It is up for debate if this is a good follow up to Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta or not, and I cannot even participate in such. I didn’t play, let alone grew up with those games, despite being a big fan of the genre, I can only speak on how some element of PlatinumGames are implemented in here (formation change tends to be more interesting on paper than it is in practice). But as an overall package, this is way too stuck on its principles, putting it far behind the competitive quality for a modern STG. Not just visually (although readability can be a problem at times) but mainly on a stage design and enemy design standpoint. With incredibly uninteresting attack patterns and mixed quality in boss design.

I don’t even want it to be a bullet hell, but looking at some games that push the genre just as hard without falling into that category released well after the previous cresta games, such as Gradius Gaiden, Salamander 2(horizontal shooting games but you get the idea), Radiant Silvergun, or even indie games like Devil Blade and ZeroRanger, it is a bit saddening to see a game like this, with the audacity of being sold at such high price during launch, while also deliberately and/or arrogantly closing its eyes to any games released after the famicom era OUTSIDE of just PlatinumGames' own titles, which are not even in the same genre. I appreciate the price reduction but even at its current one, it’s a tough sale when even steam itself offers the latter two titles mentioned above for about as much or less, along with many others that are worth checking out over Sol Cresta.

The fact this isn’t even trying to catch up to its peers makes this game at its best, an interesting capsule of ideas, and at its worst, a disheartening shooting game experience. And while it isnt entirely awful, it often ends up falling into the latter category.