allow up to four players to compete in vs. or co-op and rack up their best scores. The controls are nice and tight for most schemes but the "tilt" mode falls short as it just boils down to either full left/right and reduces your control to the point of making this useless in the higher/faster levels. We’re still experimenting with the different control schemes and haven’t found a favorite but that’s meant in a good way. We've played through several levels so far and have found the controls to have been a very well done part of the experience.


Sound
The “Space-Techno” tracks are for the most part fun to listen to and very enjoyable. Again, the developers have not gone overboard but allowed the music and sound effects to enhance the game play without overloading your hearing. The sounds of the weapons fire and other impact and pick-up sounds are very well done – in fact they remind me of all the great shooters I used to play. The in-game voice reminds me of the announcer in “Carousel” of Logan’s Run. Weird, I know. But it gives the game a bit of retro feel for us older gamers.

Overall - well done.

image via gamerankings

Game Play
The frenetic pace of the game at later levels makes this a very good shooter. While some may complain that it ramps up too slow we found that while it could have been a bit faster sooner that this was not a deal breaker for us. The enemies are fast themselves but tend to start bunching up and keeping you from collecting energy. This can be overcome with several different power-ups and requires a bit of strategy – with practice you’ll learn when to hold them and when to unleash them for maximum effect. The “slow enemies” is particularly helpful in the later levels. In two-player mode they can be combined as well so this is could be seen as overdone but then you’d have to be very good at dodging the enemies. All in all the game play has just the right feel for a game like this – not too much of any one thing and just the right amount of everything.

image via ign

Shortcomings
I read in other reviews that the four-player option wasn’t all that well done. We haven’t had the chance yet to try this out so I’ll keep this in mind for when we do have a gaggle of gamers over and update this review to reflect our impressions. If someone has tested this out please let the rest of us know how well it worked. Other than that we don’t have any bad points to write about. This doesn’t mean that we think this game is perfect it’s just that we haven’t found any major flaws so far but we’ll certainly let the reader know if we do.

Wrap-up
Since I’ve said “old-school” a couple of times previously I’ll continue the trend; old school gamers who built their first game callous playing Tempest, Gyrus, and all other “pipe shooters” are going to find a lot of things to like about this game. Younger gamers who like a fun, but not mindless, shooter will like the workout their thumb gets. For those who hate shooters… well, this will never be a favorite but if you’re over at a buddies place who has it it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try just to check out the well done background graphics.

Score
High Voltage Software's Gyrostarr earns a 7.5/10. This is a nice Wiiware game that delivers an overall nice experience. Since it only costs 700 points I can’t fault the game for not delivering an awesome experience but what it does bring it does very well.