[i][b]Legends of the Universe - StarCore[/b][/i] may look a little… [i]familiar[/i]… and play kind of awkwardly, but it's actually quite an enjoyable experience — with some exceptions.
[b]Full disclosure:[/b] I only played up to my fourth area (the Armory, in my case) before [b]two[/b] soft-locks sent me back to my last save — which was too far back for me to bother continuing.
[u]The Good[/u]
The gameplay is pretty decent, the controls are good enough, and there are some fun things you can do that the game never tells you about.
[u]The Bad[/u]
The soft-locks. I've found two of them, and they made me stop playing for now — but that's partly my fault for not saving more often.
[u]The Ugly[/u]
The moment you realize that 90% of the enemy sprites are poorly edited [i]Mega Man[/i] sprites…
[u]Further Analysis[/u]
I think the game's [b]story takes itself too seriously[/b], considering the gameplay. It's a story about a galactic war, these baubles of great power called the StarCores, and a stealth mission gone wrong. You're framed as being part of the "good guys," but if you hadn't been tasked with the opening mission, everything would have stayed roughly the same. It's only this escalation that causes the "bad guys" to decide that war is an option.
The game controls [b]about like you'd expect[/b] from something that looks like a [i]Mega Man[/i] fan game. You run, you jump, you shoot. Like any good [i]Metroid[/i]-alike, though, you find various bonuses, upgrades, and items along the way. Some are new weapons or abilities, like explosives or the ability to Dash, while others augment your current equipment by increasing your jump height, run speed, or attack power. Pretty good stuff.
Once you (re-)gain the ability to Run and pick up some exploration upgrades, you're pretty much free to go anywhere you want. The problem is that some places you can go… you can't get back from.
I was able to get into the bottom-most part of the hub area, but [b]couldn't get back out[/b] because I didn't have enough Jump upgrades. I had to wiggle around and abuse the physics engine to barely get back out. Then I went into Navigation and had the same thing happen — only this time, I wasn't able to glitch my way back out. It's a straight drop with no apparent way back out unless you have, presumably, a "Space Jump" ability or something. Very frustrating.
The game runs at 25 FPS, which is okay, but the [b]physics engine is weird[/b]. Don't worry — you get used to it. You occasionally keep momentum from jumps or from breaking blocks with your head. The momentum thing doesn't usually interfere with anything, but for some reason I occasionally got snagged on walls and the corners of platforms. I never actually got [i]completely stuck[/i], mind, but that might be a possibility.
In addition, you can actually [b]walk off a platform and jump in mid-air[/b] at any point — which the game never tells you about and may actually be a glitch, but it works surprisingly well for exploration. It's also worth mentioning that you can jump on the heads of most ground-based humanoid soldiers. They're the only enemies that allow this, and it only does 1 damage, but it's a lot of fun.
Moving on to the graphics… I'll be honest. I actually bought this game [i]because[/i] of the [b]poorly edited [i]Mega Man[/i] sprites[/b]. I was just too curious. I didn't realize how deep the rabbit hole went, though.
I saw enemies from [i]Mega Man 5, 9,[/i] and [i]10[/i], as well as player sprites pinched from [i]Rockman: Power & Fighters[/i] on the Neo*Geo Pocket Color, of all things! They also snatched the bonus boxes from the original [i]Duke Nukem[/i] for some reason. Weird.
The re-sprited Giree enemies from [i]Mega Man 5[/i] are a special annoyance since they chase the player if the Fire button is held. I have Fire and Run mapped to the same button, a'la [i]Super Mario[/i], so I wound up getting ambushed in one or two rooms, but that's just me.
That aside, some foreground elements blend into the background, though, making buttons hard to find until you focus on them. Not a fan of that. Otherwise, what's on display is [b]a little amateurish[/b], but honestly not bad. It reminds me of old Clickteam games from back in the day. It's pretty charming!
[b]The sound design is alright.[/b] Your arm cannon makes a quiet "pew-pew" sound, lasers go "voip," every full step you take makes a sound, and there are metallic beeps and clanks and all that. Nothing distracting or harmful at all, and it seems to fit the environment well.
As for the music? [b]Not bad.[/b] The tracks don't loop quite right, but they're pretty catchy. I found myself ducking or shooting in time while on floating platforms quite a lot, and I never got tired of the electronic-style music. Tenser moments have stronger music, quieter moments have softer music, and everything fits together nicely.
[u]Conclusion[/u]
Don't let the graphics fool you — this game is [i]not[/i] some "[i]Mega Man[/i] knock-off."
Yes, okay. It [i]does[/i] play more like a [i]Mega Man[/i] game than anything else, but that's it. At its (star)core, it's a [i]Metroid[/i]-style exploration game through and through, and I'm sure the story becomes increasingly interesting as you progress through the areas.
Plus, there's that feeling of being utterly overpowered toward the end of the game to look forward to. That's a given!
I should definitely mention that a remake of this game, [b][i][url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2016690]StarCore Legacy[/url][/i][/b], is available. It's not much more expensive than this game, runs at 60 FPS, has [i]far[/i] more polish, and probably fixes some of the issues I mentioned.
Even so, [b]I can still recommend this version[/b] — not only for [i]historical purposes[/i], but because despite its quirks and slightly rough quality, it's still a fun little run for little more than the cost of a cup of coffee.
