Super Stardust HD

Overview

Super Stardust HD is a downloadable PLAYSTATION 3 game available on the PLAYSTATION Network. It is an upgraded version of the Amiga game, Super Stardust. Developed by a Finnish company called Housemarque, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, it was released on June 15, 2007.

The game revolves around a small, player-controlled ship that circles a planet and must destroy all incoming objects, such as enemy ships and asteroids. The player has four weapons to accomplish this goal: the rock crusher, gold melter, and ice splitter beams, along with a limited number of bombs. Another way to defend yourself is the boost, which gives a very short time of invulnerability and the power to kill everything the ship touches during that time.

Each beam is stronger against certain enemies and specific types of asteroids. Several items are dropped by the enemies and the ship can be upgraded to increase its performance. The game features online leaderboards for every single mode.On July 1st, 2008, Super Stardust HD became one of the first PlayStation 3 games to receive support for PlayStation Trophies, a system that rewards players for achieving specific goals in games. The trophies cover the original game, as well as the add-ons, which bring in additional modes and new music.

Planets and Gameplay

In Super Stardust HD, there are a total of five different planets you must defend. These planets include:

1. Lave
2. Coventina
3. Nemain
4. Taranis
5. Segomo

Each planet has different kinds of enemies, along with different kinds of asteroids, such as rocky ones, ones made out of gold, icy ones, or a combination of all three attacking the planet. After all the enemies in one planet are defeated, a boss will come which you will have to defeat. These bosses send out waves of attacks against you which you have to dodge, and you have to attack when the time is right. Some have weak spots where you have to attack in order to kill them. As the levels progress, boss fights can feature up to two bosses at once.

Add-on

Solo Pack:

• New Retro Soundtrack
• Survival Mode: Having only one life, the goal is to survive as long as possible while assaulted by ever increasing waves of enemies
• Bomber Mode: The only weapon available in this mode are bombs.
• Endless Mode: Featuring new enemies and a periodically appearing nuke that clears the entire planet, this mode is the biggest expansion to the original game.
• Time Attack Mode: The original levels, only with the new goal to be as fast as possible.

Team Pack:

• New Orchestral Soundtrack
• Versus Mode
• Split-Screen Co-op