Starwhals Game

When offered to chance to review a game that features crazy neon design and futuristic space narwhals, does one even have a chance to say “no?” I don’t think so, and that means I’m here with a review for you.

I'm not really sure how to explain Starwhal: Just the Tip. It's a local multiplayer game where you are a narwhal in space, stabbing other narwhals in the heart. Ok, yep, that explains it perfectly.

Starwhal is a competitive multiplayer game that gives players a narwhal with a giant heart on its chest. You customize your creature and drop into a 2-4 player battlefield.

In the standard mode, each Starwhal has a set number of hits in its life. The spears on your heads are weapons, and the giant hearts on your chests are your weak points. As you swim about the arenas and slide and roll along the walls, your opponents will try to spear your heart. One touch means a hit point is lost and you’re that much closer to death.

Kill all your enemies, in the standard mode, and you win. The whole game is really easy to learn, and most player can pick it up and understand how to play within seconds. Survive, crazy future creature, survive.

Solo is No Go

Cutting straight to the chase here, whether or not you will enjoy Starwhal boils down to whether or not you have other players and controllers at your disposal. This is a local multiplayer game in the purest sense, and those looking for a mostly single-player affair won’t find it here.

Now, the developers have gone through the process of adding single-player challenges and a pretty decent AI for versus mode when swimming solo; however, you won’t get very far on these. The challenges are essentially single room activities, where you may swim towards an objective while dodging walls and obstacles in order to score the best time. They’re good for a few trophies, the challenges, but they don’t amount to much fun after about 30 minutes of play.

I don’t want to slam the game or the developers on this. They’ve been up front about how locally competitive this game should be. It was meant to be played in groups, and it passes that standard with flying colors. Solo? No. They’ve made the effort of including the padding, but it never amounts to much more than a quick distraction. It will make you desperate for friends.

As great as Starwhal is in groups, it’s not much fun when alone.

Multiplayer is Bliss

With all of that out of the way and said, we can get to exactly why this game works so well in groups. Starwhal is hard. The heart on your character’s chest is both hard for others to hit and hard for you to defend.

When playing with friends, things get exceptionally loud. You’ll yell at one another as you dodge insane spear attempts, and you’ll roll over one another as the camera slows down in order to emphasis just how close you were to losing a heart.

That couples with the pounding tunes, the neon-soaked presentation and the absolutely ridiculous costumes in order to make this a party game that I put alongside the likes of Samurai Gunn, another house favorite between my friends.

It’s fast, it’s energetic, it’s ridiculous and it’s actually challenging. One or two players in your group might figure out a few tricks that makes them a little better than the others, and that only ramps up how much fun the game gets when you have a dominating Starwhal with three others working together and aiming for their hearts.

Here, Have Some Diversity

To make that multiplayer effort even better, Breakfall really did a nice job coming up with costumes, modes and arenas to diversify your evening of couch-based competitive play.

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There feels like a zillion different colors, head and chest pieces to slap on your character. They’re all downright ridiculous, and they’ll give you a sense of independence as you’re spearing your friends in play.

Then there are the four separate modes, each bringing a unique twist to what would otherwise be a bit too simple. I like the classic versus mode, but the zone holding and score attack stuff breaks up the action enough to keep people playing.

Then there are the 25 arenas. These aren’t just boxes to battle in with different colors in backgrounds. Instead, they might feature uniquely shaped walls that make defending harder or easier, or, and this is my favorite, they’ll sport bounce pads that send your Starwhal flying when contact is made. I liked that latter bit because mastering it made me a lot harder to kill in battle.

Like I said, the single-player stuff here isn’t compelling enough to make Starwhal something worth buying if you only game alone. However, Starwhal stands as another really great entry in the recent wave of fantastic local multiplayer offerings. I mentioned Samurai Gunn before because it’s always in demand when my gaming buddies come over. I see the same happening for Starwhal.

If you game in groups, pull the trigger on this one. It’s absolutely nuts, but it’s easy learning curve, wealth of content and humor make Starwhal a blast for group play.

A review code for Stawhal was provided by the publisherfor the PlayStation 4. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy here.

As we’ve said before, there is currently a very enjoyable resurgence of games that heavily feature local multiplayer. Games like #IDARB, Super Smash Bros., and Nidhogg have come along and brought gamers back together in the same room to beat the crap out of each other. Starwhal: Just the Tip, by indie developer Breakfall, was right out in front of this wave of nostalgic multiplayer fun with its PC release last year. Now it is available on the PlayStation, bringing its unique brand of chaotic action to the living room, where it really belongs. With a few changes for the console release, Starwhal holds up well in the more competitive marketplace, making for a worthy addition to your party game lineup.Starwhal is not the kind of game that takes itself too seriously, in fact it largely does the exact opposite throughout every facet of the title.

You and up to three friends control a starwhal, which is essentially just a narwhal that flies through space. In most of the gamemodes you will be trying to use your horn to stab the heart of your opponents. Others have you hitting targets and navigiating maze-like levels, but the core of the game is to get four starwhals into one arena, flopping around, and trying to stab each other in the heart. This basic setup is used to great effect thanks to the aforementioned lack of seriousness that permeates the entirety of Starwhal. Something about watching giant whales fly through space as they flail around wildly just never gets old.

Having your friends around enhances the experience greatly, creating a game that will fill the room with laughs for hours on end. At the core of the game is the control scheme, which many will find frustrating, but ultimately creates the fun that will keep you coming back to Starwhal whenever you need a quick bout of gaming action.

Starwhal is not the kind of game that takes itself seriously, in fact it largely does the exact opposite throughout every facet of the titleAs you control your starwhal you can propel them forward and move the horn up and down causing your character to flop around. This is it as far as control options go. You’ll miss your mark, you’ll fly in the wrong direction, you’ll even slam yourself right on top of the horn of your opponent. Strategy and accuracy are not the point here though, the point is to simply have fun. And you will, if you’re able to disregard your more competitive nature and just enjoy the game. For those seeking to actually test their skills there are the Challenges. 32 different levels full of obstacles and other navigational hazards are available.

Each one has a leaderboard that tracks your best time, allowing for some competition between friends, or with other players online. Finishing these levels won’t take you too long though, maybe an hour or two, but getting good at them and earning all of the top medals will require a lot of dedication. Still, more challenge levels would have definitely alleviated the feeling that Starwhal is a bit anemic in content for those that are seeking a more solitary affair. Most of your time in Starhwal will be spent in the standard multiplayer arena though, and here is where the game truly shines. Featuring four different modes to choose from, and over 25 arenas to do battle in, the versus mode will dominate your play time, and for good reason. Getting all four players together and battling it out is really the point of playing Starwhal, and the fun found in this mode will be what brings you back time and time again.Each of those times can be a little different too, thanks to the many customization options in the game. Choice is a major selling point in Starhwal.

If you get tired of the standard survival mode then switch it up and try Starwhal’s versions of capture the flag, deathmatch, or territories. You can also customize your individual starwhal in tons of different ways.

Are you a fan of T-Rexes and sushi? Wizards and bears?

Combine them all together to make your perfect avatar as you fly through space, stabbing your friends in the heart.The art style and music also elevates the game above what it otherwise could have been. There is a definite eighties vibe throughout Starwhal, with its cyber arenas and neon color scheme. Strike force heroes. Running at 1080p and 60 fps (30 fps on PS3) certainly helps keep the action fluid and easy to track, despite the frenetic way it all plays out. The techno soundtrack thumping in the background augments the overall feel of the game well, creating a retro style that is easy to appreciate. Little elements are sprinkled throughout Starwhal that serve to enhance both the chaos and the fun. One of the best parts of the four player battles is that time will slow down whenever a player is close to stabbing another. This allows the attacking player to make small adjustments for their strike, while letting the defender try to dodge out of the way, all while putting focus on the action, which otherwise would get lost in the mayhem.The only real problem with Starwhal is that it focuses so heavily on the couch multiplayer experience.

Without a doubt, having four friends together all playing at the same time is ideal, but some consideration should have been made for those that simply can’t get that type of set up. Aside from the leaderboards for the challenge modes, there is no online element of Starwhal. The only way to play the versus mode without some friends in the same room is to play against AI opponents. These do a serviceable job of playing the game and keeping it fun, but it’s never the same as facing off against real people. The VerdictStarwhal is yet another great addition to the local, couch multiplayer genre.

The action is appropriately hectic and fun, while keeping the game light-hearted. Players that just want to load up a game, play against their friends, and not really worry about strategy or tactics will thoroughly enjoy Starwhal. However, if you can’t get four people to sit down in the same room for a few hours, or simply prefer a solo experience then Starwhal might not be for you.