Sol-Feace – 1991 – Review and Longplay

Sol-Feace – A Solid Sega CD Shmup with Slick Style

Sol-Feace is a horizontally scrolling shoot ’em up that hit the Sega CD back in 1992. While it doesn’t drastically innovate the shmup formula, it delivers slick 16-bit style and responsive blasting action.

Story

The story is pretty bare bones – you pilot the Sol-Feace space fighter to stop an evil alien race from conquering the galaxy across 7 action-packed stages. There are brief cutscenes between levels progressing the story, but it’s really just setup for blowing away aliens.

Visuals

Visually, Sol-Feace impresses with detailed sprite work and backgrounds. The Sega CD’s expanded power allows for huge, colorful ships and environments. The alien and mechanical designs have a great hi-tech sci-fi style. It may not match some later Genesis shooters, but still looks great.

Sound

On the audio front, Sol-Feace’s rocking electronic soundtrack packs plenty of punch. The turbocharged music matches the frantic pace of battling swarms of enemies. Sound effects like explosions and beam weapons also lend solid retro impact.

Gameplay

Gameplay-sticking to the fundamentals. You blast swarms of enemies, avoid barrages of bullets, collect power-ups like homing lasers and mega bombs, and take on screen-filling bosses. The controls are smooth and the difficulty curve keeps you on your toes.

While straightforward, Sol-Feace executes the fundamentals well. The levels feature enough gimmicks like maze-like bases and constant environmental hazards to keep the single-player campaign engaging across multiple replays. There’s even a second player co-op mode for doubling the firepower.

Overall, Sol-Feace probably won’t convert shoot ’em up skeptics, but shmup fans will find plenty to like in its fast-paced space blasting. With detailed 16-bit visuals, a rocking soundtrack, and responsive gameplay, Sol-Feace is a slick sci-fi shooter for the Sega CD library. It may stick to genre conventions, but delivers top-notch style and action. Any shmup fan looking for retro shooting thrills should enlist for duty.

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