Project Sylpheed (2006)

Project Sylpheed is an enjoyable game overall, for sure. The typical apex-baddass-pilot story is not as involved and gripping as I'd prefer for a game that is clearly shooting ; ) for a cinematic grand scope. But what is here is solid. The aerial space combat--tho not as flashy and exciting as I would prefer--is fun, and even sometimes addictive, as I finished the majority of this game in one ~8 hour session. Did I want the game to be longer? Not necessarily. The characters are cliche and boring. The story doesn't develop the characters much or go into any real depth. Every idea is a recycled from something we've seen before. Nothing new here.

Outfitting my fighter with upgraded /new weapons is cool, but the new weapons don't seem to vastly improve my odds of completing a mission, for the most part. However, I do appreciate the attempt at variety and plenty of armament choices. Overall Sylpheed suffers from the same problem that a lot of space /flight sim shooters suffer from, and that is a lack intimacy with the combat. Consider this: when you play a first person shooter, that action can get very personal. Very close. Very intimate. But the nature of combat at great distances in these space combat games makes intimacy very difficult. I prefer the Macross approach of bringing fighters closer to each other, especially for key moments. If the devs are trying to make something grand and cinematic, they should have used Macross Plus ( OVA ) as a template. That anime is intimate as all hell. Like why not have close up portrait shots show up in a transparent overlay /HUD so I can see my enemies yell at me, or I can see them burn up in a blaze of glory when I obliterate their asses with my superior firepower and unstoppable fighting technique. Ya know... Macross anime style. Gundam does the same thing. In Project Sylpheed they show small heads of my team in the upper left corner, but it's not all that interesting or informative. I'd rather see my enemies groan in pain and frustration and then die at my hands. All SO dramatic. Just like Macross Plus.

While I don't think I'll be giving Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception another playthrough, I did enjoy my single romp. It wasn't too time-consuming. The length was just right. Unless they could have added more variety to the gameplay, there was really no point in extending this game any longer. And the end? Meh. It felt pretty anticlimactic, unfortunately. All the big 'scenes' in this game feel underwhelming. Which is too bad, cuz I wanna feel inspired to go out and blow them enemy ships to smithereens.

Overall I enjoyed my time with Sylpheed. Everything was good. But nothing was quite great. I had originally rated it a '6', but what is in the game is very competent, at least. If only they'd gone the extra mile to make this game go beyond the norm, per my suggestions, I would be rating it higher and probably playing through a second time. But at $10 this was definitely worth the single play.

Not bad Square Enix. Not bad. But I KNOW you guys can do better. We all know you can do better.