Content: 2/5
Having never played Gunstar Heroes fully before. I bought this game after seeing rave reviews for it. However, from what I hear, this is basically a "sequel" to Gunstar Heroes in the way that the characters are different people to their original counterparts and that its set hundreds of years in the future.
These "Gunstar Future Heroes" are still Red, Blue and Yellow, and Red and Blue are still the only playable characters in the game. Furthermore, Green is still a renegade Gunstar who joins the forces of General Gray, other villains include people like Pink, Orange, Black and some other guy who never really appears as a boss.
The point is..... this is a remake, not a sequel. Nothing has really changed in terms of the levels and bosses apart from a bit of additional polish added to each level/boss.
Sadly, this is where Gunstar Future Heroes falls flat. The only real difference in terms of gameplay is that weapon pickups no longer exist, removing this differentiation of having different weapons and you are instead given three weapons each with a limited amount of charge for its own super attack.
Additionally, the game isn't very long. You could complete it in an hour on easier difficulties if you really tried.
Difficulty Curve: Very steep
The game in many ways feels piss easy. On Hard difficulty, once you know the boss patterns and how each level works, you will be breezing through the game with little difficulty. Its just a moderate case of trial and error.
However, there are moments where the difficulty curve can ramp up unfairly and Falcon Punch you full-pelt in the testicles. The best example of such a situation is the helicopter section on Moon 2. It is a breeze on Easy difficulty but when you move up to Normal/Hard difficulty, getting past this section with a limited health pool when faced with bullet/missile hell is literally impossible. In fact, I only ever got past this section and finished the game after seeing a Youtube video where a guy exploited a dead-zone in the top edge of the screen and only just survived with about 19 health remaining.
Story: 3.5/5
Just a quick warning. Playing it on lower difficulties pretty much reveals a crappy, basic storyline where you must recover the four Treasure Gems, then Yellow gets kidnapped, is held for ransom for the gems, then Golden Silver is summoned and you defeat him and a similar ending which I will not spoil. Put it this way, everything in the storyline on Easy and Normal modes except the ending is EXACTLY THE SAME AS GUNSTAR HEROES!!!
However, Hard mode actually reveals a huge backstory reflecting on the relationships of the main characters, the history of the game's world between the original and its "sequel" if playing Red, and even the diaries of Dr Shadow Light if playing as Blue. Blue's storyline in particular brings up some surprising plot twists which make you think "This game deseves a sequel of its own. I want to know what happens next."
The endings are also very different if playing on Hard difficulty. Red's ending ends in sacrifice whereas Blue's ending gives a huge cliffhanger which does warrant a sequel.
Graphics: 5/5
This is undeniably one of the prettiest GBA games to exist. The sprite maps, levels and artwork shown in the cutscenes are nothing short of fantastic. If you can congratulate Treasure for one thing, its creating a successor that actually looks better than the original.
Music: 3/5
A few average remixes of Gunstar Heroes songs. Nothing really special.
Replay Value: 1/5
This game has some replay value in the way that the levels are fun at first. However, apart from different endings, there is no incentive to keep playing. Compared to games like Goldeneye which had many levels, had fun levels with lots of replay value, and a great multiplayer which kept you coming back for more every single time and games like Minecraft which have huge customisation potential, Gunstar Future Heroes has little replay value in any of these respects.
Overall Summary: 2/5
Apart from a strong storyline if playing on the hardest difficulties, this game should have been amazing, but is far too short, lacks replay value, gets repetitively dull after a while, and generally isn't that enjoyable. Additionally, it does nothing different to its predecessor apart from adding a little bit of graphical flair and slightly redesigned levels and bosses.
Having never played Gunstar Heroes fully before. I bought this game after seeing rave reviews for it. However, from what I hear, this is basically a "sequel" to Gunstar Heroes in the way that the characters are different people to their original counterparts and that its set hundreds of years in the future.
These "Gunstar Future Heroes" are still Red, Blue and Yellow, and Red and Blue are still the only playable characters in the game. Furthermore, Green is still a renegade Gunstar who joins the forces of General Gray, other villains include people like Pink, Orange, Black and some other guy who never really appears as a boss.
The point is..... this is a remake, not a sequel. Nothing has really changed in terms of the levels and bosses apart from a bit of additional polish added to each level/boss.
Sadly, this is where Gunstar Future Heroes falls flat. The only real difference in terms of gameplay is that weapon pickups no longer exist, removing this differentiation of having different weapons and you are instead given three weapons each with a limited amount of charge for its own super attack.
Additionally, the game isn't very long. You could complete it in an hour on easier difficulties if you really tried.
Difficulty Curve: Very steep
The game in many ways feels piss easy. On Hard difficulty, once you know the boss patterns and how each level works, you will be breezing through the game with little difficulty. Its just a moderate case of trial and error.
However, there are moments where the difficulty curve can ramp up unfairly and Falcon Punch you full-pelt in the testicles. The best example of such a situation is the helicopter section on Moon 2. It is a breeze on Easy difficulty but when you move up to Normal/Hard difficulty, getting past this section with a limited health pool when faced with bullet/missile hell is literally impossible. In fact, I only ever got past this section and finished the game after seeing a Youtube video where a guy exploited a dead-zone in the top edge of the screen and only just survived with about 19 health remaining.
Story: 3.5/5
Just a quick warning. Playing it on lower difficulties pretty much reveals a crappy, basic storyline where you must recover the four Treasure Gems, then Yellow gets kidnapped, is held for ransom for the gems, then Golden Silver is summoned and you defeat him and a similar ending which I will not spoil. Put it this way, everything in the storyline on Easy and Normal modes except the ending is EXACTLY THE SAME AS GUNSTAR HEROES!!!
However, Hard mode actually reveals a huge backstory reflecting on the relationships of the main characters, the history of the game's world between the original and its "sequel" if playing Red, and even the diaries of Dr Shadow Light if playing as Blue. Blue's storyline in particular brings up some surprising plot twists which make you think "This game deseves a sequel of its own. I want to know what happens next."
The endings are also very different if playing on Hard difficulty. Red's ending ends in sacrifice whereas Blue's ending gives a huge cliffhanger which does warrant a sequel.
Graphics: 5/5
This is undeniably one of the prettiest GBA games to exist. The sprite maps, levels and artwork shown in the cutscenes are nothing short of fantastic. If you can congratulate Treasure for one thing, its creating a successor that actually looks better than the original.
Music: 3/5
A few average remixes of Gunstar Heroes songs. Nothing really special.
Replay Value: 1/5
This game has some replay value in the way that the levels are fun at first. However, apart from different endings, there is no incentive to keep playing. Compared to games like Goldeneye which had many levels, had fun levels with lots of replay value, and a great multiplayer which kept you coming back for more every single time and games like Minecraft which have huge customisation potential, Gunstar Future Heroes has little replay value in any of these respects.
Overall Summary: 2/5
Apart from a strong storyline if playing on the hardest difficulties, this game should have been amazing, but is far too short, lacks replay value, gets repetitively dull after a while, and generally isn't that enjoyable. Additionally, it does nothing different to its predecessor apart from adding a little bit of graphical flair and slightly redesigned levels and bosses.