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Sigma Star Saga -Namco / Way Forward (2005)
Humanity is in a war with a race known as the Krill, purple humanoids that live with parasites as their clothing. Ian Recker was a decorated pilot that commanded his own squadron of fighters for Earth against the menace of the Krill. After a mission where many of his men were killed, he is informed of a new mission where he must infiltrate the Krill from the inside. Although Recker is against it, his superior, Commander Tierney, tricks Recker into doing the mission. Recker is expelled from the Earth and placed so that the Krill find him. They discover that Recker is one of humanity’s worst, thanks to a fabricated story by Tierney. Recker now must earn the Krill’s trust and attempt to climb the ranks of the Krill hierarchy to discover their master plan. He will need to decide who his allegiances belong to.
Sigma Star Saga is a rare type of game. It combines the exploring and grand story-telling of an action RPG with a battle system of a side-scrolling shooter. While the game excels at neither the RPG or shooter aspect, it does have an excellent story and a unique weapons system to keep it interesting. Most of the story takes place in the usual RPG top-down perspective where the game’s hero, Ian Recker, tries to discover what exactly the Krill’s master plan is. Recker is given missions by his new superiors to perform some kind of task on whatever planet the Krill ship is orbiting. There are six planets that must be explored and many of them fall into the typical sci-fi planet classification scheme where there are separate fire, ice, green, and desert planets. There are plenty of obstacles and out of the way paths that can only be accessed by obtaining the correct item. There are some things you will get later on in the game that will allow to access areas that were inaccessible on all of the previous planets. This unfortunately means that there is a lot of backtracking. Most of it isn’t really necessary, but if you want to obtain every item in the game it is a must. Recker can whip out a blaster at any time to shoot any of the planet’s creatures that may impede his progress. Killing off all the creatures you come across won’t raise your experience, however. They merely serve to impede your progress through the story. Some of them leave behind valuable bombs that can be used in the shooter sequences or health.
The shooter sequences are where Recker will increase his experience. Every time an enemy is destroyed, Recker’s ship absorbs experience which will level-up the ship and make it more powerful. Some enemies are tough to beat and will take numerous hits at first because Recker’s weapons are so weak. Anytime he arrives on a new planet his weapons don’t seem powerful enough against the new threats. However, there will come a point when Recker’s ship is so powerful that nearly every enemy can be destroyed in one hit. Not only are the encounters random, but so are all the aspects of the battle. You never know what level layout you’ll be flying in, what enemies you’ll have to face, or even what ship you’ll be piloting. The ships you pilot range from small, quick fighters to large, slow transports. There is also one big ship, that when hit, opens and releases a small fighter from its cargo bay. It is rare but sometimes the game screws you over by giving you a ship that is bigger than the caves you must navigate. When that happens you just pray that you can destroy the need amount of ships before your health reaches zero. Weapons found on the planet can be attached to the ships you pilot in battles. You can use any combination of cannon type, bullet type, and impact type for seemingly endless shooting possibilities. Many of the weapons you’ll find are kind of useless though and can potentially make battles more difficult. Although, it is nice to have so many options available.
The story is entertaining, but I found it just a little odd how many of the Krill trusted Recker and how he was able to rise through their ranks rather quickly. Recker eventually finds himself in the middle of a love triangle between Psyme, a Krill female, and Scarlet, a military girl. It is interesting and many times humorous, how Recker tries to keep his cover to save the girls. Much of the plot is focused on lies, betrayals, and who Recker can really trust. Some of the plot threads may not be new to an RPG, but they are done very well here, with some fantastic character development throughout. There are also four possible endings to the game, making replayability a must if you need to see everything. The game is focused on many bad things about war, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously as there are enough quirky or funny moments. For one, the ruler of the Krill is called the Tyrannical Overlord. You can’t help but laugh the first time you see that. At one point, the game itself makes fun of Recker for obtaining fairly-like wings. “You got wings. Like a girl!” The wings are a valuable tool of being a male Krill… or a human in a Krill parasite suit.
The characters have an anime-inspired look. It is interesting to see how the parasites of all the Krill women don’t cover much while the men are all fully-clothed. In particular, Commander Zelly’s parasite looks to have hands that grab her breasts as her clothing of choice. Obviously there were not any lonely game artists or developers worked on this game. Sigma Star Saga should be appreciated for taking a huge risk on trying to combine shooters and RPGs. For the most part it works and I love it because it’s so different than a typical RPG. I’m not holding my breath, but I am hopeful that a sequel will be made. It would be a shame to not see the unique gun customization again.
-Shawn
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