Project Sylpheed Review

By Simon Parkin Published 28 June, 2007

Reach for the Stars.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Facedown on the carpet, arms locked straight down the body, torso a furious exclamation point knocked horizontal. Blood vessels throb as we wail in hot indignation and disbelief: Eurogamer's not had a videogame tantrum like this in many, many years. The cat pauses in the doorway. She cocks her head, eyes the scuffed controller lying near her paws, then moves on, disinterested. Stupid, ignorant, non-space fighter pilot cat.

It was the fourth attempt at the second stage of the sixth level you see, which, in itself bodes well for Project Sylpheed. Games that punch you hard in the face with a Game Over screen three times in a row yet can still convince you to hit the start button just one more time are few and far between these days.

Lead character Katana's ship, the Rhino 3 and his three idiot, short-sighted supporting squadron comrades had been hiding out in the buckle of an asteroid belt because, let's face it, there's literally no-where better and/or else to hide in science fiction space stories. Just beyond their position, the fat, useless, capitalised mothership ACROPOLIS, the one you're inevitably asked to protect in every single level of this sixteen stage narrative black hole of a space shoot-em up, was hanging aimlessly in infinity when the enemy squadron streaked past.

Engines thrusters winked to life and we all tore out from our hiding place, dog-fighting thumbs raw. Friendly ships trail blue smoke lines behind, enemy ships trail red and the vapour trails cross aggressively as if scrawled by some kind of bickering air display team.

'Project Sylpheed' Screenshot 1

Achievements are almost universally hard won requiring you to excel at levels rather than simply finish them.

Holding the L-bumper activates the homing missile system, bleeping every time it adds a new in range target to the queue. Twenty-two bleeps later (the maximum number of target locks for this middle-of-the-range weapon) and its memory is full. Unclick the bumper and the missile cradles blowpipe their load out into the starry blackness. The missiles inert their way 20 metres ahead of your cock-pit view while their trackers calculate the angles. They hold their breath for a few seconds then KAPOW off in different directions. A cat's cradle of smoke lines, red, white and blue crisscross all around.

It would probably be beautiful if it weren't for the timer, now red, counting down with three minutes to go in the top right corner of the screen. The OB counter (which lists how many objective targets are still left to take out before the stage is complete) is reading one. The left analogue stick heaves the view around to face the final target which the sleek HUD indicates as being 1500 metres away. A double click of the right trigger and the boosters bark to life, rumbling the 360 pad with ghoulish violence as stars skid into tidy diagonal streaks. Thirty seconds and 600 meters to go.

'Project Sylpheed' Screenshot 3

Jean Michel Jarre's space burial was really rather spectacular.

It's a gunship, lumbering and heavy. A double click of the L-trigger cuts the engines and the Rhino 3 silently ducks 50 metres down before abruptly pulling up to face the underbelly of this final target. Midi violins rise and fall to match the drama. 15 seconds and fingers are contorted across the pad in an effort to maximise the damage dealt in the time remaining. Holding the R-bumper fires off the heavy machine gun, a continual drone of shield-chipping space bullets which tear into their hull. The L-Bumper, thanks to a weapon switch initiated with the X-button, now controls rockets suitable for taking down larger ships. We're aiming at the spinning pod on their underside, the shield generator. Exploding this will haul victory a minute closer in a single second.

Pressing up on the D-pad orders Katana's squadron mates to form up and focus their attention on the same target but there's just not enough time left. An idea: hold down the Y-button to trigger the special move power bar, which fills at inversely proportional expense to our shield gauge. As this reaches level 2 there are five seconds remaining. Release the button and the screen turns red as all of the ship's shield defence systems congregate at the Rhino's nose. White light and shallow breathing as we smash through the enemy's target's hull: 3 seconds, 2 and did-I-do-it-did-I-do-it?, 1.

Mission Failed. Eurogamer now has carpet burn on its forehead.

While born from the same lineage, Project Sylpheed is not much like the retro games with which it (bar one letter) shares its name. It's best described as Ace Combat in space, a cheap critical shorthand for which we make no apologies as it's almost exactly correct. From the bonkers anime story through to the disorientating, multi-directional control and pad-rattling physics the two games are remarkably close, bar colour scheme, models and, well, gravity and oxygen.

While players who downloaded and tried the 360 Marketplace demo over the last fortnight would be forgiven for thinking the game lacked depth and focus, the full version quickly reveals itself to be, at once, engagingly arcadey and surprisingly deep. It's certainly necessary to work your way through the comprehensive set of training missions which ably teach players how to read the initially baffling HUD, the complex 3D radar, how to resupply from tankers, radio team mates orders as well as some of the aforementioned more advanced techniques. The game provides a huge amount of control to the player but, despite these control complexities, it won't be long before you're speeding around, dissecting your HUD's display in an instant in order to efficiently complete levels to the astonishment of any uninitiated onlookers.

The menu presentation is Phantasy Star-style dated and the average (but skippable) FMV sequences, which tell the tiresome and obvious story off-putting. But where it counts, behind the wheel of a nippy space fighter plane, the game is pretty and exhilarating, offering a white knuckle ride of repetitive but irresistible objectives.

'Project Sylpheed' Screenshot 2

Holding down both triggers will automatically match the speed of the craft you're pursuing, an ingenious move that makes high speed dog-fighting a joy.

The game's arcade roots are clear from the off. Each of the sixteen levels can be played through multiple times, with a high score leaderboard (local only) showing your best grade and the number of points earned on each. Points are awarded for the number of enemies you've taken down, the weight of those enemies (!?) and the time in which you finished the mission. Points are deducted for friendly fire and for using too many restarts. An alphabetical grade is awarded for each level with a meta-grade for the whole campaign calculated from these individual stats providing ample reason to go back and improve your scores.

Points earned are used to invest in new technology which provides more powerful weaponry to enable you to upgrade your ship and attain higher grades in an upward spiral of progression. Additionally each level has multiple unspecified sub-objectives which, if completed alongside the main objectives, earn extra points and speed up your craft's development.

Project Sylpheed is surprisingly tough, requiring repeated attempts at some levels not only to destroy all of the targets in a level, but also to do it within the strict time limits imposed upon you. As some levels are split into multiple stages, with no opportunity to save in between each section, this can cause the acute frustration described above as you feel compelled to keep pushing on until you complete the final section or else lose all of your hard-earned progress. Likewise, the dearth of online options (there are no online leaderboards and certainly no online Crimson Skies-style dog-fighting matches) ensure the package is far less than it could have been. Nevertheless, the core game is, given a little time and concentration, excellent, if repetitive. Since Sony seems to have long left the Colony Wars series for dead and Nintendo likewise with Rogue Squadron, this game ably fills a gaping whole in one of gaming's most pure and heady genres.

7 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Simon.

About Simon Parkin

Simon Parkin is an author and journalist on video games. A regular contributor to Eurogamer since 2005, his work has also appeared in Edge, The Telegraph, Gamasutra and Boing Boing.

Read more articles from Simon by visiting the Simon Parkin archive page.

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Comments (54) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • patchbox360 #1 5 years ago

    ugly

  • captainrentboy #2 5 years ago

    I don't like infuriatingly hard games, I just don't have the patience for them, so this is a no no for me.
    I just wanted to comment on the whole 'Space fighter pilot Cat' thing, seeing one of those in real life would be amazing, it would cute but at the same time extremely deadly....

  • El_MUERkO #3 5 years ago

    "Since Sony seems to have long left the Colony Wars series for dead"

    those BASTARDS!!! i just want to strangle them, watch their faces contort and turn blue!!!

    AGHHHHHHHH!!!

    /stomps to water cooler

  • hoof #4 5 years ago

    Been playing this for an hour or so, finding it enjoyable and quite breathtaking. Weaving around big capital ships chasing fighters is quite a rush.

  • souljacker2000 #5 5 years ago

    sounds great... not sure whether to get this or the darkness or overlord... maybe ill get all 3

  • Moonprince #6 5 years ago

    FS time limits in levels! Always turns me away in any game. What's the point???

    No multiplayer dogfights!!??

    What a waste.

  • bauhaus #7 5 years ago

    Is this out then??

    Timelimits are a cheap/poor way of making things hard

  • MGG #8 5 years ago

    Project Slapheed?

  • Kelduum #9 5 years ago

    Space fighter pilot Cat = Kilrathi ( http://en.wikip edia.org/wiki/Kilrathi )

    Also, time limits were for old coin ops, as a way to stop people playing forever on one credit - its really long long past their time now... Death to time limits!

  • cyber_nicco #10 5 years ago

    That review read like an 8 - not that it matters. I just like to guess while I'm reading through them...

  • Carlo #11 5 years ago

    OMG EG, WHY DO YOU KEEP REVIEWING 360 GAMES ONLY! Bloody fanboy Sony/Nintendo haters!

    ...Oh...

  • goz #12 5 years ago

    It's worth pointing out that the time limits are crowbarred into the in-game narrative (e.g. 'Three minutes until mothership can warp away. Make sure all enemy targets are eliminated' etc etc). In that sense they don't really ever feel particularly unfair - they just inject urgency into every minute of play which, often, is a good thing.

  • The_Aardvark #13 5 years ago

    Reading this it sounds like it might be a bit reminiscent of something like Wing Commander / Tie Fighter / Freespace. But a bit more arcadey. Fair comparison?

  • DUFFKING #14 5 years ago

    Timelimits put me right off.

  • NewYork #15 5 years ago

    The guy in the middle on the front page pic looks like Axl Steel.

  • Darren #16 5 years ago

    I downloaded the demo last week... it's very Wing Commander really and the game sure looks nice but I just couldn't get on with it at all. There seems to be too much going on and the garish colour palette made it difficult to see what I was supposed to be shooting at. The nail in the coffin were the controls which I found awkward. I'm sure the game is great but it's just not for me I'm afraid... :(

  • NewYork #17 5 years ago

    Axl Steel.

  • byron_hinson #18 5 years ago

    Certainly like Wing Commander - though more arcade like as you have said. For a budget title its not bad - but it is a real shame there is no multiplayer at all. Decent enough - even if the achivements are bugged!

  • Cyclone #19 5 years ago

    God I'd kill for a new Colony Wars. Who you ask? The people currently deciding against making it. Bastards.
    Edited by 1 at 28/06/07 @ 15:20

  • lennon #20 5 years ago

    "While players who downloaded and tried the 360 Marketplace demo over the last fortnight would be forgiven for thinking the game lacked depth and focus, the full version quickly reveals itself to be, at once, engagingly arcadey and surprisingly deep."

    Hmm. Interesting. This was my thoughts almost exactly.

  • NewYork #21 5 years ago

    Tenchu got two pages.

  • GitSomE_UK #22 5 years ago

    Tried the demo and the meh factor was high.

    Wing Commander still rules.

  • goz #23 5 years ago

    Ja_Long

    OK. Just quickly: I presume you mean that only high-scoring games (as in, really high-scoring games) should have thorough/ in-depth critical analysis? Surely finding out why a game is broken, or doesn’t work as well as it could, or is a poor example of the genre or in what ways it fails in its goals is just as interesting and important as reading gushing praise?

    If a critic/ outlet only gives rigorous attention or justification to games he/ she/ it thinks are brilliant, these great accolades are completely devalued and undermined.

  • mingster #24 5 years ago

    Sounds awesome to me.. shame i havent got a 360

  • stoopidgreg #25 5 years ago

    "Holding down both triggers will automatically match the speed of the craft you're pursuing, an ingenious move that makes high speed dog-fighting a joy."

    umm, conflict freespace?? that game is ancient and it had a button to do just that. most useful feature in a space sim ever

  • scummyhawker #26 5 years ago

    Demo was rock solid, but I still managed to spank it. Looking forward to receiving this.

  • Rodriguez #27 5 years ago

    Really enjoyed the demo. Game arrived today so looking forward to giving this a blast later. Nice review too.

  • bioreit #28 5 years ago

    Someone give me FreeSpace 1 and 2 on my 360, dagnammit!

    Xbox Live Download, full-price DVD purchase, whatever - I DON'T CARE!

    Having played the Project Sylpheed demo, I know it would work well - there are enough buttons on the 360 pad to do it justice.

    It NEEDS to be done.

  • kissthestick #29 5 years ago

    27.99 @ gameplay is a nice price, hmm

  • glaeken #30 5 years ago

    I too liked the demo. I actually played it a few times through and its great fun to play a game of this type again.

    You definitely need to do the tutorials though before playing the demo as there is actually a lot of depth to the controls and HUD.
    Edited by 1 at 28/06/07 @ 16:19

  • dr_faulk #31 5 years ago

    I played the demo. In the voice of Vincent Price (when he was giving the Good Etiquite lecture to Edward Scissorhands)...

    BOOOOOOORIIIING!

  • sambo_nz #32 5 years ago

    Ahhh... it feels like home.
    (C'mon, you *knew* I'd return after the review surely!)

    Great review Simon Parkin. I also agree with some of the others here :-o in that it read more like an 8/10, but a 7's understandable given no MP features and the limited-appeal genre.

    Hell, I may even shed a tear. (whilst buying two copies just for the sheer heck of it)

  • LeD #33 5 years ago

    Projectiled Syphilis more like amarite?

  • sambo_nz #34 5 years ago

    @ GitSomE UK:

    Yup you're totally on the money my friend. Wing Commander *so* rules compared to Sylpheed:
    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qifV0kl5PdM&mode=r elated&search=
    ]http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=qifV0kl5P...[/link]

    no 'meh factor' there! *blink blink

    Here's something i just *know* ur gonna dig:
    [link url=http://www.raildriver.com/prod ucts/raildriver.php?gclid=CLCpj6-S_4wCFR1BggodOyKMDQ
    ]http://ww w.raildriver.com/products/raild...[/link]

    go nuts! (you'll have to take off your vinyl Matrix coat before you play though - might get a tad sweaty under there..)

  • orakio #35 5 years ago

    ah yes, Silpheed. that was indeed a very enjoyable game with great music

  • rymdimperiet #36 5 years ago

    LOL! Jean Michel Jarre's space burial made me spit Coke all over my keyboard.

  • miiiguel #37 5 years ago

    why do they keep reviewing 360 games only?

    How many reviews can you read of Motorstorm and CoD with aliens ?
    Edited by 2 at 28/06/07 @ 17:40

  • Scimarad #38 5 years ago

    Good review but the demo was just too bloody hard, unfortunately. Is that representative of the full game?
    Edited by 1 at 28/06/07 @ 19:59

  • hoof #39 5 years ago

    The demo was overwhelming, the actual game does ease you in alot better.

  • smelly #40 5 years ago

    REACH!

    Climb every mountain

    REACH!!

    Reach for the moon

    REACH!!

    Try to get higher..
    And your dreams will all come true
    So REACH for the stars.. climb ever mountain higher
    and reach for the stars.. follow your hearts desire


    etc etc...

  • Benno #41 5 years ago

    colony wars was a cracking game - had it on PS1 and loved it

    a next gen version, with an online mode worth of crimson skies would go down well

    i think theres a big market anyway

  • DrunKao #42 5 years ago

    Eurogamer, stop giving bad games multiple page reviews! I don't understand how so many 9/10 games can get such short 1 page reviews, but crappy games get up to 4 pages some times. Do you really need to spend so much type talking about how crappy it is?

  • smelly #43 5 years ago

    @DrunKao: At what point did 7/10 mean "bad game"?

    Get a life.

    Some reviews need more words to describe why they arent quite worth 8 or 9 scores. Whereas a 9/10 might just need a few paragraphs telling you that its bloody ace (etc).

    Translation : Why on hell do you care exactly? Grow up.

    Sheesh.

  • miiiguel #44 5 years ago

    f3rrari: better dodgy, than useless..., me thinks.

  • smelly #45 5 years ago

    >EG loves M$ thats why.

    Oh come on..

    Do people really think this sort of nonsense?

  • miiiguel #46 5 years ago

    of course, EG loves M$, that's why the don't review all those games that are coming out to PS3... hummm..., can't remember their names, but they must be "da awesome".

  • DrunKao #47 5 years ago

    lol. I didn't really mean to call Project Sylpheed crappy. I kind of enjoyed the demo. But I think it's weird sometimes how bad games have really long reviews and good games have short reviews. I don't want to read a review for a week only to discover it was just a pile of dog shit at the end of it (well at least in EG's opinion).

  • 3william56 #48 5 years ago

    Stars blur into diagonal streaks when you travel fifteen hundred bl**dy metres?
    Whooo - someone's not been to astronomy class.

    Time limits are ar$e, particularly 2-3 minute ones. Driver always tickled/infuriated me with "get across the city in 5 minutes". I can't get out of my *drive* in 15 minutes.

  • BrokenSymmetry #49 5 years ago

    Great review! Really gives a sense of what it's like to play this game, something that is all too easy forgotten in many reviews.

  • mrharvest #50 5 years ago

    I finished the campaign on normal difficulty last night. It's one of the few games that make me start it again from the beginning after the credits roll. Though it does get a bit difficult in places. I had to skip one stage because I just couldn't do it. (Which is possible, a very nice feature to have.)

    The time limits didn't give me much trouble usually. You have 15-20 minutes for each stage, 10 minutes in just a handful. If you are doing badly it's a case of bringing out different weapons and prioritising your targets. (Hint: Go for the carriers. You really don't need those extra enemy fighters in the field.)

    The controls are mostly customisable. The only complaint I have is that you can't assign the manoeuvre that aligns you to the invisible base level of the map. Especially in the more frantic bomb runs I tend to execute it when I'm trying to barrel roll.

    And it really should have had multiplayer modes.

  • frod. #51 5 years ago

    The only excuse for not making another Colony Wars is being too busy making a sequel to Starlancer.

  • fredrikpj #52 5 years ago

    So, if I like wing commander, freespace, freelancer, darkstar one etc etc, should I get this?

  • jlaakso #53 5 years ago

    This sounds ace on so many levels, except for the crappy anime storytelling, but the demo was really off-putting... sounds like one from the bargain bin, then.

  • InsoFox #54 5 years ago

    I was similarly underwhelmed by the demo. It had a nice feel to it but it felt like a lot was going on onscreen but that this was an illusion to hide simplistic arcadey-ness.

    After the EG review I decided to give it a chance and I wasn't disappointed. It's arcadey, no doubt, but it has a depth I had failed to appreciate in that demo. It brought back memories of Wing Commander. I described it as 'wing commander filtered through a japanese lens' but the Ace Combat comparison is fair too (after all, that game also reminded me of WC).

    I even think the cut scenes are alright, but I like a bit of japanese storytelling cliche, me.

    It's so good to have a review site where a 7 means a 7. 7 is a perfectly fair score. That tells me it's a good game in general, and a great game for me, because I do happen to like this sort of thing, normally. In my book you should always add a point in your head if you 'normally like this sort of thing' and deduct one if you normally dislike this sort of thing.