Sylpheed Showdown
I’ve played me some space simulators in the past. A lot. When I moved to the ‘burbs… I used to go to Mark’s cousin’s house where Uncle Sam and Phil used to play the hell out of Wing Commander. I just stood behind them and tried to process all the keys they would push and try to decipher all the shiny-shiny lights on the HUD. There were freakin’ talking tigers too! What more could you ask for in computer gaming in the 90’s? LOL.
So, yeah. I’ve played me some space simulators in the past… but I never really said that I liked it. I really got bored of Wing Commander. Flying 5 minutes from space station to space station just to sell some crates of random stuff isn’t my definition of fun. I mean… you fly through space… and sometimes, nothing happens. LIKE NOTHING. The only thing you see on the screen from point A to point B are white pixels on the screen pretending to be distant stars and the innards of your ship, which is colored in a certain shade of dingy green that apparently… the future is so fond of. I really liked the story lines… and thankfully Phil never really had a problem with me pulling up a chair and watching from the background. But playing it was like pulling teeth. TEETH I TELL YOU.
So when I downloaded the Project Sylpheed demo on my Xbox, I was kinda skeptical that there’d be more boring space travels ahead. As you can see in the trailer… it’s completely different from what I expected. Lots of anime inspired characters (it was developed by Square Enix after all), an overwhelming amount of information in the form of fuel alerts, blinking lights, voice chat overlays, enemy lock-ons and missile targeting systems. There’s almost too much going on.
It was fun, but I guess I’m over flying ships across different worlds. Controls were great, story line seemed cliche’d but solid and it was pretty to look at… for the first couple runs. I played the game for about 30 mins, then my head started hurting from all the visual stimulation. If I wanted crazy flashing neon lights, I would’ve headed over to Fisherman’s Wharf and played Dance Dance Revolution until my legs dropped (which is exactly halfway though my 3rd song). LOL.
Maybe you’ll like it. 
~Spec
