Super Stardust Delta Review

Plenty of titles have enamored, addicted and outright impressed gamers on the PlayStation Network since its inception in 2006. One such game that perhaps personifies those three criteria best is Super Stardust HD. Released exclusively on the PSN by Finnish developer Housemarque in 2007, Super Stardust HD helped to define the incredible potential of downloadable PlayStation games and is widely considered one of the best games on Sony's downloadable service.

Building on that reputation, Housemarque has returned with a vengeance with the launch of the PlayStation Vita. Housemarque tried several years ago to recapture the essence of Super Stardust HD on PSP, and it didn't work out too well. The lack of true dual analog support necessary for twin stick shooters couldn't be found on the PSP hardware. But Housemarque has rectified the situation. Super Stardust Delta is an absolutely superb, appropriately priced addition to this digital franchise. Every PlayStation Vita owner should give it a go.

If you're not familiar with what Super Stardust is all about, let's catch you up. As an arcadey exercise in patience, skill and -- above all else -- high score chasing, Stardust is a twin stick shooter that requires the use of one analog stick to move a spacecraft around a planet's upper atmosphere as the other analog stick is used to blast inert asteroids and aggressive enemies alike. As you move through each planet's five phases, the game's increased difficulty will push your fingers (and your mettle) to the extreme. Enemies become smarter, stronger and more numerous, and asteroids arrive with greater frequency and with greater diversity, forcing you to switch your weapons (fire and ice) on the fly to do the most amount of damage possible.

Super Stardust Delta has only two goals: high score chasing and survival. While each phase over each planet has certain goals related to the killing of enemies and while you will fight rather ingenious boss battles during each planet's fifth phase, those are the only two things you'll likely concern yourself with as you begin to master the game and almost inevitably become addicted to it. Building multipliers to exponentially increase your scoring capabilities, gathering point capsules and building your weapon strength truly becomes an art form.

But the really good news is that Housemarque didn't just stop once it successfully carried the core experience of Super Stardust HD to the PlayStation Vita. Rather, it took the time to iterate on the formula and provide various perks and extras to round the entire package out, advancing Super Stardust Delta to an even higher echelon than the lofty heights Super Stardust HD calls home. And it did so without sacrificing the essence of what makes the formula so fun, instead making all of the extra bells and whistles purely optional.

As you begin a standard game, you'll be asked to start in Pure Mode or Delta Mode. Pure Mode is my preferred way to play, the formula that Super Stardust HD veterans will be familiar with. However, if you want a modified, Vita-centric form of the game, Delta Mode may just be for you. There, the style of the game and your objectives remain identical to Pure Mode, but instead of using your special bomb weapon with the X button, you'll be given two other weapons -- missiles and black holes -- that can be used by tapping the front or back touch pads on the Vita exactly where you want those weapons deployed.

The brilliance in Delta Mode rests with its entirely optional slant. You don't have to play that way, and many purists won't. But this mode works well and is actually pretty fun to mess around with (though it wasn't enough to retain me permanently in lieu of playing in Pure Mode). When you combine Delta Mode with equally optional, unlockable mini-games that also utilize the PlayStation Vita's touch functionality and SixAxis motion controls, what you basically have is icing on a cake that's already quite delicious.

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