Solar Wind Reviews

It reminded me instantly of my c64 time. Pure Arcade Fun! For now it is our lunchtime game in the company :D

very good challenging shoot em with a mix of lots of classics..Awesome Tribute to R-Type, Scramble, Gradius etc..if you love these type of side scrolling shoot em ups this is well worth a try & to buy :)

[b]Original Review:[/b] This game is a good attempt at a side-scrolling shmup... but unfortunatly for me, I can not reccomend this game at this time. My Gripes / Suggestions are: [list] [*] Throwing you in at the start of the game with 0% shields gives you no time to get used to the pace of the game [*] Although you can customise the control method (its not clear on how to do this, I found it out by chance), the game doesn't remember your settings. [*] There is no difficulty modifier, this goes along the same lines as the 0% shield start, meaning that you have to keep playing and playing until you get the hang of it, I personally feel this will turn people away from the game, if they feel they aren't making any progress they won't continue playing. [*] Enemies seem to launch (right at the start) right when you are underneath them, making it almost impossible to dodge unless you have fast reflexes, which you won't at the start. [*] Enemy sprites are bigger than you - this makes it harder to dodge them, and the power ups are small, I thought they were just floating debris peices to start with. So it was just hard from the get go. [/list] If the game started you off with a little bit of shield (about 15-25%) it will make this game just a little less painful the first few times you play it, as it will give you a little boost to learn the pace of the game, how fast you fire, your movement speed, how big your hit box is, so you know how close you can get to the ground, or near to another enemy. The graphics, art style and music are all top notch, I just don't think there is much of a learning curve, there are only so many times I can restart the first level as I am trying to work out what things are doing. I was moving around some of the scenary trying to dodge the enemies that I couldn't kill due to a slow fire rate, and I went a little too far back and instantly exploded because I clipped a bit of the ground, again because I had 0% shields from the start. I really wanted to give this a positive review, But for me it doesn't have the right balance. I bought this on a whim to support a developer of my favorite language (App Game Kit). But that alone can't sway me to give a thumbs up. Maybe if a few of these get addressed I might change my mind, but sorry I can't give it a thumbs up yet. [b]Update[/b] YES! Very responsive developer! that is always good!, the game is actually enjoyable now, the easement into the first stage is nice and easy, you get punished hard if you die (which is fair enough) but I actually felt like I was progressing through the game rather than spending ages trying to learn the whole map bit by bit. I feel I can give this a thumbs up, based on these adjustments, I still died early but that might down to be just being rubbish, but I do want to play this game now, so thats all good!

More Indie-Retro goodness from the Guys at Jim Jams. Fast paced, with just the right balance between level of difficulty and ease of play. Upgrades are plentyfull, but not so plantyfull to take away any challenge. Solar Wind is now my go-to quick gaming fix!