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ASTRO FLAME: STARFIGHTER
review | SWITCH
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Publisher: Sometimes You.
Developer: Satur Entertainment. Released: August 2023 (Europe). Genre: Vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up. Other versions: PS5; PS4; XSX; PC. Posted 9th February 2026. By Tom Clare © 2026 |
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Astro Flame: Starfighter marks an acceptable if entirely unremarkable slice of shmup action. Mirroring the premise of nearly every entrant in the genre, the player plays a pilot representing the dying remnants of a fighting force, facing insurmountable odds against an enemy on the verge of victory, having established its considerable forces in space. As budget titles go, you could do a lot worse than this solid and intermittently challenging shooter, though its safe gameplay mechanics and underwhelming design stylings mean it struggles to distinguish itself.
Starfighter delivers fifteen action-packed levels. The gameplay is diverting enough, with weighty weapons fire and a decent smattering of enemy ships. Collecting orbs dropped by defeated enemies proves a worthwhile endeavour, as they can be spent on all manner of upgrades and secondary weapons. These include armour and firepower boosts, additional rockets, deployable drones, and protection waves that offer a last-gasp defence in the face of overwhelming onslaughts.
There's a reasonable amount of action, but no personality to Astro Flame's levels
Starfighter effectively measures its challenge. Not everything has to be bullet hell-difficult, after all, and it’s nice to play a shmup that isn’t savagely difficult. There’s still plenty of incoming fire to negotiate, and a boss at the end of each stage, but it’s a little less fraught than we’re often subject to, which is refreshing. Occasionally, you’ll feel the need to revisit earlier levels to collect more orbs and toughen up your ship, but on measure, there aren’t many difficulty spikes. A smattering of levels towards the end provide a slightly more robust challenge, but there are no serious roadblocks. Each level has a simple three-star grading system, rewarding players for their thoroughness, though attaining maximum stars across all of the levels doesn’t appear to offer any particular reward.
It plays okay, but lacks any creative ingenuity or distinctive design characteristics. The levels look generic and very samey, and despite an appreciable increase in the level of activity as the stages tick by, they’re difficult to tell apart on a purely thematic basis. As a consequence, the player never really feels invested in the way they might with Ikaruga or R-Type. The music is forgettable, whilst the firing effects do a serviceable job of filling an otherwise rather sparse soundscape. The controls lack precision, making it difficult to thread between hazards and too easy to blunder into fire with exaggerated, clumsy directional movements.
It plays okay, but lacks any creative ingenuity or distinctive design characteristics. The levels look generic and very samey, and despite an appreciable increase in the level of activity as the stages tick by, they’re difficult to tell apart on a purely thematic basis. As a consequence, the player never really feels invested in the way they might with Ikaruga or R-Type. The music is forgettable, whilst the firing effects do a serviceable job of filling an otherwise rather sparse soundscape. The controls lack precision, making it difficult to thread between hazards and too easy to blunder into fire with exaggerated, clumsy directional movements.
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There’s also the issue of Astro Flame’s presentation and its performance. Once you’ve survived a horribly crunched, juddering opening video, you’re met with some dull, charmless-looking menus. In-game, there’s a curious mix of attractive cosmic background effects, decent 3D ships, and ugly foreground scenery. These comprise an uninteresting mix of crude-looking asteroid chunks and vapid, monochrome space station compartments, which add more to the homogeneity than they do a sense of variety. The game would later be released on other platforms, highlighting a pedestrian frame rate on Switch that results in a markedly less dynamic experience. That being said, it’s a rare instance of the genre accommodating a widescreen aspect ratio, so there’s plenty of space in the field of play.
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It's very difficult to tell the levels apart
If you’re after an accessible, arcade shmup that doesn’t break the bank, then Astro Flame: Starfighter offers a few hours of fun. For undemanding fans wanting some brain-on-hold action, it will tick the right boxes. However, a lack of personality and design creativity means it struggles to stand out from the crowd. As a budget option, it’s not bad, but this mediocre outing is worth investigating only after you’ve exhausted the Switch’s many superior alternatives.
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VERDICT
"An acceptable but artistically visionless shmup. Diverting enough for a couple of hours blasting, there's little here that will linger long in the memory, and plenty of superior alternatives on Switch." OVERALL: 4/10 |
OTHER SHMUP GAMES SET IN SPACE REVIEWED
Gate of Thunder (1992, PC Engine CD)
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Darius Gaiden (1996, Saturn)
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