Star Horizon

Although Star Horizon could really use some more levels to stretch out its short story, if you are generally OK with on-rail space shooters, this game is generally OK. I can’t say it is great, but it is a good game and should keep your trigger finger happy for a few hours.

Star Horizon is a basic rail shooter that looks fantastic for a Switch indie so it's sure to provide some entertainment for genre fans.

While I appreciate the effort and skill that went into creating a game that throws back to an era that I miss dearly, Star Horizon simply misses the mark. The core of the game - the aiming and shooting - just isn't up to par. Your ship moving at the pace of a mail truck in a crowded neighborhood doesn't help either. While technically competent and somewhat well-written, Star Horizon just doesn't live up to the games it is meant to celebrate, though if there was a Star Horizon 2 on the, um, horizon, I'd sign up for it. The ingredients of greatness are all here, but a sequel with reworked systems could really, really sing.

While this is a semi-competent port for Switch, ultimately Star Horizon's core gameplay is uninteresting and tired, while its mechanics lack polish.

Overall, while Star Horizon isn’t high art, it’s an otherwise interesting little mindless space shooter that gives you enough things to do to be worth a couple hours of diversion.

Star Horizon is a forgettable rail space shooter that fails to live up to the legacy set by other titles in the genre on Nintendo systems. I would honestly avoid this and play Star Fox through a Nintendo Switch Online membership; it’s cheaper, it plays better and you’re less likely to find yourself frustrated.

Star Horizon is a port of an on-rails space shooter mobile game that unfortunately misses the mark. The gameplay is simple enough to get into and not too difficult, but it's fairly bland at the same time. It's alright for a few hours of gaming, but at the time of writing, a game-breaking glitch prevents you from progressing past mission seven.

Star Horizon is a 3D, on rails, space shoot-em-up. You play as John, a pilot, or more accurately the person shooting stuff. Most of the real control is done by the Artificial Intelligence known as Ellie, who will talk to you as you play. Since my name is real life is John, I must say it all felt very personal! There is a war between the Inter Galactic Corporation (The Federation), and the rebels. (This sounds familiar!). You are involved in an accident, whereby you are put into hibernation by the mothership, Ellie, the ships AI, wakes you up years later, and you have no idea where you are or what is going on. As you play, you will quickly learn that this is an on rails shooter, meaning that you go where the AI takes you, and with the exception of some quick time events, whereby you need to choose an option of what to do next, all directional activities are controlled for you. Your job is to shoot stuff. You have a few different types of weapons, as well as a cool roll/dodge manoeuvre. The targeting mechanics aren't the best, but you soon get used to how it all works, and you will quickly find out that accuracy isn't that important. As you destroy enemies, and complete sections, you will earn points, these points can be used in the hangar, between levels, to upgrade your ship. There are just 10 levels, and 3 main bosses to beat. You gain up to 3 stars for completing a level, and you will find that you will need to replay levels over and over to get points to upgrade your ship and weapons, so that you can get strong enough to progress, beat bosses and so on, this does bring some longevity to what would otherwise be a short game. The quick time events which affect the storyline, are a good idea, and give the game some replay options, to see what differences there is, if you had chosen differently, examples of choices are to help friends or ignore them, help a space merchant or fight them. The Good As this is an on rails shooter, it means that the developers have had plenty of time to make the 3D graphics look fantastic, the soundtrack is good, and the AI voice is also quite entertaining. The Bad Only 10 levels, and many people do not like "On Rails" shooters since they do lack the freedom of a regular 3D shooter. Overall A cheap game, that does entertain, and despite its limitations, looks good and plays well. I score Star Horizon on Nintendo Switch a fair 7/10