With the Neo Geo being home to a fair few decent shooters, this game stands
out as being one of the best. You actually need to use skill to get through each
level, unlike games such as Zed Blade, where you just hold the fire button down
and hope for the best. The game may be uncompromisingly tough, but if you
memorise the set attack patterns (which are basically the same each time) you
can progress through each level using pure skill (well, maybe a little luck
sometimes :-)
The only problem really is that when you die you lose most of your weapons,
but you can usually pick some more up quite quickly. Luckily it doesn't put you
back too far in the level either if you bite the bullet. You may also notice the
similarities between this and the R-Type games. Yes, it is true that they are
similar (for instance the shield that you have on the front of the craft and
some of the levels look very familiar!), but don't let that fool you into
thinking that this is just a cheap rip off. Most shoot 'em ups play in a similar
way to each other, so it doesn't really matter too much.
Graphically, Pulstar is very good. I think the only shooter that surpasses
this game on the Neo Geo is the semi-sequel sequel Blazing Star. OK, admittedly
there is Metal Slug, but that is a different style of game). There is a lot of
great detail on the many different crafts, and the backgrounds look very good,
with a lot of variation between them. There are some nice little animation
details on the craft too, and the bosses are nicely animated and very well
thought out. The sound is also of the same high quality, and you blast through
each stage with very good music in the background (one of my favourite Neo
soundtracks actually), which suits the game perfectly. The sound effects are
cool too? nice explosions etc.