Solar Eclipse / Titan Wars (Saturn, PS) (1995)
Developer: Team Titan and Crystal Dynamics

Review by Faididi and Co.

"Total Eclipse 2"

Story: Excellent

Alarmed by the presence of unknown enemy forces that are blowing up the colonies at Saturn's moons, the authorities send out their fleet of SCA-111G Polecat starfighters to stop the attacks. One of the pilots is Lieutenant Jake Cross, and his mission is to rescue any surviving colonists and to figure out what's going on. For a game like this, there's quite a bit of story, and the mystery is interesting enough. The characters swap plenty of dialogue (both over the radio and face-to-face), and the plot terrifically builds up to a climactic final battle.

Gameplay: Excellent

Team Titan and Crystal Dynamics' Solar Eclipse (Titan Wars) is a follow-up to Total Eclipse. Jake flies through 8 lengthy missions in this forward-scrolling space shooter, blowing all his enemies to hell, not to mention weaving around walls and other obstacles. His progress can be saved between every mission. Although its gameplay looks very similar at first, Solar Eclipse has a completely different story, and it's actually fun, thanks to full-fledged improvements that render it a whole new experience.

We can begin with Jake's badass ship, the perfected hit detection, and the other rehauled combat elements. Compared to the starfighter from Total Eclipse, the Polecat has an incredibly easier time at shooting down bad guys. If Jake aims toward something's general direction, it will die. It's as simple as that. The weapon system is redesigned so the Polecat can fire both its standard laser blasters and one of 4 special weapons, which range from scatter cannons to guidable energy bolt launchers. Each special weapon functions quite differently from the rest, as opposed to the hardly varying junk in Total Eclipse. Better still, the Polecat can effectively sacrifice its current special weapon to recharge its shields in an emergency, which is a really cool option, and one wonders why space shooters don't feature this more often.

The level and enemy designs receive their share of upgrades as well. The different moons of Saturn across which Jake flies have vastly different terrain, including expansive canyons, barren deserts, icy caverns, and volcanic wastelands. There are multiple paths, but they don't break up the linear feel of the missions. Unlike the awful maze-like corridors of Total Eclipse, the tunnels here are far cleaner in layout, and they never pull off annoying shit like warping the hero back to the beginning of an area. The bad guys are fun to blow apart, even if they mostly resemble hunks of metal glued together with cannons. The regular drones come in and get taken out by the droves, while the bosses suck up lots of damage but are never so powerful that they seem to be invincible.

Controls: Excellent

The Polecat handles very responsively. Jake can ascend, descend, turn, roll, and control his speed with ease. The rolling controls here are leagues ahead of Total Eclipse's, and there's no more of that useless auto-leveling nonsense.

Graphics: Excellent

Using a clever mix of 2D and 3D graphics, Solar Eclipse's visuals rock. The characters are rendered smoothly, and the air or vaccuum is often flooded with flying metal, projectiles, and explosions. There is rarely any slowdown, and the framerate never drops, unlike in Total Eclipse. The lunar landscapes, consisting of flowing hills and convoluted tunnels, appear surprisingly natural, and the hulking bosses are fearsome to the eye.

Audio: Above Average

The Polecat dishes out death loudly and messily. The cannons from both Jake and the bad guys roar out thunderously, and the traps make harsh metallic clangs as they attempt to crush our hero. The dedicated actors keep the movies convincing enough, and the dialogue is also abundantly strewn throughout the missions, making this game far livelier than any other space shooter. The music is the only part that isn't impressive. Total Eclipse's rock tunes would've better fit Solar Eclipse, although that's not to say the music here sucks.

Overall: Excellent

Happily learning from its predecessor, Solar Eclipse blows the senses away with its cool story, thrilling gameplay, great graphics, and awesome sound effects. This forward-scrolling space shooter is pretty much everything Total Eclipse should have been, or, for that matter, what others in the genre should strive to be.