Throughout these years I have made reviews of several games of the developer Treasure, however, had not yet made the review of one of its most popular games and possibly with the video game with which this company became better known, is because that without further ado ...
As it happens in many video games of this style and genre, their argument is one of the weakest points, since they usually always have a fairly simple story, since this type of title stands out for its playability. Gunstar Heroes places us in a world a little dystopic, in which there is a villain with a simple plan: he wants to have control of a dangerous mystical power, which is contained in a talisman, in this way he will use the power of this object to activate a powerful robot to be able to destroy the planet (I do not understand the eagerness with the villains to want to destroy the planet). However, this will not be an easy task for this cliche villain, since the Gunstar special forces, composed for the two protagonists of this game: Red and Blue, will be in charge of stopping with the plans of Colonel Red.
Graphically Gunstar Heroes is a visual spectacle, is a game that due to its excellent use of color palette, makes it look visually pleasant, is a game with colors quite bright and lively. It maintains a style quite anime which makes a good contrast with its graphic style and even with its humor, as this is a game that handles a type of humor quite characteristic and that can be seen in the various animations that can make the characters, from main characters, to secondary, even common enemies.
Gunstar Heroes is a Run and Gun, so it is a video game in which we will be in constant movement, shooting the different types of weapons that this game has at our disposal, but also dodging enemy attacks, so the screen will always be full of all kinds of visual effects, such as shots or explosions, or also light effects of something in particular. The design of the levels is very good, full of variety and very original, it has a quite good level of detail. The style of the character design is also quite good, it keeps that style of the 90s anime so characteristic, the characters have the typical designs called "chibi" or "superdeformed", which is that the head of the characters is larger in proportion to body size, is a style used in many video games and as long as it is well implemented, it looks great.
Having a good soundtrack in an action game such as Run and Gun, is important because it helps a lot to the game experience, many people underestimate the power that music has in certain situations when we are playing, because, in the case of Gunstar Heroes, being a game in which we are in constant movement, shooting and in general, quite frantic action, have tunes that encourage action, music with fast rhythms and listening to them we feel encouraged, is very important. The soundtrack of Gunstar Heroes transpires a retro atmosphere and likewise all the atmosphere of the arcade machines. I think the sound effects are even better, there is a great variety of effects, from shots, explosions and any other sound that serves as accompaniment and even to decorate a stage.
Gunstar Heroes is a Run and Gun, which would be the equivalent of a game of the genre Beat in Up, but the place to deliver fists, kicks or hit our enemies with a tube or knife, in Gunstar Heroes we use firearms. We will move in a side-scrolling scenario, which will be full of all kinds of enemies, there will also be some platforming sections in which we must have a good control of our character not to make a mistake, because a mistake means death.
In some moments the gameplay will change a little bit, because instead of moving along several scenarios in a horizontal way, when changing this "game mode", now we will stay in only one scenario and we will have to shoot the enemies that appear in a vertical way. We can use different types of weapons, each with different modes of shooting and effectiveness. Although we can not only use weapons, as we can also perform melee attacks, being very similar to what we can do in Metal Slug. Gunstar Heroes is a game with a type of gameplay quite fast, as i mentioned above, we will be in a constant movement on the stages attacking our enemies or dodging their attacks, also change the game mode on some occasions, no doubt is one of the best titles of Treasure, a title quite complete, with a variety of game modes and highly entertaining.
I think I've said everything I think about Gunstar Heroes, it's really a true gem of video games, a unique title in its style, with great graphics, great music and addictive, fast and frantic gameplay.
