(this is probably my last review of the year. It's been a fun year y'all!)
The last of three Sparkster games releasedin the 90s, this one seems to be the least well-liked judging from online reception. As for me? I like it quite a bit. Rocket boosting feels slightly different in this one, and one of the biggest changes is that even though you are invulnerable at the start of the boost like in the other games, you somehow feel a lot more vulnerable on the rebound. This made rocket boosting a more deliberate affair, as spamming the boost button against bosses was a quick way to lose a life. I know the cramped level design has its critics, but I still found it fun to rocket off walls like a pinball. There are some cheap 'gotcha' moments, but nothing more than in the other Sparkster games; I would say the difficulty is generally very fair. My one criticism of the gameplay here is that it feels slightly sluggish, lacking the sense of blazing speed that defined Rocket Knight Adventures and Sparkster on the SNES.
This is one of the franchises I wish had gotten more love, and while technically this was the game to 'kill off' the series, I think that's a little bit simplistic. Let's sum up what I think about the three games:
Rocket Knight Adventures had the best soundtrack by far, and my favorite aesthetic. It also kept things fresh thanks to its 'situation rush' approach; this proved to be a double-edged sword because the various set-pieces and different gameplay styles led to plenty of instances of poor balance and cheap difficulty.
Sparkster on the SNES was a more refined platformer - it had lots of depth thanks to its expanded moveset, but it was slightly bland compared to RKA and didn't quite get the difficulty curve right either.
Now this game had IMO the best difficulty curve - lots of hazards and some 'gotcha' moments, but lots of health pickups kept things fair. The level design wasn't as creative as RKA but had some great setpieces (the fight against Axel Gear being a highlight). Unfortunately it feels sluggish compared to the other two and has arguably the weakest soundtrack - it seems to be aping the style of the SNES Sparkster which doesn't work quite as well with the Genesis' slightly crunchier sound palette.
What am I getting at here? Well, I don't think this game specifically killed off the series; I think it was the fact that three games came out within a year of each other, all with different strengths and weaknesses i.e. they were all 'sidegrades' of each other and I don't feel like there was a 'definitive' Sparkster game. If the three games were to fuse together into a Frankensparkster with the strengths of all three (RKA's aesthetic and creativity, SNES Sparkster's moveset and level design, and Genesis Sparkster's difficulty curve) the result would arguably have been THE game of the 16-bit era!
The last of three Sparkster games releasedin the 90s, this one seems to be the least well-liked judging from online reception. As for me? I like it quite a bit. Rocket boosting feels slightly different in this one, and one of the biggest changes is that even though you are invulnerable at the start of the boost like in the other games, you somehow feel a lot more vulnerable on the rebound. This made rocket boosting a more deliberate affair, as spamming the boost button against bosses was a quick way to lose a life. I know the cramped level design has its critics, but I still found it fun to rocket off walls like a pinball. There are some cheap 'gotcha' moments, but nothing more than in the other Sparkster games; I would say the difficulty is generally very fair. My one criticism of the gameplay here is that it feels slightly sluggish, lacking the sense of blazing speed that defined Rocket Knight Adventures and Sparkster on the SNES.
This is one of the franchises I wish had gotten more love, and while technically this was the game to 'kill off' the series, I think that's a little bit simplistic. Let's sum up what I think about the three games:
Rocket Knight Adventures had the best soundtrack by far, and my favorite aesthetic. It also kept things fresh thanks to its 'situation rush' approach; this proved to be a double-edged sword because the various set-pieces and different gameplay styles led to plenty of instances of poor balance and cheap difficulty.
Sparkster on the SNES was a more refined platformer - it had lots of depth thanks to its expanded moveset, but it was slightly bland compared to RKA and didn't quite get the difficulty curve right either.
Now this game had IMO the best difficulty curve - lots of hazards and some 'gotcha' moments, but lots of health pickups kept things fair. The level design wasn't as creative as RKA but had some great setpieces (the fight against Axel Gear being a highlight). Unfortunately it feels sluggish compared to the other two and has arguably the weakest soundtrack - it seems to be aping the style of the SNES Sparkster which doesn't work quite as well with the Genesis' slightly crunchier sound palette.
What am I getting at here? Well, I don't think this game specifically killed off the series; I think it was the fact that three games came out within a year of each other, all with different strengths and weaknesses i.e. they were all 'sidegrades' of each other and I don't feel like there was a 'definitive' Sparkster game. If the three games were to fuse together into a Frankensparkster with the strengths of all three (RKA's aesthetic and creativity, SNES Sparkster's moveset and level design, and Genesis Sparkster's difficulty curve) the result would arguably have been THE game of the 16-bit era!