I've only played a couple STGs (DoDonPachi, ZeroRanger, Eschatos, the Frantic and Reactance series-es back when Flash was a thing, a couple in arcades like Raiden 2 and R-Type, Einhänder, Drainus), but I generally tend to enjoy what I've played of the genre even if they're pretty tough games.
Star Waspir is... not enjoyable. One quarter of it of it feels like the game gets too ridiculous right out of the gate with its enemies and the sheer speed at which their bullets move, which makes it difficult to adapt to the game when it's immediately throwing snipers at you. Another quarter is the visual design, because Star Waspir's visuals manage to make me feel like I'm getting eye strain while playing and I'm not sure I can articulate why entirely.
The other half is the power-up system. I've kind of come to expect gimmicky chaining systems for score multipliers as just part of the genre (my personal favorite multiplier gimmick is graze mechanics like in Frantic), but when you're doing chaining gimmicks for power-ups, then things have been taken too far. The power-ups aren't even "permanent until you get tagged" either, they're either time-limited or breakable, which just makes the whole system feel bad to engage with since what you get for the effort doesn't feel as impactful as it really should if they're meant to only last a few seconds. Even 1943, which had time-limited power-ups, has them deliver a significant impact and gives you some actual time to use them.
It's a shame, since I like the other STG I've played so far in the pack (Caramel Caramel).
Star Waspir is... not enjoyable. One quarter of it of it feels like the game gets too ridiculous right out of the gate with its enemies and the sheer speed at which their bullets move, which makes it difficult to adapt to the game when it's immediately throwing snipers at you. Another quarter is the visual design, because Star Waspir's visuals manage to make me feel like I'm getting eye strain while playing and I'm not sure I can articulate why entirely.
The other half is the power-up system. I've kind of come to expect gimmicky chaining systems for score multipliers as just part of the genre (my personal favorite multiplier gimmick is graze mechanics like in Frantic), but when you're doing chaining gimmicks for power-ups, then things have been taken too far. The power-ups aren't even "permanent until you get tagged" either, they're either time-limited or breakable, which just makes the whole system feel bad to engage with since what you get for the effort doesn't feel as impactful as it really should if they're meant to only last a few seconds. Even 1943, which had time-limited power-ups, has them deliver a significant impact and gives you some actual time to use them.
It's a shame, since I like the other STG I've played so far in the pack (Caramel Caramel).
