{"id":11203,"date":"2022-04-06T18:15:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T09:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=11203"},"modified":"2022-04-06T18:15:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T09:15:09","slug":"20220406-11203","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/reviews\/20220406-11203\/","title":{"rendered":"Give Sol Cresta time to marinate and it will take you on a fantastic ride"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br><br><em><strong>Sol Cresta<\/strong><\/em> had an interesting start. Announced on April Fools as a continuation in the long dormant Cresta series, it seemed like a well-made prank that brought more attention to Cresta than it had seen in decades. But it was more than a prank. We were getting a bona fide vertical shmup from PlatinumGames as a part of their Neo-Classic Arcade initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s kind of a big deal to get an arcade inspired shooter from a big-name developer in this day and age, and <em>Sol Cresta<\/em> was even getting coverage from major games media outlets, though it quickly tapered off in the West. After the game released, there was a brief discourse around its price and how much shmups are worth (this is a whole other story) and the game seemed to disappear, leaving the leaderboards open for players in Japan, where the game has been more celebrated. The story doesn\u2019t have to end here, though. Maybe <em>Sol Cresta<\/em> won\u2019t spread shmup fever across gaming as a whole, but PlatinumGames delivered the goods, so if you\u2019re a fan of shooters, or even just action games in general, you owe it to yourself to give it a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SOL CRESTA Launch Trailer (Former Pricing)\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2jzamWx8C0A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Like any good shooter, <em>Sol Cresta<\/em> has a depth to it that isn\u2019t immediately apparent. It\u2019s also long for the genre. The PlatinumGames name may have initially driven up the interest among new players who ended up balking at the $40.00 price for an hour-long arcade mode, but that much content likely has veteran high score chasers begging for mercy. I was skeptical as well after learning that the Story Mode would be sold separately as DLC. But after digging into the game, its depth slowly revealed itself to me. I wasn\u2019t just memorizing enemy placement. The mechanics of the game were sinking in and becoming second nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And there are a lot of core mechanics in <em>Sol Cresta<\/em>, such as ship formations, Formation Shots, Command Shots, \u201cSol Time\u201d (slowing down time for moving into formation), the Sol Gauge, and the Formation Gauge. They\u2019re all intertwined and need to be managed by the player for success. And once you get the hang of things, there\u2019s a lot of room for experimentation and interpretation in the stages, which may sometimes look like a bullet hell game if you let things get out of hand but are actually more old school in their inspirations. Considering the game wears its early-80\u2019s inspiration on its sleeve in many other ways, this may not be a big surprise.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220406-11203-001-747x420.jpg 747w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The point of the above is basically to say what looks haphazard or overly punishing at first actually has intention behind it that becomes more apparent as you play and improve. <em>Sol Cresta<\/em> isn\u2019t easy. However, when you consider its length, shield system, and difficulty options, you\u2019ll likely get further in it than many other shmups before they decide to tighten their grip. <em>Sol Cresta <\/em>isn\u2019t trying to kick you off the arcade machine or get another quarter. It slowly ramps up the difficulty while still requiring that you play by its rules if you want to complete it. When you consider all the mechanics at play, it can be a lot to contend with before you have the skills to complete a loop, but I found the difficulty curve to be more motivating than punishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sol Cresta<\/em> does a good job balancing the old with the new. There are homages to <em>Moon Cresta<\/em>, <em>Terra Cresta<\/em>, and likely more from other games in the series that I didn\u2019t notice. You experience everything from familiar enemies and movement patterns to transposed music arrangements and classic jingles. It feels like a continuation of the series, despite bringing its own twists such the \u201cfree-form docking\u201d system, that aren\u2019t just new to <em>Cresta<\/em>, but new to the genre. Describing something as neo-classic sounds kind of nebulous, but I think they did it. I have seen the graphics be criticized pretty harshly in some reviews, but I think if you familiarize yourself with the older titles in the series, you\u2019ll see what they were going for and how it meshes with the idea of being neo-classic. It\u2019s not trying to be the R-Type Final 2 of <em>Cresta<\/em>, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if this combining the old with the new extents to the upcoming titles in the Neo-Classic Arcade Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game isn\u2019t without its faults, though. There have been reports of bugs, some of which I experienced myself after putting in roughly 25 hours of gameplay when trying the Score Attack \u2013 Unlimited mode. One was minor with the music not playing during a section of a stage. However, I have had one run end with a boss disappearing off screen leaving me in an endless loop with no way to continue. Honestly, it wasn\u2019t a huge deal when considering how much I had already played the game, but to players that came across them sooner, it could be a serious flag pointing to a lack of polish. Fortunately, the game\u2019s creative director Hideki Kamiya has been very upfront on Twitter and in public appearances like Shooters Fest 2022 about these issues and that the team is working to fix them while making QoL adjustments.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u3010Day 2\u3011Shooters Fes 2022 Official English Co-Stream \u3010April 3 (Sun)\u3011\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nJZAKNHhRpk?start=18213&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>I could go on about the excellent, catchy music and how it gradually raises the stakes as you progress. Or about the solid Caravan Mode and wealth of Score Attack leaderboards. But I don\u2019t want to drag this out too long. What I\u2019m trying to say is if you have an interest in shooters or action games, <em>Sol Cresta<\/em> is definitely worth your time. The game can help beginners get their feet wet or make experts pull their hair out, while all of us in between can try to stake our claim on the leaderboards. Great games seem to get their due in time, and I think <em>Sol Cresta<\/em> will go down as a shooting classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fun Fact: At the end of Stage 5 &#8211; Terra, you can see the Umeda Sky Building in the background meaning this stage takes place over Osaka, Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sol Cresta has a depth to it that isn\u2019t immediately apparent, and if you have an interest in shooters or action games, it&#8217;s definitely worth your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":11206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Give Sol Cresta time to marinate and it will take you on a fantastic ride - 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