Repetitive boss battles
As you approach enemies you can press select to view information on them, which provides clues on their weaknesses, but it's a totally pointless exercise. If you're looking for tips in The Red Star I can help; if an enemy is holding a shield use a melee attack, if they aren't, use your laser gun; it’s as simple as that. The challenging in the game is due to the chaos on screen, as more and more enemies spawn and rush at you shooting or waving their melee weapons, but it's never about the skill of dispatching them; it’s merely a matter of moving out of the way of any enemies and missiles that come your way and pressing the attack buttons as furiously as you can. On occasions, you need to combine the two attack methods due to the action being so chaotic, but more often than not it's a brainless, button bashing, repetitive slog, and a game that offers excitement in very small doses.
Many of the levels in The Red Star follow the same pattern and often this overwhelming feeling of déjà vu, as you dodge and shoot your way past your millionth baddie, overrides the few moments in the game that are entertaining. One of these entertaining moments is the big bosses, which appear more than once in each level, such as the magical ships and tanks that shoot lasers, but after you've fought one or two you'll quickly realise that there is limited variation in their patterns of attack. Occasionally they may throw a couple of bombs at you and the high tech weaponry does vary slightly with each boss, but generally it just involves dodging various missiles and then wearing down its health metre during the short period of time when the weak spot opens up. Yes, it's faced paced and you need to keep your wits about you and react swiftly to the attacks, but it's also dull and repetitive.
When the action gets really frantic you may have to combine the dodging of bombs and lasers that blast out of these circling hovering futuristic machines with fighting soldiers from the Red Fleet. This results in you darting around, twisting and turning 360 degrees in order to bash the soldiers whilst moving left, right, up and down to dodge the barrage of lasers and bombs. These action scenes are probably the most satisfying part of any level that you'll experience in the game and involve using your shield, melee and lasers in a methodical and timely manner, making sure you don't disengage your gun and shield metres at inappropriate times. It's fast, furious and you do need a certain degree of skill in order to defeat the enemy, but it offers nothing new in terms of a gaming experience.
