Project Sylpheed – 360 – Preview

Developed by Game Arts, Project Sylpheed is an
arcade-style space shooter with some pedigree behind it. Released in Japan last
year by Square-Enix, the game must’ve turned a few heads, since the game will
see release stateside with some help from the big “M” themselves. While it’s set
to be released as a budget title (if you’d consider 40 dollars budget), the
game does pack quite a bit of punch with some very intense space battles.
Although the mission structure is pretty plain, the crazy amounts of action and
adaptable controls should appeal to fans of space shooters, who might want to
take notice when the title releases next month.

Project Sylpheed’s storyline is a bit convoluted
and corny, but that might be right up some gamers’ alleys. The storyline follows
the trials and tribulations of a group of young cadets as they band together in
the middle of an intergalactic conquest. It’s all very anime and a tad
nonsensical, and the dialogue is almost laugh-out-loud goofy.

However, that’s not really what this game is
about. Project Sylpheed is an action-arcade game that is focused primarily on
hardcore space battles. The game’s missions are very intense, with the screen
constantly covered in pink and blue streams of missiles and ships zooming
through the air, er, space. You’ll spend a significant amount of time not just
shooting down enemy ships, but also dodging the copious amounts of fire they
send your way.

Another cool element in Project Sylpheed is that
it allows you to customize your ship in between stages. You can purchase more
weapons and components by earning points in missions, which vary depending on
your performance and whether or not you complete side missions and the like.

The controls are fully customizable, allowing
gamers from all levels of experience to mold the game to their personal playing
skill, which is a very good thing at least as far as I go, since I found the
default control scheme to be very unwieldy. The easiest control set feels a lot
like other games from the genre, like Rogue Squadron and Star Fox, which most
gamers should be able to pick up very quickly. You can also reassign the button
mapping, which was a very nice touch.

Being an arcade style flight sim, Project
Sylpheed’s mission structure is pretty simplistic. The missions usually digress
into standard “kill off all the bad guys to move on formula. Even though the
battles are usually quite intense, this can grow slightly tedious, since a
little more variety would’ve provided a lot more incentive.

Another problem with Project Sylpheed is the
complete lack of Xbox Live components. With a game like this, it should be a
no-brainer, since the space combat element lends itself well to huge scale
multiplayer battles and even the arcade-style play would at least warrant some
leaderboard rankings. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort is to be found in
Project Sylpheed, which is a single-player game through and through.

Graphically, the preview build wasn’t terribly
impressive, but it did get the job done in a workhorse sort of way. The ship
models weren’t very detailed and lacked the graphical punch of most games on the
360, with complex textures and effects nowhere to be found. The space
environments also didn’t showcase a lot of detail, whereas the potential for
planets and distant star system effects are certainly there. However, the game
does run at a very respectable framerate, and even at the most intense battle
moments didn’t turn the whole affair into a slideshow.

Project Sylpheed has some fun moments and the
level of intensity is certainly admirable. Unfortunately, many gamers might want
more depth and variety from the missions. However, gamers looking more an
accessible arcade shooter should keep their eye out for this one when it ships
in the coming weeks.