Sophstar | PS4 Review

Decked out, and on deck Sophstar follows the story of recruited space pilot Soph as she tries to unravel the mysteries of her origin, and make sense of the battle she is now a part of. Led by an admiral in command Soph pilots one of several ships with distinct weapon capabilities, and power levels. Following leads to distant planets, and outer space locations fighting against an adversary whose intent is to destroy Soph's fleet. Utilizing innate warp abilities combined with the firepower of future technology Soph braves the final frontier in an attempt to come to terms with her past, present, and future. 

Offering up a robust amount of features in the way of customization, and multiple modes of play Banana Bytes' 'Sophstar' is the ultimate retro shmup tribute. Coming at you like a proper arcade cabinet experience from yesteryear with modern add-ons this brutally challenging space shooter tests your mettle as you fight, and flight through stage after stage and wave after wave of enemy ships, and bullet hell in order to complete a character story arch shown through contextual cutscenes. 

Custom tailored to the player's preference 'Sophstar' offers options in spades. Not only can you tweak the screen size, change art borders, and toggle on/off scanlines, but you can also change visuals through an interesting variety of retro displays that take in account past consoles, PCs, and even color palette swaps. Additionally adding in horizontal, and vertical display alternatives for those shmup enthusiasts who are accustomed to playing shmups in a certain perspective. It is these detailed custom settings that make the package deal even more worthwhile.

Factor in the several modes of play including Arcade, Cadet Training, Score Attack, Timed Challenge, and Endless and you get a plenty enough to play through. Arcade, in particular, is where you'll experience the story of Soph, and her commanding fleet. That, and the mysterious alien presence that is teasing Soph with a truth about her mysterious past. Ultimately culminating in an origin story with a twist. Played out in several themed stages filled to the brim with threats. Beyond that Cadet Training offers a side option filled with mini-tests that will grade your performances based on a handful of factors or objectives. Those factors being survival, timing, accuracy, an scoring. Each task is a do or fail ordeal with a final grade that can be maxed out to the highest "S" ranking if performance meets the standards upon completion. Score Attack, Timed challenge, and Endless also bring forth a test of sorts, but in a more fully fledged playthrough dependent upon set rules. 

In Score Attack lives lost do not matter. What matters most is staying alive long enough to build up the chained combo multiplier from kills, and collecting the dropped point power-ups. It ends when the stage is finished. Timed Challenge, in a similar yet different vein, has you aiming to last as long as possible against a timer that is constantly counting down. A timer that can be offset by collecting seconds in the form of power-ups that are dropped from destroyed enemy craft. In this mode the run ends with the timer reaches zero. 

Last, but not least Endless mode brings to the player a one hit and done style playthrough wherein the stage by stage playthrough ends only when you get hit. It is hardcore at it's root, but those seeking similar hardcore challenges elsewhere will also find that other modes like Arcade come complete with their own set of difficulty settings including Child, Beginner, Intermediate, Challenging, Brutal, and Hardcore. Alternatively a choice between Easy, and Hardcore in certain other modes of play. Choosing to go the more difficult route ups the enemy count, and bullet hell. Making for a proper challenge with score based benefits the higher you raise the stakes.

Mechanics-wise 'Sophstar' is a simple yet complex mix of ship type, special limited use weapons, and limited teleportation abilities. There are at least 9 named, and visually/mechanically different ships that Soph can pilot. Each ship comes with it's own unique primary and special shot type along with star rated performance levels that place the ships in various function categories. Those categories including aggressive, balanced, defensive, and even an unorthodox combat focus. Making for different playstyles per ship with their own advantages, and disadvantages. Shot types from these ships include more traditional shmup options like spread shots, single shots, homing shots, and even tri-shots. That, and backwards shots that fire along the forward facing shots. Special weapons also differ, and will offer everything from screen clearing bombs to a all powerful laser beam, and even an invincible shell that can be placed upon ships to deal big damage among other alternatives. 

Of course this leads us to the game's teleportation gimmick, and no matter the ship Soph's teleport ability can be put to use on a limited recharge basis. You can teleport in all cardinal directions from an origin point to get out of the way of unavoidable bullet hell or boss specific attacks. Some ships have differing mechanics tied to their teleport as well sometimes adding in damage to enemies they teleported across, among other things. The teleport, once used, will be up for use again once the diamond meter surrounding the ship fills back up, and the announcer tells you it's ready. Making it a limited use option more geared towards boss battles.

Scoring which is crucial in Sophstar's offline and online leaderboard rankings is a bit unique in it's own right. In this particular shmup points come from three sources. The destroying of enemy craft, the resulting combo chains that max out at x9, and the dropped point blocks that degrade in value the longer it takes to collect them. Collecting the dropped points on the spot nets a 1,000 pointer where in a 0 value happens when the point block fades completely away. It makes chasing these points imperative to netting a highscore. It is truly a risk and reward mechanic in that there is no magnetic pull for said points, and the only way to nab them is to run into them with your ship. Also worth noting is point values increase in certain modes/difficulties beyond the 1,000 point threshold. 

The Presentation ...

Visually, and audibly 'Sophstar' looks like a retro shmup brought back from the 80's - 90's arcade scene. It is that true to the traditional shmup formula. Graphics border on 16 - 32bit by design with intricate animations for ships as well as explosion, and particle effects reminiscent of the arcade era. The underneath stage designs are layered giving an illusion of deeper environments. Additionally the Arcade text avatars, and banner art are created in a fashion that is pseudo anime by nature. Giving it a somewhat Western anime flair at times, and at other times a more Japanese anime appearance. The soundtrack is that upbeat synth we often times hear in shmups like these. With thematic changes, and a hint of chiptune here or there. The soundtrack is complimentary to the game, and fits the art style nicely.

The Verdict ...

I was taken aback by how much the developer included in this shmup. It being an indie release. You often times only see this much effort put in a more prestigious bigger studio release. Everything from the optional features to the several modes of play were so giving that it's hard not to recommend this at it's day one pricing. It is that good. I personally suggest picking this up on release if you are into shmups. It's worth your time, and dime!!!