I‘ve seen people talking about this old-school 2D shmup named Star Fighter for a while now, and I finally decided to check it out for myself.

Before I get too deep into this, I must inform you that this game has nothing to do with the movie The Last Starfighter. I was under that impression when I first tried it myself, but I quickly realized it is unrelated to the movie.

Star Fighter is what I had expected, and somehow not. It’s certainly no Ikaruga. Still, I found myself playing it solid for about 45 minutes.

I have to say that what stopped me from playing it longer was the fact that there was no sound. It left me wondering if Star Fighter is a work-in-progress or the final product. Nevertheless, in its current state this is a lot of old-school fun; but it really needs sound effects. I hope it gets an update and that the author goes for some retro-sounding audio for the game.

I can still recommend you check it out if you haven’t yet. Sure, it’s not going to win prizes for graphics, and it is missing sound altogether… yet somehow it is quite fun to play.