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Sigma Star Saga Review: Is It Worth It?

Sigma Star Saga Screenshot

Sigma Star Saga Review: Is It Worth It?

This game was published by Namco for the Game Boy Advance in 2005. It is a hybrid role-playing space shooter style video game. Sigma Star Saga dares to be different but it doesn’t take it much further. Just forcing a few genres together, in this case space shooting and RPG, doesn’t guarantee success. The gameplay must be carefully processed and blended in such a way that we’re left with what feels like one new hybrid genre.

Sigma Star Saga Gameplay

sigma star saga screenshot
A retro spaceship’s all you need for some side scroll shooting.

Sigma Star Saga combines side-scrolling shooting with RPG elements. Both elements occur separately as gamers toggle between them throughout the game. The game goes on way too long and doesn’t cover much new ground. The only thing that breaks the repetition is the going back and forth between genres, which is basically the source of the repetition in the first place. Ian Recker takes center stage in this drama. He’s enlisted to fight an alien race known as the Krill before they destroy six human-inhabited planets in the galaxy. 

One of the preferred methods of combat is space shooting which takes place in a side-scrolling format. Piloting a spaceship, you will be able to upgrade weapons, armor and performance by shooting down enemies and collecting the experience bubbles they leave behind. There is lots and lots of shooting, most of which can’t be avoided, and players also have plenty of backtracking to do as they follow the storyline in an effort to complete their objectives.

Combat Is the Name of the Game

sigma star combat mission
Combat is the primary form of gameplay within Sigma Star Saga.

Another method of defeating the enemy is to infiltrate them. Through interaction and exploration players will discover their secrets and send that information back to the Federation. This happens by donning a parasitic style of body armor that is composed of organic matter. It not only provides protection, but it helps to disguise itself from the Krill.

The shooting is fun, but it goes on too long. Eventually players can level their ship up to the point of invincibility thereby taking the basic challenge out of Sigma Star Saga. Until characters reach that point however, they will want to collect “Gun Data” which are essentially power ups that can be combined with other such data to upgrade capabilities. Players can increase the power and speed of their cannon and even earn double the amount of experience points for each shot. Experimenting with the different combinations of Gun Data is arguably the most addictive aspect of the gameplay.

Final Thoughts

Using an anime style, the graphics are large and well defined. They aren’t Earth-shattering but they get the job done. The enemy appears as detailed as blips on a radar screen during the shooting segments. The bosses help to make up for the overall lack of detail with larger, more imaginative crafts. Certain characters, backgrounds and textures repeat after a while as does the music. This game could have easily been cut in half and should have been to maintain whatever level of quality that this game possesses. Once played through there’s little incentive to replay it. The lack of a multi-player mode relegates Sigma Star Saga to the rental category.

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