Stellatum
Developed by Satur Entertainment
Published by Sometimes You
Released for Xbox One (10/9/2019)
Also on PC/PS4/PS5/Switch
Prelude
Stellatum combines the control-layout of a twin-stick shooter with the level format of a standard vertically-scrolling shmup. It's a novel idea and a refreshing change from the constant arena-style approach that twin-stick shooters tend to use. Developed by Satur Entertainment and published by Sometimes You in October 2019, Stellatum promises to deliver an "exciting scroll shooter" so let's delve in and see if it can live up to the hype...
Presentation
While navigating the ship upgrade menu can be cumbersome, once you get into the actual shoot 'em up gameplay Stellatum makes a solid first impression. The visuals are super-detailed and initially the space backdrops look great, but once you realize that this is basically the same backdrop for every stage (of which there are 80!) the once impressive backgrounds start to become tedious. The sound design fails to make much of an impression, featuring standard sound effects that all sound stock and a soundtrack that didn't leave any mark. Overall, while Stellatum looks nice in the graphics department, the presentation is lacking when you put together all of the pieces.
Gameplay
Stellatum controls like your standard twin-stick shooter, with the left stick used for movement and the right for aiming. The trigger fires and the bumpers will activate your special abilities. One area that helps Stellatum stand out from your average shooter is the upgrade system. As you destroy enemies, you'll collect scrap which can be used to craft components which can then be used to build blueprints for ship upgrades. It's an awesome idea which has been executed quite well here and will likely be your main motivator to keep playing should you decide to boot this one up. There are several weapon bays that can be swapped out, as well as shields, special abilities and engines.
Stellatum offers two different modes of play to select from at the menu: campaign and arena. The bulk of your playtime will be spent in campaign mode, which features 80 levels to blast your way through, with 30 of these being "side-missions" which you don't actually have to play to clear the game. These levels are long, averaging probably around the 5 minute mark to complete a single stage. This wouldn't be a problem in some games, but Stellatum just doesn't feel like the levels do enough with that length to justify having it. This problem is compounded by the fact that there are 80 levels in total: it's just too much! The fatigue started to settle in about halfway through the campaign, forcing me to put the game down for a bit and return to it later to slog my way through the rest of it. Stellatum starts off promising but it wears on you after time and the action is too monotonous to drag on as long as it does.
Arena mode offers an endless scenario, where you start out at default power and fight to see how long you can survive while unlocking ship upgrades along the way. This mode is a decent addition to the game, but to be honest I found myself burnt out on Stellatum by the time I'd finished the campaign and I had also already unlocked all of the achievements, so to be honest I didn't have much motivation to play arena mode.
Pros & Cons...Is Stellatum Worth It?
Stellatum is an interesting combination of the twin-stick shooter and vertical shmup genres. There are several negatives that hold it back from a firm recommendation. The first issue is that the stages in general are too long and the overall ship speed is on the slow
side. There are also way too many stages which should have been condensed in favor of
more varied and interesting stage design. Once you've seen a handful of
stages, you've more or less experienced what the whole game has to
offer. Stellatum lacks the challenge and difficulty often associated with shmups and is also underwhelming in the audio department. All of these design issues end up making the game feel like a slog rather than something you'll look forward to coming back to.
On the positive side of things, the graphics are detailed and look great, the upgrade system is interesting and the controls are tight and responsive. All that said, I find it hard to recommend Stellatum, at least not before about a dozen or so other twin-stick shooters/traditional shmups I'd consider must-plays. So, while Stellatum is a bit average in several regards if you see it on sale for cheap and find yourself intrigued than it might be worth a look if you're a twin-stick junkie.
Final Verdict: Stellatum is an interesting mix of a twin-stick shooter and vertical shmup with a decent upgrade system, good controls and solid graphcis. While not without its strong points, the gameplay is held back by a lack of challenge, slow pacing and way too many levels that start to feel the same about halfway through. Wait for a sale if you decide to take the plunge on this one.
Purchase Links:
Buy Stellatum - Microsoft Store
Buy Stellatum - Microsoft Store
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