The Red Star actually released

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We hold long-awaited arcade 'em-up in our hands - in other news, Hell just froze over

We get a lot of mail here at the GamesRadar offices. Games, contest entries, press materials by the yak-load, the latest pile of scrawlings calling us biased for one article or another... all sorts of things, arriving in volumes that can give the mailman a career-threatening backache. But we've rarely had such a satisfying delivery as the one we received today, in an average, unassuming padded envelope: a final copy of The Red Star for PlayStation 2, courtesy of EBgames.com.

What's that? You've never heard of The Red Star? Small wonder. Based on an excellent but under-known comic series, it was originally scheduled to arrive courtesy of publisher Acclaim - one of that company's few solid titles - clear back in 2004. When Acclaim died, this was the one game that needed to survive. But, given a severely old-school gameplay style that literally merged side-scrolling pummelings with top-down blasteration, it seemed unlikely that the game would find a home in this modern era of crime shooters and movie knock-offs.

April 25, 2007

What's that? You've never heard of The Red Star? Small wonder. Based on an excellent but under-known comic series, it was originally scheduled to arrive courtesy of publisher Acclaim - one of that company's few solid titles - clear back in 2004. When Acclaim died, this was the one game that needed to survive. But, given a severely old-school gameplay style that literally merged side-scrolling pummelings with top-down blasteration, it seemed unlikely that the game would find a home in this modern era of crime shooters and movie knock-offs.

Over the years, The Red Star has become almost mythical. Rumors constantly swirled that it could return, but nothing was concrete, and even when the game reappeared on retail websites, we remained skeptical over publisher XS' ability to bring it to market.

Thankfully, we were wrong. The long, soap-opera story is over and the PS2 version of The Red Star has officially hit store shelves once and for all. And we're thrilled. Now, feast your eyes on the niche-tastic explodagation below. It's heartwarming, isn't it?

April 25, 2007

Eric Bratcher
Eric Bratcher
I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.