As a lifelong fan of shmups, I’ve played my fair share and come to the realization that it isn’t what initially catches your eye – the visual presentation – that counts as much the gameplay does. Fortunately for developer Studio Evil, it flies its most recent vessel, Syder Arcade with grace while excelling in both fields.
Syder Arcade’s strongest asset lies in its appearance, though its gameplay mechanics are nearly as lustrous. Throughout my trek across space, the framerate was consistent and the vivid explosions from enemy ships illuminated my screen with fluorescent colors. Vehicles and adversaries were all distinctly drawn, but at times I had a bit of difficulty discerning friend from foe, at least on the escort missions. Further adding to this confusion, was the fact that my weapons could also damage the vessel I was supposed to be guarding.
Upon loading the game I was also given the opportunity to select a very large number of filters to apply to the graphics that greatly changed the overall appearance of the game. I could select to have a cutting edge visual presentation from the current generation of gaming, while the next I could replicate it with a filter to replicate the look running the game on an Apple II or Commodore 64. The team clearly knew what they were doing when it came to designing the engine, and it shows.
