Unafraid to mix things up considerably, Psikyo’s established shmup formula was thrown out the window for this game, leaving many fans baffled when first introduced to it back in 1997. Loathed by many, but still revered by some, SOL DIVIDE -Sword Of Darkness- is now making a comeback in 2018 on Nintendo Switch. So is it a worthwhile addition to your ever-growing digital Switch arcade library?
Don’t be fooled by the looks: this is not a shmup… for the most part at least. Yes, you do freely fly around the screen, you do have a projectile fire button and you can even dispatch a few of the smaller enemies with it, but the main focus of the game is all about getting in close, unleashing melee combos to fill up your magic meter and managing a variety of spells to properly survive the boss fights. Since you're also able to ‘level up’ your characters by expanding their total HP bar, it won't shock you to learn Sol Divide is a mix of traditional side-scrolling shmup antics, fighting game brawling and light RPG elements, resulting in a rather unique blend indeed.
All is not well in the land of Shamain. Emperor Ifter has gone power mad and declared war on all neighbouring nations, naturally bringing destruction to the homeland of the three playable characters. First there's Kashon, the Prince of Neraphai and the hawk-people - he might not have very strong projectiles, but makes up for it by packing the biggest punches from the playable roster. Then there's Tyora, a Wizard from Rangforce and Guardian of its temple. She has the weakest/fastest melee attacks, but more than makes up for that with very strong magic projectiles. Last, but certainly not least, is the betrayed Knight of Silverna, Vorg - he's mister average on all stats, but he is the only one not fighting to save the land (opting instead for a personal vendetta against Ifter). Quite a lot of lore to digest right there, something not expected (but welcomed) from a Psikyo arcade game.
Gameplay-wise, Sol Divide plays similar to a regular horizontal scrolling shmup. You have an attack button for projectiles and another for melee attacks. Combos are done by repeatedly hitting the melee attack button and a direction. Pressing both attack buttons (or the extra button enabled by Zerodiv’s emulation wrapper) casts a spell. There are eight different spells you can learn throughout your quest: 'Fire', 'Freeze', 'Thunder', 'Meteor', 'Slow', 'Wind' and 'Fire Body'. There is one extra character-exclusive spell ('Phoenix' for Kashon, 'Summon' for Tyora and 'Nightmare' for Vorg) making for a total of 11 distinct ways to wreak havoc on the screen. Spells cost mana to cast (the second bar below your HP one), you can refill it by way of melee attacks or pickups from fallen enemies. You can quickly use ‘L’ and ‘R’ to select the spells from a list on top of the screen, an improvement over the original arcade single button cycling and a legacy of the PlayStation/Saturn home ports.
The art style is yet another departure for Psikyo: The entire game is presented with CGI pre-rendered models turned into sprites and backgrounds (think Donkey Kong Country) and is yet again another dividing factor for Psikyo fans. Some will stand that the classics sprite work will always look superior, while others would enjoy the then state-of-the-art looks of the game. It is true that this style loses some of the iconic colours and brightness of the 16-bit era games, but it certainly doesn't look bad or ill-suited for the whole fantasy setting. Music is suitably epic enough. Levels are short affairs, with a few smaller enemies popping up mostly so you can grab some power-ups followed by a formation of enemies that must be dealt with via melee strikes. End of level bosses take up a big chunk of the screen, are insanely hard and certainly provide some memorable battles. Unique prologue levels and branching paths offer replay value and playing it along with a like-minded friend will improve the whole experience.
Zerodiv’s emulation wrapper is once again on par with HAMSTER’s offering with plenty of customisation options such as different filters, as well as freely enabling you to further personalise the experience by messing about with the original arcade DIP switches. As such you can make the game as easy or as hard as you desire, but be warned: even with infinite continues, restarting will take you back to the beginning of the current stage, removing all your collected items and giving you a stats penalty. It's there to ensure you don’t keep on inserting virtual tokens, but you do get to keep your current level. This one packs a challenge if you ever want to see it through to the end.
Conclusion
Sol Divide tricks you into believing this is yet another Psikyo shmup, but it turns out to be something refreshingly different. The developer took this one in a unique direction that makes it stand out from the rest of its library, so you'll either love it or hate it, just like fans when it was originally released. It certainly isn’t the very best offering from the company, but it still manages to do what it does with the usual Psikyo flair. At the end of the day, why wouldn’t you want to have another digital arcade option on your Switch where you get to fight a giant two-headed snake while a Star Wars-style Sandcrawler stands tall on the background? If you want a unique offering from a revered Japanese developer, look no further.
Comments 21
I'm torn on this one. It looks great but some of the technical stuff seems less appealing.
@JHDK I will stand by it. If you have exhausted all of the available Piskyo games on Switch, consider this one. But be warned, the best Psikyo game of this genre is coming this week...
I don't consider myself someone who relies on visual appeal to enjoy a game, however I absolutely hate the look of this one enough to make me not want to play it... I hope everyone who downloads it enjoys though, as it's certainly unique
I really love this game, but i can definitely understand why it's so controversial... or should i say divisive?
Anyway, the sandcrawlers in the background are the second Star Wars reference in a Psikyo game after the X-Wing in Samurai Aces, i wonder if there are more.
Talking of sandcrawlers, i'm still baffled how NintendoLife managed not to mention them, or Jawas, or Star Wars in their Of Mice and Sand -Revised- review.
@Shiryu Another great review mate
Fully agree with the score but I'm not sure if I like it or not yet. I'm finding the enemy attacks really difficult to avoid but of course with some practice and remembering the attack patterns I'll get better. Then I'll be able to form a better opinion. Really glad I own it though, it's something different and the theme of the game is great.
Only put a 1/2 hour into it but so far 👍👍
Played it a little and it's ok. Turns out I was playing it wrong as I was playing it as a shmup and barely using melee attacks. I'm also not a big fan of boss rushes with no checkpoints. Maybe if I give it more time I'll appreciate it more but as it is there are many side scrolling shooters/action games on Switch that I like better.
Prerendered games of the era are precious to me. A creative hardware workaround for more detailed graphics. Love it.
@Shiryu The Shmup man strikes again with a brilliant review!
I tried to reach out to Degica and Pyramid (to no avail, for i am but a humble mortal) because oh man, they could really put their Taito/Cave licenses to work on the system...
And i'd give a leg or two for a portable Crimzon Clover T.T
Oh well...a man can dream...
I have a question that I can't seem to find an answer for on any gaming websites: when a game has CGI sprites like this one, wouldn't it be conceivable to remaster the game in high definition using the original CGI models? In other words, going to the source models and using them as actual objects in the game. It always seemed to me that a game like this, or a major classic like DKC, could conceivably be remastered into a fully 3D side-scroller, where the objects actually have depth as they pass you by. The models might need to be patched up a bit (some of them may not be fully built, for example) and they'd still have to exist on a hard drive somewhere, but it seems completely doable. What you'd end up with is a totally HD version of the game with the original artwork completely intact.
Does anyone know of a remaster that's done this, or one that may be in the works? I'm talking mostly about games from the SNES/Genesis era, rather than PS2 or Gamecube games being uprezzed.
@BoilerBroJoe While it would certainly be possible, i doubt that these models exist anymore and/or are still usable by modern software standards.
And since they have been converted into sprites for the game itself, there is no "proper" upscaling to that.
Also, its mostly "pre-rendered CGI", which differs from stuff you actually use in-game. For instance, most render models have different "bone" structures (Bones = Joints, dedicated limbs etc).
So they would need to be tinkered with anyways.
All in all, it would be much more efficient to do everything from scratch. Getting those old models that weren't meant to be used in-game rigged up would be a real hassle i imagine.
Bottom line: Technically, it would be possible, but i reckon no one would care to get it to run and that's IF the source models still exist AND are still usable.
Zerodiv keeps pumping these out and I keep buying. So far it has been a good relationship.
This game seem to be really interesting but I really hate this kind of graphics, pre-rendered fake 3D sprites are ugly. If there was good pixel art instead I'd probably already have bought it. Sad.
Another reviewer absolutely slammed it... But it's possible that they didn't really "get" the melee combo thing. It looks interesting and I was considering it. I've not bought any of the various shmups for my Switch yet.
@SmaggTheSmug Again this was at the time of release a divisive title and will continue to be because it is such a radical departure from the Psikyo norm. For that alone I consider it a worthy addition to the Switch arcade library.
@Einherjar
I think the most important shmup publisher/developer that needs to be dragged to the Switch righ now is M2STG:
https://twitter.com/M2_STG
I don't remember Degica releasing stuff on home consoles, so as much as i'd love to see the stuff they have on Steam on the Switch, i'm not sure if approaching them directly will lead to anything. (And yes, Crimzon Clover is amazing.)
@EmirParkreiner Well, i certainly did not get any answers from them.
And M2STG are the ones who did the PS4 Garegga rerelease right?
But in all fairness, the more the merrier ^^
Degica/Pyramid came to mind solely for Darius Burst. It already has console/Vita version, so it shouldn't be wizardry to get it on Switch as well. Fingers crossed!
7 out of 10 for Sol Divide is a hot take. It is ... not a good game. One of Psikyo's worst--it's definitely the worst of the ones Zero.Div has released. It's still fine, and at 8 dollars, only you can decide if it's worth it (I probably paid like $30 for my Saturn copy).
@Shiryu
That's 10 total spells rather than 11. Only 7 spells were listed in the first group.
Great review though. I came back to it since it's currently on sale.
@Thomystic ah, my bad then.
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