The Red Star comic book stands as a solid storyline for a video game and the fact that it contains three playable characters means there’s variety within the gameplay. Although Maya wasn’t available in the E3 demo or the demo I tried today, Kyuzo and Makita came through with different forms of fast-paced melee and shooting action that, for the most part, took place within a side-scrolling perspective. The level itself may have been the same for both characters, but their attributes changed the way I fought against enemies. For example, Kyuzo is the more powerful of the two, but he lacks the speed that Makita demonstrates. Therefore, it’s wise to work with Makita on the first level since she can avoid the devastating blows brought on by the demo’s final boss.

Kyuzo and Makita remain similar in most other respects. Both begin with an entry level melee weapon and gun, can guard against attacks with the X button, and can use protokols every so often. In case you’re wondering, protokol is Red Star speak for magic spell. These spells can be used for maximum damage, but only when at least one block of the spell meter is full. Filling it up requires performing melee attacks on enemies and ends up balancing out the game’s use of melee, gun and magic as a weapon unlike other games in which only one dominates. At the end of each level, players are ranked on technique, speed, power, survival, and secrets then given points in each category. The overall score amount to points that can be used to purchase upgrades for the gun and melee weapons.

More than anything, Red Star reminds me of the Contra series, only with a melee weapon and a more 3D look. This helps bring the comic to life with a lot of detail that wouldn’t be so compelling in a completely 2D side-scrolling title. During some of the boss battles, the camera does shift overhead and loses some of this fine detail, but it’s done for gameplay purposes and works quite well when you’re up against a giant machine or robot. Such bosses bear massive firepower that amounts to a laser light show and causes a whole lot of pain in the process. Although smaller enemies aren’t as powerful, they look just as cool and can be destroyed with even cooler animation. Kyuzo and his melee weapon really sock it to them hard and sometimes spear the enemies, then toss them into other advancing troops. Makita isn’t able to perform such feats of strength, but her character model really sets the tone of alternative Russia as she wears a Soviet-style winter hat.

Another aspect of The Red Star that resembles a Contra game is that there’s a co-op mode that brings two-players into the game. Players are able to take on bosses at the same time and serve up some combined moves to the many enemies in the game. Although you won’t be missing anything by playing alone, it’s definitely nice to be able to work through the game with a friend. Maybe then, Russia won’t seem as bleak as it is so often described.