Sophstar

Amazing classic shmup game at a bargain price inspired by toaplan. One of the best indie shmups out there Pros: - The gameplay is great - The quantity of extra modes is amazing (score attack, infinite mode, cadet school, etc) - You can select many different ships with different play mechanics. - There is a extra mode called caddet with many missions with different objectives that is excelent to improve your skills in the arcade mode. - The diversity and the quality of enemies is great, with diverse and interesting bullet patterns. Bosses and mini boss are fun and original. Something rare in modern shmups. - Has tate mode. - The price is ultra cheap for the quality and diversity. In fact they could charge the double and be fair. - There is a teleport mechanic that i don´t use but at least is there and is not obligatory. -There are many selectable levels of dificulty for all tastes and skills. - enemyes bullet change color when they are fired (good for visibility) I would not call cons, but things that can be improved and i have to feedback the developer in case they do another shmup - Stages are a bit long. the game could be more compact. - First 2 stages are not bad but also not that great. in fact things start to be interesting when you reach stage 3 - the presentation in terms of graphics and sound is not bad but certainly inferior than the gameplay. It just does not have a professional feeling compared to other shmups (drainus, gunvein, etc), but it does it job - Not sure if is my lack of skill but some missions in cadet mode are not so balanced (again, it can be my fault) - There are secrets that are not clear (in fact i can´t find any video detailing the secrets for some stages) and some of them may be hard or impossible with some ships unless you abuse bomb button (and even then i am not sure). For instance there is a secret on stage 1 where you have to destroy 3 eyes in a short period of time. with underpower ships is very hard. the time in seconds should have balanced for each ship. In the end we have a obligatory buy for shmups lovers and best shmup of 2022 and i rank A in tier list of indie classic shmups (not bullet hells). S rank is reserved for indie masterpieces wich i only consider 4 (judg silvers/eschatos, cho ren ka and zeroranger).

Sophstar has quickly become one of my favorite shoot 'em ups. It doesn't have a lot of gimmicks (other than maybe all the ship types and they each work), complicated power ups to juggle or other distractions from the core game play of shooters. It's a game that focuses on the essence of shmups and hones that into a top tier experience. Playing the game, I often find myself in what seems to be the correct route intuitively. As if the game is subtly guiding me playing aggressively or making best use of the particular ship I'm playing weapons to right spot on the screen. Instead of memorizing my route through constant replaying. It feels like DoDanPachi to me in that way. And if I do find myself out of position, Sophstar gives me tools to get back on track. From a couple of slower ship speeds to more carefully dodge bullet patterns to many ships have a teleport ability. Some ships even have a special attack that clears enemy bullets. This is not to say the game is easy. Well, it can be offering not one but two easier settings. Both are excellent for new players curious to see what shoot 'em ups are all about. The game also offers several harder difficulty modes as well. And regardless of the difficulty setting the game ramps up the challenge the further the player gets. Sophstar also offers a Cadet School. Which is a series of mini games designed to hone a players shmup skills. In addition, it has a bunch of other modes such as timed attack and endless mode. [strike]My biggest complaint is the game is really finicky with controller setup. My controller of choice is a Sega Genesis 6-button USB controller. And I have to use a Mayflash dongle to make that happen for this game. I'd much rather be able to connect my Genesis controller directly. Like many other Steam shmups allow.[/strike] Trying again directly plugging in my Genesis controller, I didn't have any issues. Especially after re-mapping to my preference. Sophstar is easily in my top 5 of all time shoot 'em ups due it craftsmanship to the fundamentals of shooters, large selection of different ships to better match ones' playstyle or offer differing game play challenges, wide range of difficulties for those brand new to the genre and seasoned masters and its over all retro presentation.

This offers quite a bit of content for the price: 5 different modes to play with: Arcade mode which is what one would expect when the word Arcade appears, Cadet mode which is a lengthy list of challenges to try with each ship, Score Attack which is a 2 minute Caravan-eqsue mode, Time Attack which is an endless run with a timer that you can increase to keep the run going longer, and lastly Endless mode which is a 1 life affair which gradually gets harder the longer you thrive. There are local and online leaderboards, and 6 difficulties offered in the game's Arcade mode along with two scoring styles as a secondary selection after difficulty. The first three difficulties are on the easier side while the harder 3 really begin to ramp up quickly and move freakin fast like bullets in a Psikyo game. The game generally thrives on fast bullets and not overly complicated patterns like something out of Cave, so if you don't like fast Psikyo bullets this might not be something you will be into. The only real gripe I could say is that the first stage can seem a bit empty on the easier difficulties sometimes but fast bullets help to make up for it. Easily the best feature of this game is the NINE different ships offered, all notably different from one another to the point that they are impossible to compare to each other. It is worth trying out each ship to find which one clicks best with you, because I genuinely didn't get much until one of the later ships I tried that made me start to like things more. This is without a doubt the game's most commendable feat because there's very few traits that are really comparable between ships, even if the game tries to have 3 "base" types with 3 subclasses in each. When you tie everything together, it's really hard to say that someone isn't going to find SOMETHING in this game that they like, and who knows could even become a treasure mine if multiple things click with someone.

A fantastic blend of challenge and longevity. Many shooters only have a ship or two to master, but with Sophstar, you have nine genuinely different ships. A range of difficulties will keep you going for some time and there are secrets to unlock on each level. Once you've mastered all the ships and finished the arcade on the hard difficulty, you have a few other modes ranging from timed challenges to specific tasks. Sophstar has clearly been developed by a team that understands this genre and wanted to bring all its best aspects together. On top of all this, it has beautiful, bold and detailed pixel art. My only criticism, and it's a harsh one, is some of the bullets do blend in with the background on a couple of the levels, but this isn't a major concern. I cannot recommend Sophstar enough, this is a genuine classic that even the most casual of arcade fans will fall in love with.

Very good shmup, I like it very much.

This game is great and already well worth the money with all the levels and game types and several ships to go along with it. The game has a great amount of variety but i can only get halfway on arcade mode at this time(4th boss). There is a definite learning curve but if you're having fun that shouldn't matter. For a game this cheap especially on sale I highly recommend it, if you're a classic shootemup lover then look no further then this game.

Very high quality shmup with alot of QOL features in latest release... tons of filters for fun/retro style looks too.