Star Soldier Aleck 64 Review (2.5/5.0)
The Aleck 64 is a hardware arcade unit that was based on the Nintendo 64. Â Star Soldier was released on that hardware. Â It turns out you can play this rom from an Everdrive 64 on your console N64 and I played through it last night using the UltraHDMI N64 video mod.
The game is pretty awesome-looking, but it’s terribly difficult.  There were bosses where I could barely get any shots in before being obliterated (mostly later in the game)  This is negated somewhat by the infinite credits you can put in, but without a goal and skill progression the game sort of loses its soul.
The voices and cut-scenes are kind of laughable and the game felt a little jerky to me (although maybe that’s the N64 limitations on the console version).  There wasn’t a lot of lag, but it felts like the frames were jumping at times.
I didn’t like that you’re basically stuck with one weapon when you pick your ship.  At the time the N64 was out, there were much better advances for weapons (look at MUSHA or Blazing Lasers). Â
If you want some shmup action on the N64, there’s not a lot to choose from and this game is pretty fun in short bursts.  I wouldn’t spend a lot of time memorizing or trying to get good at this game because I just don’t think it’s fair to the player (meaning that would be an exercise in frustration).
