Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection hit a few months ago. Two titles that weren’t included on that disc were Shinobi and Gunstar Heroes. Shinobi is terrible so I see why that wasn’t on there, but Gunstar Heroes is a classic. Thankfully, it was released in the Sega’s Vintage Collection 2 that hit XBLA last week. Gunstar Heroes is a side-scrolling shooter in which you battle to stop a dictator from unleashing Golden Silver the Destructor with apocalyptic consequences. That’s right, an epic battle is about to unfold.
Hit the jump to read the full review!
You start the game with four weapons to choose from and they can be combined in various pairs to create a total of 14 unique weapons. In addition to the weapons, the player can engage enemies in close quarters combat. It is possible to grab and toss enemies, perform sliding and jumping attacks and a long-range skid. From there you choose one of the four basic levels to play though in which you battle tons of enemies and finish it off with a boss battle. Upon the completion of these four levels you will then have to go through an additional level, which is broken up into roughly 3-4 sections. Here you need to battle the entire previous bosses again, as well as take on a mysterious final boss to save us all.
Now in GH you don’t have a traditional life gauge. You and the bosses all have a number based life system ranging from 200 (for you) to boss battles starting as high as 50,000. This is something that’s rare in a game and for some reason works very well here. But don’t fret if you think you can’t do this alone, GH does feature the ability to have a co-op partner by your side to join you. The difficulty ramps up though since the power-ups and life are only able to be used once so some levels have only two health icons so you might have to fight over it.
While GH ends quickly, you will enjoy every minute of playing it. Its low price (400MS Points) and easy Achievements definitely make this a game to add to your collection.
Pros: Fun co-op play, fun weapons, short and sweet
Cons: Ended too soon, should come out with the sequels attached
GamePro Score: 4.0
The Info: Platform: XBLA, Publisher: SEGA, Developer: Treasure, ESRB: E, Players: 1-2, Price: $4.99 (400 MS points)
Related Links: Make sure you check out The Top 5 Games You Wish You Could Download, Pt. 3 and see what hit in the Weekly 360 and Wii (and PS3!) dounloads. Also answer our GPArcade question of the week.
