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Starship Defence Force Review! ColecoVision Homebrew Game!


TPR

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A couple of months ago CollectorVision released a new Michel Louvet game, Starship Defence Force, and I was kind of surprised to hear not too much about it. It seemed like almost a shame that it sort of came and went, as I quite like many of Louvet's games. Buster Bros, Lock N Chase, Nibbli, Heli Fire are some of the homebrews that I seem to play quite a bit, and I'm a fan of his work.

 

I admit that I didn't have a chance to sit down and play for any great length until a couple of days ago, but there has been so much coming out lately that I needed some time to get caught up.

 

Starship Defence Force, at first glance, is a much more "simple" looking game than some of Michel's other projects. The graphics, to be honest, are not going to blow you away, but this is more of a game based around "gameplay." And it's an interesting mix of game styles, too. It sort of reminds me of a cross between Jeff Minter's Gridrunner, Warlords, and even a bit of Megamania. There are a LOT of enemies on the screen, and this is an arcade twitch-reaction kind of experience that you really have to pay attention and be very quick to react!

 

Ok, onto some photos...

 

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The packaging is top notch, and what you'd expect from CollectorVision's product.

 

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The manual, cart and box all feel like something you'd pick up in a retail store in 1983.

 

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The full color manual is always nice.

 

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And as always, "The Fun of Discovery!"

 

sdf1.jpg

So the gameplay is very simple. You control two cannons. One of the bottom of the screen and one on the right hand side of the screen.

 

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You move the cannons with the controller, and you fire bullets with the buttons. One button fires green bullets, one fires blue. You have to shoot the blue enemies with the blue bullets, and the green with the green. Simple!

 

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If you miss the enemies, they will break through the wall you are protecting. If another enemy gets through that same missing wall piece, GAME OVER!

 

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Some of the enemies are very recognizable, which is kind of a nice touch! :)

 

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There are some levels where the background artwork makes it a little hard to see the enemies you are shooting at.

 

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Every few levels, you get a bonus round where the cannons are on the other side of the screen, and you have a few seconds to fire these energy capsules to fill up the missing wall pieces.

 

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During the normal gameplay, the energy capsules come out with the enemies. You get +10 points if they reach the wall you are protecting, and -20 if you accidentally shoot one. I have to be honest, they were pretty easy to accidentally shoot, and being the balls-out gamer that I am, I think after a while I just stopped worrying about them.

 

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This is not going to end well! lol

 

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The game features three difficulty levels. I played mostly on easy and the game ramps up VERY quickly. I tired hard...

 

sdf_hard.jpg

...and I didn't last very long on hard! lol It threw pretty much everything at you!

 

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I saw this screen a lot on the hard level! lol

 

Anyway, if you like arcade shooters that while on the surface look fairly simple, but offer a good challenge, I think you'll quite like this game a lot. It's not very deep, but it probably doesn't need to be. It certainly is a good time-killer and fun game to play a few rounds on to try rack up some high scores!

 

Pros:

- Controls are very responsive and the game "feels" really good.

- Lots of levels. Feels like the game just keeps going and going.

- Great arcade action.

- The game looks simple, but it's less about the graphics and more about the gameplay.

- Nice to see a totally original game. Elements of the gameplay borrows from other games, but overall the complete package feels new and original.

 

Cons:

- Scoring seems a bit off-balance. I wish the ships were worth more and destroying the energy capsules didn't take away so much.

- Music can get a bit repetitive, and there doesn't seem to be any sound FX in the game.

- Some level background can make it difficult to see the enemies.

- While there are a lot of levels, I would have liked to have seen some additional weapons or other options that changed up the gameplay a bit more.

 

Here's some gameplay footage:

 

To order the game, visit the CollectorVision website: http://www.collectorvision.com/game-sdf.htm

 

Thanks for reading!

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I really need to get some of my games finished for you to write reviews about my game. I am a fan of Wayforward and loved their games. My most favorite game from them gotta be Sigma Star Saga. It'll be awesome to get some advices from master game designer.

I really liked your version of Flappy Bird! And Spunky's was fun, too!

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I really liked your version of Flappy Bird! And Spunky's was fun, too!

I really had fun making a demake version of those 2. Something about taking a game on a superior system on an inferior system makes it interesting for me to do. Like Megaman Xtreme for the GBC, I was impressed that they were able to get Megaman X working on the GBC. Working with Colecovision sorta scratch that itch.

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