Sol-Feace
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| Sol-Feace / Sol-Deace | |
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| Developer(s) | Wolf Team |
| Publisher(s) | Wolf Team (Japan) Sega (US; Sega CD) Renovation Products (US; Genesis) |
| Designer(s) | Motoi Sakuraba (music) |
| Platform(s) | Sharp X68000 (Japan) Sega Mega-CD/Sega CD Sega Genesis (US) |
| Release date | 1990 (X68000) 1991 (Sega CD / Mega-CD) 1992 (Genesis) |
| Genre(s) | Horizontal scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Floppy disk (X68000) CD-ROM (Sega CD / Mega-CD) 8-megabit cartridge (Genesis) |
Sol-Feace is a shoot 'em up released by Wolf Team. It was first released for the Sharp X68000 in Japan in 1990. It was later ported in 1991 to the Sega Mega-CD, with rearranged Redbook music. This version was available as a pack-in with the Sega CD when it was first released in the US. In 1992, the Sega CD version of Sol-Feace was ported to cartridge and released for the Sega Genesis in the US by Renovation Products as Sol-Deace.
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[edit] Story
In the year 3300, human technology advances drastically when a super computer known as GCS-WT is created after an AI circuit is developed and utilized. GCS-WT's purpose was to ultimately unify every human society using the power of diplomacy, but GCS-WT has other plans: rather than unify mankind, GCS-WT turns societies into a dystopia after becoming an all-powerful dictator who controls all military action as it sees fit and oppressess mankind of various liberties; anyone who spoke against GCS-WT's will did not live very long.
Only one man was the most successful in running a campaign against GCS-WT: a scientist known as Edwin Feace. Feace had fled SOL completely and stationed himself near a recently discovered planet dubbed Cilius that awaited colonization. It was there that Feace secretly established a resistance group against GCS-WT and developed a multi-directional, dual-occupant space fighter called the Sol-Feace. The Sol-Feace was Edwin's plan to use against the GCS-WT and any who fell under its militaristic order in hopes of releasing human suppression. However, Edwin was assassinated under GCS-WT's command before the ship could be mass produced in a violent manhunt in space. Two survivors escaped the destruction that followed Edwin:
- Eric Williams - A young pilot prodigy who was selected by Edwin to control the Sol-Feace and to organise its armaments.
- Misao Hatanaka - The cannon-gunner of the Sol-Feace, Misao is a weapons engineer who, with her knowledge in computers, contributed to the Sol-Feace project.
Together, the two go on to continue Edwin's mission: pilot the Sol-Feace and destroy GCS-WT.
[edit] Gameplay
Players pilot the Sol-Feace in a fight against strategic enemy fighters. Players use a dual cannon pick-up weapon that can fire shots in diagonal angles. The cannons can be positioned to fire straight or diagonally only when the ship is not firing its weapons and can fire different shots depending on the weapon.
Weapon power-ups include the following:
- Blaster - Standard vulcan type weapon.
- Wide Blaster - Bi-directional weapon that can fire from the top or bottom of the ship under each cannon.
- Melt ray - Laser weapon, fires long beams of semi-powerful lasers.
- Burn Bullet - A stream of rocket-fire that explodes on impact and can spread partially behind the ship against ground forces as the shots bow outward when fired. Obviously, the strongest weapon in the game, but not entirely the fastest.
[edit] Levels
The levels of Sol-Feace take the players across two galaxies on various seek and destroy missions.
- Level 1: Sirius - The largest colony of humans was set here, but GCS-WT's order left the vastly populated colony a cloud of metallic parts floating adrift in space.
- Level 2: Sirius Moon Weapon Facility - Simply put, a large weapon facility used by GCS-WT.
- Level 3: Artificial Sun - A sun made entirely by GCS-WT for an unknown purpose.
- Level 4: Microcosm P-1 - An unused cruise ship that was thrown into battle once Sol-Feace continued its strikes.
- Level 5: A Station on Pluto - A supposedly weak space station that's under construction set near Pluto.
- Level 6: The Moon Amalthea - The strongest base developed under GCS-WT's rule set on Amalthea (moon) as the primary defense against any outside forces (in this case, the Sol-Feace).
- Level 7: Earth - an unknown location in which GCS-WT is stationed.
[edit] Versions
The game is nearly the same in all versions, with some minor differences:
- The Mega-CD/Sega CD version has redbook audio, the others are synthesized.
- The X68000 version has better detailed backgrounds.
- The Mega-CD/Sega CD and Genesis versions suffer from occasional flicker and slowdown.
- The Mega-CD/Sega CD and X68000 versions have an animated intro, absent from the Genesis version.
- The Mega-CD/Sega CD version features a new ending sequence, different from the X68000 and Genesis versions (which share the same ending).
- The Japanese Mega-CD version features different sound cues, which were absent from the US Sega CD version.
[edit] Trivia
- The music was composed mostly by Motoi Sakuraba.
