My neighbors are always listening to really loud drum and bass... weather they like it or not!
After finding out new copies of Starfighter Sanvein only cost around 12$, I decided to buy one sight unseen. Worst case I'd be out ten bucks for the privilege of opening a brand new Playstation 1 game, and I'm totally fine with that. In fact, my copy was so new that the shrink wrap looked as pristine as the day it was applied, and the plastic tab on the back used for hanging it on a store shelf remained unbroken and affixed to the wrap. I've little doubt this copy of Sanvein came to me straight from the box it was shipped to the retailer in.
Sanvein is a short but solid shoot-em-up with a rather interesting gameplay loop. Each level takes place on a large grid composed of numerous hexagons, each one representing a battle with a common enemy or a sub-boss. Clearing each sub-boss makes a level boss appear, which then allows you to move on to the next grid. You can upgrade your ships power by clearing adjacent hexes relative to the one you're initiating an encounter in, so there's a level of strategy involved in which battles you take on and in what order you decide to. For example, you might want to clear 4 or 6 hexes surrounding a sub-boss in order to clear the boss quickly and with minimal damage. Complicating this is the way health operates in this game. Rather than having an HP bar or a set amount of lives, your ship operates off a timer that is constantly ticking away. Get hit and you lose 90 seconds, clear a sub-boss and you gain back 140. You don't get time for beating common enemies, and your timer continues to tick down on the level select grid, so you have to balance your remaining time against which hexes you choose to do battle in. It's a lot of fun and a really good concept for a shooter.
Presentation is where Sanvein really knocks it out of the park, though. The closest analog I can provide is the VR missions in Metal Gear Solid, both of which seem to be going for the same sort of early 2000s digital-world aesthetic. Everything exists in a black void populated by neon grids and hexagons, superfluous data readouts, and nonsense text like "REMAIN OF TIME RECOVERED" and "HEAVEN, UTOPIA AND TRUTH" which flash on the screen for about a split second before the game decides it's time to move on. The soundtrack is also excellent, though it mostly consists of very short but catchy loops, likely because you move between different encounters so quickly you'd never have much time to listen to a full track.
Success should take a break from doing Cotton games and consider rebooting Sanvein. I mean, think about it from a business perspective: weirdos like me will buy it and they can also charge something absurd like 60$ for what is essentially a cheap remake! This model has worked for them so far, I'm just asking they dip into some of their other IPs, that's all. At least you can pick up a brand new copy of this game for cheap off Ebay... that is until I buy boxes of Sanvein to throw into a woodchipper so the value of my copy skyrockets.
After finding out new copies of Starfighter Sanvein only cost around 12$, I decided to buy one sight unseen. Worst case I'd be out ten bucks for the privilege of opening a brand new Playstation 1 game, and I'm totally fine with that. In fact, my copy was so new that the shrink wrap looked as pristine as the day it was applied, and the plastic tab on the back used for hanging it on a store shelf remained unbroken and affixed to the wrap. I've little doubt this copy of Sanvein came to me straight from the box it was shipped to the retailer in.
Sanvein is a short but solid shoot-em-up with a rather interesting gameplay loop. Each level takes place on a large grid composed of numerous hexagons, each one representing a battle with a common enemy or a sub-boss. Clearing each sub-boss makes a level boss appear, which then allows you to move on to the next grid. You can upgrade your ships power by clearing adjacent hexes relative to the one you're initiating an encounter in, so there's a level of strategy involved in which battles you take on and in what order you decide to. For example, you might want to clear 4 or 6 hexes surrounding a sub-boss in order to clear the boss quickly and with minimal damage. Complicating this is the way health operates in this game. Rather than having an HP bar or a set amount of lives, your ship operates off a timer that is constantly ticking away. Get hit and you lose 90 seconds, clear a sub-boss and you gain back 140. You don't get time for beating common enemies, and your timer continues to tick down on the level select grid, so you have to balance your remaining time against which hexes you choose to do battle in. It's a lot of fun and a really good concept for a shooter.
Presentation is where Sanvein really knocks it out of the park, though. The closest analog I can provide is the VR missions in Metal Gear Solid, both of which seem to be going for the same sort of early 2000s digital-world aesthetic. Everything exists in a black void populated by neon grids and hexagons, superfluous data readouts, and nonsense text like "REMAIN OF TIME RECOVERED" and "HEAVEN, UTOPIA AND TRUTH" which flash on the screen for about a split second before the game decides it's time to move on. The soundtrack is also excellent, though it mostly consists of very short but catchy loops, likely because you move between different encounters so quickly you'd never have much time to listen to a full track.
Success should take a break from doing Cotton games and consider rebooting Sanvein. I mean, think about it from a business perspective: weirdos like me will buy it and they can also charge something absurd like 60$ for what is essentially a cheap remake! This model has worked for them so far, I'm just asking they dip into some of their other IPs, that's all. At least you can pick up a brand new copy of this game for cheap off Ebay... that is until I buy boxes of Sanvein to throw into a woodchipper so the value of my copy skyrockets.
2 Comments
Getting my copy WATA graded so it'll be worth 25$.
Vee
1 year ago