
	Platform Xbox 360 Genre Shooter Publisher Square-Enix / Microsoft Developer Square-Enix ESRB T (Teen) Released July 10, 2007

- Great cut scenes - Free downloadable content extended the included missions - If you like this genre, this game has you covered

- The gameplay is boring, short, and repetitive - You can’t blow up your friends over Xbox Live - The slowdown shouldn’t be happening in a next-gen game

Review: Marvel Ultimate Alliance (360) Review: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) Review: Secret Weapons Over Normandy (XB)
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Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception

Score: 6.0 / 10

So you finally booted up your old TRS-80 Coco Computer and threw in Silpheed – a great shooter of the day. You were so impressed that you decided to move onto Silpheed: The Lost Planet on the PS2. It was pseudo 3D and had more interesting things to shoot at. If you’ve made it this far, then you can probably survive a slight spelling change in the name and the transition to the Xbox 360.

What we have here now is something that is being called a “cinematic” shooter, not all that different from what Wing Commander was like in the day (although I’d say that game is still better). You take on the role of Katana – a Terran. You fight against the ADAN resistance who are joined together to defeat what they perceive

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- Xbox 360 Game Reviews
- Shooter Game Reviews
- Games Published by Square-Enix

as a Government threat. You fight against them, protecting your own and ultimately destroying their “Death Star” like base.

The missions are held together with some incredible cutscenes. This is when you understand why the name “Square-Enix” is on the box. Although they do not contribute

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to the gameplay, the cinematics are quite beautiful and do flesh out the story.

The missions start out fairly simply, and you are given the choice of difficulty levels which is always nice. The graphics do improve as time goes on and you start to see some nice effects with trails from ships and so on, but at times the screen seems too cluttered and hectic. The frame rate is good most of the time, but when too many ships are on screen it starts to suffer – and that just should not be happening on a next gen game like this one, especially considering the time in which it has been released.

If you can slug through the 16 included missions, more await you via free Xbox Live marketplace downloads – but I would have much preferred to be able to blow up my friends over Xbox Live than just have rankings and downloadable content.

For its genre, Project Sylpheed: Arc of Deception is a decent game. You just have to wonder if this style of game went the way of the TRS-80 and Sega CD – dead but fondly remembered.

- Syd Bolton

(September 13, 2007)

Syd Bolton has been collecting game consoles for over 20 years and has dozens of systems and over 5,000 games. Do you agree or disagree with this review? Make sure you share with us here.