Sigma Star Saga: Quick Review

Wayfoward has been at work on SSS for quite some time. This game has been hailed as one of the GBA's last hurrahs. The game also created a lot of buzz back at E3. Was it worthy of all the praise it received?

Gameplay: Right of the bat, for a GBA game, this story is pretty involved. You play the part of a human who is going undercover to infiltrate an alien race's army. You have to prove to the aliens that you despise humans, and want to have your revenge on them for leaving you stranded and injured on an abandoned spaceship. Pretty intense stuff, and it gets even better but I don't want to spoil it for everyone. SSS is a mix of a lot of different types of gameplay. Usually that means disaster for a game, but SSS pulls it off pretty nicely for the most part. One part of the game has you playing from a top down view. This is where you will have your conversations with NPC's, and explore planets that you land on. You are given a pistol, and gain other weapons and tools to protect yourself while spending time on these planets. SSS has more then a few RPG elements. Your character can level up, but not from fighting enemies in the overhead views. When you join the alien race "the Krill" you come to find out that the ships that they pilot are alive. These ships sometimes need the aid of a flesh and bone pilot to get them through some tough areas. The ships can beam you up into their cockpit by way of a parasite that gets installed in the base of all Krill army members. This is the explanation that is given for the random battles you get into while walking around. This all leads to random 2d shooter scenes where you pilot a random living spaceship. During these battles a random number will pop up in the right hand corner of the screen. This is the number of enemies you have to destroy before you can be beamed back down to the planet and continue your search. Each enemy you destory drops an experience bubble that you have to fly into to collect. The experience you gain will enhance both your own body and the ships you fly. Its a pretty interesting idea, and for the most part it works. My only complaints are that it can get pretty tedious being called into the ship every 10 secs while you're trying to explore a planet. Also, the space battles can be fun, but they need to be more random. Its not uncommon to fight in the same set path a handful of times. I don't understand why a random generator was used for these portions of the game. SSS has a lot going for it, RPG, adventure, action, 2d shooter, and more. Although I worried that WayFoward may have been trying to squeeze too much into one game, they seemed to have done a very good job.

Graphics: These are probably some of the best graphics on the GBA in a long time. The top down graphics are beautiful to look at. Everything is brightly colored, and feels alive. The level of animation in all the characters such as enemies and NPC's is amazing. I love just watching my character run sometimes, because there are just so many frames of animation involved that it gives a very fluid look to it. 2D shooter sequences also look good, but not as great as other aspects of the game. They aren't horrible by any means, but you can notice a difference in the attention to detail while playing.

Audio: Audio also gets the special treatment. The musical score is top notch, and perfectly fits the feel of the game. Depending on what type of planet you are on, be it a fire planet or a forest filled one, the music accurately conveys the right type of mood. Sound effects are just as great. There is even some voiceover work in the game. Every character you talk to starts his text bubble with either a HEY or HI or something like that. Much like how things are in the Zelda series. The audio package in SSS is definately something to be heard.

Multiplayer: N/A

Overall: SSS stives to be a lot of things at one time, and it does a great job. While it is not perfect, its an amazing first try. The different gameplay elements do mesh together nicely, but sometimes the switch from on foot to ship can get a little annoying. If you are a hardcore RPG fan then you shouldn't be too bothered by the switch. I think what bothers me so much is that I really enjoy the exploration parts of the game, and sometimes just as I am getting into it I get called up to space. Then when I come back to land I have forgotten what I was doing. While this gets on my nerves sometimes, its not all the time. Plus the rest of the game from graphics, audio and definately story make you not want to give this game up. I would love to see a sequel to this game, and see how much more fine tuned things can become. Sigma Star Saga DS WayFoward, think about it!

Sigma Star Saga for GameBoy Advance - 8.6 out of 10

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