Story: You are assuming the place of a fallen pilot. The captain of the ship is not thrilled about you being there because of your past antics. After the first mission, you prove yourself to the rest of the team, but the captain is still skeptical. So, not only are you trying to save earth, you're trying to prove your worth to the captain. Modes: Story mode is the only type of mode you can play in SE. But you can change the handling of your plane to arcade (where up is up and down is down) or to simulation (where up is down and down is up - like a real plane). Nothing fancy, but it makes for a little variation and it's nice to have the options. Weapons & Powerups: You start out with a basic ship and a basic weapon. Along the way you can pick up (via icons) new weapons, missiles, new ships, health meter refills, and other powerups. Graphics: The graphics are okay, there's some popup and sometimes things are a little fuzzy. The FMV sequences between missions are top quality. They are also real life; real actors portray the characters. The FMVs are very long though, too long, in fact. They make you wait too long to play and you're just about asleep by the time they're over. Luckily, you can skip over them. Sound: The sound FX are what is to be expected from an action/shooter. Explosions, metallic scrapes, acceleration, etc. The background music sounds like it's taken right from a movie. It's quite suspenseful and given a better setting, would likely be very effective. But it can get a little repetitive at times, especially when you play a level more than once. It's not so annoying, however, that it can't be tuned out. Gameplay: While somewhat difficult, Solar Eclipse is a very fun game! It's one of those games that gets you hooked, then frustrates you because you can't pass a level, so you put it down for a couple weeks, then pick it back up and beat that level! Then the cycle starts all over again. There are a few parts in the game where if you take the wrong tunnel, you will end up crashing into a wall. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, you can't turn around, which results in much yelling and threatening on the player's part. But once you conquer those levels, you feel much superior. Though the game is often overlooked for more flashy titles, given a chance, Solar Eclipse will prove its worth to you. Game quote: "Save some for the rest of us Stuntman!"
Sure the sega saturn basically fell of the face of planet within a year of it's release, but this is no reason to ignore a fun and addictive game. Basically this is the only console exclusive game for the saturn worth l... Read Full Review
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