Gamescom 2011: Strike Suit Zero Hands On

Developer/Publisher: doublesix / Platforms: XBLA, PSN

Some might say that the space flight genre is dead. It’s not dead. It’s simply been hibernating, waiting for the right moment to emerge again into popular consciousness. After 2007’s excellent Project Sylpheed, there’s been a dire silence, but at Gamescom this year, doublesix, the developers behind the PSN hit Burn Zombie Burn! gave us a very early look at their new space flight project Strike Suit Zero.

And it is awesome.

The basic premise goes something like this: the Earth is under attack and you, Strike Suit pilot extraordinaire, have three hours to save it. Once you start playing, a three hour timer will continuously run as you play, ticking away humanity’s place in the universe. Essentially, the game is meant to be played through quickly, unlock new and better ships, and played through again, taking advantage of the branching campaign missions.

Thankfully, Strike Suits are mobile, versatile combat craft that can transform from a traditional space fighter into an extremely powerful mech. In flight form, the game plays very much like your typical space shooter; in mech form, it’s like a zero-G third-person shooter (Strike Suit mode brought back fond memories of Omega Boost on the PS1, personally).

Enemy fighters and capital cruisers jumped into the battlefield as I was tasked with protecting my own ships from their attacks. Taking out the enemy capital ship guns was the first step in that defense, followed by blowing their reactors, and then cleaning up the small fries.

This entire experience was set against the visually stunning backdrop of Strike Suit Zero’s interpretation of Earth and the cosmos, which featured brightly colored nebulae, the massive rim of Earth taking up your view, and an epic sunset. But the best part? If you flew towards the planet, it got bigger as you got closer. A very nice touch that gave the battlefield a spatial recognition that is sometimes forgotten by other games in the genre.

The controls, audio, and weapons weren’t yet final (the game is still pre-alpha), but it was still a blast, even in this early form.

The dev team looked at fan-favorite titles from the past for inspiration, including the branching mission structure from Starfox 64, the music from Homeworld (Homeworld composer Paul Ruskay is even doing the music for SSZ), and the genre tropes from a multitude of others. Japanese mech designer Junji Okubo, the man behind the original Steel Battalion, is composing the Strike Suit designs. This is clearly a labor of love by fans of space shooters, and it shows.

The game is currently scheduled for a Q1 2012 release on XBLA and PSN (and the team eventually hopes to have a Steam version, too). If all goes according to plan, this will be a day one purchase for sure; it’s easily one of the best and most surprising games I’ve seen at the show.

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