E3 2012 Hands-on: Schar: Blue Shield Alliance (XBLA) - Preview
by Gordon Bryant , posted on 05 June 2012 / 2,619 Views
In the distant future, Humanity has expanded beyond our own world and has begun colonizing planets beyond even our own solar system. While our intentions were pure for once, the material we've been using to expand ends up being incredibly damaging to the first alien race we come in contact with, which they interpret as hostility. Instantly, they launch a full-scale attack on the human race, and it's up to you to defend us by recovering salvage and ensuring our planetary shield generators are protected from the alien menace!
Such is the story of Schar: Blue Shield Alliance, a twin stick shooter set to release on XBL and eventually the PC. Not only is this a twin stick shooter, but it's a 4-player co-op twin stick shooter, with distinct character classes, strengths, weaknesses, and RPG-styled upgrades to purchase as the game progresses. The game takes place entirely in space, and revolves around the collection of the game's currency, known as Salvage.
There are three modes available in the game: story, arcade, and survival. The story mode has 36 objective-based levels centred around defending your allies, defending your shield generators, or escorting a transport ship to a safe zone. Of the levels I played, they all ended up somewhere between 2-5 minutes long, depending on how many waves were played and how many enemies were in each wave. As you kill enemies, they drop salvage, which you collect and use to heal your allies and the shield generators, and as your currency, making the game as much about resource management as it is about shooting enemy ships. At the end of each level you distribute your salvage amongst all co-op players to allow them to upgrade their ship in the various categories such as speed, acceleration, manoeuvrability, shot power, shot speed, and all your other stats and resources such as special attacks.
Each of the different ships have their own set of stats and abilities, which you can improve with the help of salvage. One ship has a massive cargo hold and high defense, while another is more about speed and firepower. The available ships all compliment one another in such a way that lends itself to co-op very well, meaning the game is obviously best played with friends. As you take on more salvage, your ship moves slower and more sluggishly until you're completely held down, requiring you drop it to continue.
The controls are simple enough; the left stick moves your ship while your right stick shoots. The movement and shooting seem slow and sluggish at first, but that's where the RPG elements come into play, increasing your stats to make the game run much smoother as you progress. The B and Y buttons are used to launch your special attacks, which could be homing missiles, turrets, healing drones, or mines (each ship has their own set of two), and the shoulder buttons are for managing your salvage and scanning the level for allies and enemies. The other two modes are arcade and survival, and both are exactly what they sound like: score-based gameplay to see who can survive the longest or acquire the most salvage.
For a cheap 160 MSP game ($2), there looks to be a lot of content and just enough variety to really make the game stick out. The different ship classes, lengthy campaign, and various modes give a hefty bang for your buck, and while it could have gotten away with incredibly simplistic graphics, the dynamic lighting makes for a damn fine looking budget title. Another thing I found particularly entertaining was how all the mission titles, stat descriptors, and level names were all puns or otherwise cutely named. Lots of heart in this title, and I'm sure once it comes out, you'll all agree. The game does still need some tweaks, such as proper leaderboard integration, but it certainly will be taken care of before release.
Schar: Blue Shield Alliance will be releasing soon for the XBL, and hopefully on various PC stores soon after.
