Sun Blast: Star Fighter

[h1] Fly in tube like levels and wreck havoc. But havoc is mostly exaggerated as it's pretty weak actually. Without much flair or excitement like in arcade games. Just say no this time. [/h1]

Sun Blast: Star Fighter, developed by OBLONE Software and published by Senpai Industrial Studios, is a straightforward arcade-style space shooter that leans heavily into classic design sensibilities. It places players in the role of a lone pilot defending humanity against an alien threat, delivering a gameplay experience centered on reflexes, pattern recognition, and continuous forward momentum. Rather than attempting to modernize the genre with complex systems or narrative depth, it embraces a simpler structure that prioritizes accessibility and fast-paced action. The gameplay follows a familiar loop: guide your ship through a sequence of missions, eliminate incoming enemies, avoid dense projectile patterns, and gradually upgrade your weapons and defenses. Movement and aiming are responsive enough to support the game’s pace, allowing players to weave through enemy fire while maintaining offensive pressure. The design encourages constant engagement, with little downtime between encounters, creating a rhythm that feels immediate and consistent throughout each level. Missions vary in visual setting, moving between open space and more confined environments, but the core mechanics rem…

I enjoyed this game despite the fact that it's overly simplistic and occasionally extremely frustrating. It's kind of a flying shooter, but it feels more like a minigame much of the time since you're just flying straight toward the projectiles and enemies. There's not much depth to the combat, you pick up upgrades and these give you stronger weapons and then a shield, and then you get downgraded if you take a hit. Most stages are very easy since you can take 8 hits per stage, but the boss fights are brutal. They're not hard in the traditional sense but rather because they all have the equivalent of a stupid homing attack that hooks as it approaches. It doesn't quite work the way the devs planned, it's mostly extremely irritating and this culminates with an extremely irritating final boss. Once you beat the game, the extra medal challenges can take hours if you want all the achievements. The goals are simple, but a few involve weird strategies that can take hours to figure out, so you won't breeze through them. I did find this overall to be just challenging enough to avoid me feeling like it was a waste of time, so I would say it's worth the time it took to figure out. I recommend …

controls are responsive and the ship feels heavy in a good way.‍

MY THUMBS HURT. 10/10 would get carpal tunnel again.‍

Honestly? Better than Starfield.‍