Starmada

March 27, 2012

Platform: Flash

Categories: action, arcade, browser, bullethell, flash, free, game, linux, mac, rating-g, scifi, shooter, upgrades, vibe13, windows, xoo

By Dora | add to favorites | Comments (6)

Dora Sometimes, all you really want is a little of that boom-boom-POW, and when that craving strikes, a arcade shooter like vibe 13 and xoo's Starmada is just what the doctor ordered. Use the mouse or keyboard controls to aim and fire your starship against incoming hordes of enemies, snagging cash to spend on upgrades, and weaving your way through a series of progressively more intense levels that approach bullet hell heights of ridiculousness. Combining classic gameplay and slick visuals for a familiar but addictive experience, Starmada doesn't really provide anything original, but fans of the genre will both be glad to have it, and relieved developers haven't yet found a way to demand quarters from you over your web browser. With frantic, enemy-packed levels and big bosses, Starmada has just what you need to cure those mid-morning "gotta blow something up" blues. MAKE YOUR TIME.

Play Starmada

Currently 4.1/5
1
2
3
4
5

Rating: 4.1/5 (48 votes cast)

6 Comments

I think this would be an excellent game if it would stop lagging on me. (Flash storage is already set to unlimited, for the record)

Posted by:

Xindaris | March 27, 2012 10:52 AM

Not my normal type of game at all, but loving this for some reason. Maybe just the need to blow something out of the sky :)

Posted by:

yaddab | March 27, 2012 5:30 PM

Well, oddly enough it seems to work for me now. Very nice game; I'm a little confused about how lives work from one level to the next, but otherwise it's a lot of fun blowing things up.

Posted by:

Xindaris | March 28, 2012 3:42 PM

Oh squee. <3 This has everything that made the original Starmageddon so fun and satisfying (e.g. piñata bosses that erupt with treasure), plus some nice improvements (score multipliers don't look like enemy bullets anymore).

Gotta love the tutorial text, too.

@Xindaris: I think lives accumulate from one level to the next. It's kind of easy to lose them without noticing; your ship just turns red for a few seconds and keeps going.

Posted by:

Aja | March 29, 2012 9:18 AM

I'm maxed out on all my upgrades but still can't get through level 8. It would be nice if there was a store where I could buy lives since at this point my money is useless. Going into the higher level battles with 15 or 20 lives would be preferable to the 3 that you get that can get wiped out pretty quickly since extra lives do not drop with any kind of regularity.

Posted by:

Rich W | March 29, 2012 10:05 AM

@Rich W

I found that the trick to accumulating lives is to be very aggressive. Since you can only get lives by killing enemies, you need to kill a lot of enemies.

One thing that really helps is shields. When ever you get a shield you should immediately put yourself into the thick of things where you can kill the maximum amount of enemies. Not only will you increase the chance of getting extra lives, but you will also increase your chance of getting extra shields (and thus continuing the streak).

I notice that when I hit a good streak I'll finish the level with +5 additional lives, +100 multiplier, and pretty much every achievement all in one level.

I was able to easily beat the final boss when I had 9 lives standing by (and I'm not great at bullet hell so I actually lost quite a few against him).

Posted by:

spaceloaf | March 29, 2012 8:16 PM

Update