n.

1. A rhizomatous dioecious herb (Chamaelirium luteum) in the lily family, having long racemes of small flowers. Also called devil's bit.
2. Any of various North American plants of the genus Liatris in the composite family, having small discoid flower heads grouped in a dense raceme or panicle. Also called button snakeroot, gay feather.
3. A biennial plant (Mentzelia laevicaulis) of western North America, having large, star-shaped, pale-yellow flowers.

---

IN BRIEF: n. - Any of various North American plants of the genus Liatris having racemes or panicles of small discoid flower heads.

• Platform: Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System
• Release Date: 1998
• Similar Games: Gradius (Arcade), R-Type (Arcade), Pulstar (Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System)

Game Description

Blazing Star, developed by Yumekobo, and unofficial sequel to the Neo Geo shooter Pulstar, is a horizontal scrolling shooter with sprite based 2D graphics. Up to two players can simultaneously fly their way through seven levels blasting a path through hordes of enemy units. At the end of each level a large boss awaits, whom players must overcome before they can continue to the next level.

Players have four shooting options. Pressing the A button results in a standard shot, while tapping the A button results in a rapid-fire shot. Holding the A button results in a charged attack, while pressing the B button during the charged attack produces a break attack. With one exception, all of the selectable ships start at level one. Increase the ship's level to a certain point by collecting power-up icons. Standard and rapid-shot fire and volume increase with each level up; ships also gain the ability to charge more with each level up resulting in a more devastating charged attack.

Players select from six ships, and in a departure from normal shooter design, the ships aren't just clones of each other, or even similar designs. The Peplos ship starts off at the maximum level and can't be powered up, and the Dino 246 ship has a shield when leveled up. The six fighters all handle differently and have different shooting abilities. The ships were designed with different types of shooter players in mind, so that most shooter fans can find a ship that complements their style of play. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Almost a perfect paradigm of shooter gameplay. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

The first thing you'll notice about Blazing Star is its incredible graphics. Like the Donkey Kong Country series on the Super Nintendo, Blazing Star uses pre-rendered graphics. Instead of drawing the various sprites by hand, the sprites are taken from pre-rendered views of 3D models, which is most evident in the game's intro where you'll be treated to a circling camera view of a 3D model of one of the game's ships. The backgrounds are also great, with clouds in one level and multiple layers of parallax scrolling throughout. In a few places, hordes of things moving at once though the game experiences a bit of slowdown.

The game has well written music that adds to the overall mood. Except for an oddly toned jarring note in the beginning level one, they all sound excellent. Sometimes the music may even be good enough to hum. Sound effects and voice clips are plenty, and an excited female voice will say "BONUS!" or "POWER UP!" every time you collect one. However, because there are so many bonuses in the game to collect, hearing "BONUS" every time may start to get on your nerves.

Having six distinctly different ships is a great boost to gameplay and replay value, especially since the six ships aren't balanced in terms of ability. Selecting ships can be a way of tuning your game's difficulty as well as a way of finding a compatible ship for playing shooters. Moreover, having four shot options keeps the game from turning into a monotonous button-pounding affair.

Blazing Star's gameplay model is very well tuned. The game starts easy enough for novices to get a good handle on the control system, and gradually builds up to a difficulty level that even veteran shooters can appreciate. The tempo also builds up to a frenetic pace that never really lets up. And while Blazing Star may throw hordes of enemies and bullets on screen at once, or fill up most of the screen with large laser beams from bosses, generally it never feels like the game is cheating to get you killed or trapping you into a death. Variety in the types of enemy units and how they attack keeps the game from getting boring or repetitive. Even well designed bosses are, in some cases, quite cool. Most have multiple forms of attack to keep even jaded veterans interested.

Blazing Star is a well-assembled shooter package that has evidently learned from the classics of the genre. Its finely tuned gameplay model and variety of ships will please almost all shooter fans. The only possible gripe is that players only have one type of upgrading available. If you can get over that, you will find a fast paced and enjoyable experience. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Incredible pre-rendered graphics only suffer occasional slowdown. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

Great and fitting music, but the voice clips may get on your nerves after awhile. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Six very different ships to try out. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

Adequate documentation. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

women s blazing star boot by merrell