Homage Review: Satazius (PC)

Capcom enters the indie scene by backing a cracking Gradius homage.

The indie game scene is thriving these days and it's not surprising that most of these bedroom developers are making modern versions of classic arcade games. One genre that is benefiting the most is the shoot 'em up, which is great, because I love a good shoot 'em up (in case you didn't know).  Now coin-op legends Capcom are promoting these small, independent developers and one of the first games they've published is Gradius-inspired shmup Satazius, by Astro Port.

The set up for the game goes as follows: The battle cruiser Agano is on patrol near the planet Satazius when it's attacked by pirates, intent on stealing the assault ship 'Trafalgar' being transported aboard the battle cruiser.  As the Agano crashes to the surface of Satazius, the Trafalgar blasts off to take out the pirates.  While that's not much of a plot, it's all a game like this needs.  There are bad guys in spaceships, you have a flying cannon, so get out there and blast 'em!

The presentation in this game is a bit of a mixed bag.  The audio is spot on, with its hyper-active, melodramatic music, sizzling laser blasts and shuddering explosions.  However, the game has 16-bit art style and a native resolution of 640x480, which, when stretched out to a typical modern resolution, really does not scale very well.  Astro Port would have been better either upping the resolution of the artwork or just going full-on retro and create something that looked more 8-bit.

In terms of gameplay, it may not be particularly innovative, but it is very well done.  A rarely-seen feature of Satazius is that the weapon load out you choose at the beginning of the game (a la Gradius) you get to keep all the way through, even if you die or continue.  Instead of changing weapon types mid-game, each one can be powered up 8 times, with death taking each active power up down a notch.  When you continue you get to reselect your weapon load out, which means you can either choose something different and or use the same load out as before, which may still be partially powered up.  Unlike a lot of these games, you still feel powerful with a basic set of guns.  Don't take that to mean it's easy.  It's actually really tough, but it's not a bullet hell shooter in the vain of a Cave or Treasure game.  Instead it's challenge comes from great level design and an emphasis on environmental obstacles, much like the game that inspired it. Likewise the boss encounters will be familiar to anyone who's played a Gradius game, although generally speaking you do not have to target a "core" as you would in the Konami games.

In summing up Satazius I find myself in a tricky position. There is very little originality to be found here and if you're the sort of sneaky person who plays arcade games on MAME you will find better games, however there's a charm and accessibility here that find highly appealing. There's a demo available through Steam which will give you the first level, so give it a go, you may be surprised.

Plays like

• Gradius 
• Darius

Highs

• Having a full arsenal from the get-go is incredibly empowering and encourages you to keep playing even after you get a kicking.
• The combination of unlocking and upgradable weapons eggs you on too see what else is available and how new weapons will then work on subsequent playthroughs.
• Gameplay focuses on environmental obstacles and does not resort to cheap bullet hell tactics.
• Incredibly satisfying shoot 'em up action.

Lows

• Native resolution is only 640x480 and the artstyle means it does not scale well.
• Only support analogue joypad input, despite ship movement being digital, but this can be overcome using JoyToKey.

Satazius is available from Steam priced £4.49.  For more info check out Gamespot's review.

MTW