| |
| Genre | Shooter |
|---|---|
| Release | 27th February 2008 |
| Multi-player | No |
StarCannon is a space-themed vertical scrolling shooter game. It was released on the day of FunOrb's launch. On 15th April 2010, an iPhone version of the game was released, and can be purchased from the iPhone's App Store for £1.19.
Gameplay
The basic idea of StarCannon is to shoot down enemy ships as they come towards you, avoiding enemies and their bullets while firing and collecting powerups, with the prototype ship "Nova Ray". Enemies will continue to attack throughout the level until the boss is reached. Bosses shoot masses of bullets and have shields that take a considerable amount of firepower to deplete, as well as a health bar. Survival in StarCannon is often a matter of evading bullets and tactical use of your shields. StarCannon, when played on Easy or Medium, consists of three levels. However, if you play on hard, a bonus fourth level will be unlocked. A hidden achievement called Zenon Warrior can be unlocked by beating the fourth bonus level.
Armaments
Weapons
The lowest-powered form of each weapon.
The Nova Ray has three different weapons, which can be switched by collecting the appropriate power-up.
Aggressive: Lance - a straight, tight laser beam firing directly forwards. More focused and powerful than the other beams, but leaves your ship open to attack from the sides. Higher-powered Lance shots turn yellow, then white.
Balanced: Pulse - fires forwards and to the sides with a multitude of blue bullets. Side cannon upgrades significantly improve the weapon's field of fire. Often useful in boss battles, as constantly firing means the boss will always be taking some damage.
Defensive: Helix - fires green bursts outwards to the sides before curving back in to fire upwards. The defensive bonus of a wide spread of fire near your ship is negated slightly by a weaker weapon.
Shields
The Nova Ray's shields are completely impervious to any one attack or impact. When hit, the shields will flash outwards, destroying or deflecting all nearby enemies, objects and bullets. The shield then require time to recharge; a computer voice will say "shields re-armed" when the shields have been fully charged. The time taken to recharge can be reduced by collecting blue shield powerups.
If the Nova Ray is hit while its shields are down, it will be destroyed and the player loses one life. A "rewind module" will then be used to "revive" the ship, and it will have a temporary invincibility shield which will be able to push enemies and obstacles away for a few seconds.
Power-ups come in three varieties; weapon power-ups, extra power-ups and rewind modules.
Weapon power-ups
If you collect a weapon you already have, your weapon power will be upgraded. These power upgrades cannot be lost and they transfer to other weapons. However, the weapon will not be upgraded until the player collects another power-up of that type. For example, if the player has a level 3 Helix, collecting the Lance power-up will change it to a level 3 Lance, not level 4. The power-ups are:
- Blue - Pulse
- Green - Helix
- Yellow - Lance
You can change the colour of the power-up by firing at it. If your weapon is at maximum power, the weapon you are currently using will not be available from the power-up. The maximum power increases with each levels.
Weapon power-ups appear after a certain number of points have been reached; a different number for each difficulty.
Other power-ups
Shield upgrades decrease the amount of time taken to recharge shields, Thruster upgrades increase your maneuverability, allowing you to accelerate and decelerate much faster, Back Cannon upgrades increase your firepower straight forwards, and Side Cannon upgrades increase the firepower to the sides of your ship.
- Red - Thrusters
- Blue - Shields
- Grey - Back Cannon
- White - Side Cannon
As with the main weapon power-ups, you can change the upgrade by firing at it, and you cannot change it into a power-up if it is already at full power. Any power-ups on-screen when you have a fully upgraded ship will convert to weapon upgrades.
Xenon Beam
The Xenon Beam is a mighty weapon, as it destroys anything it touches instantly (apart from bosses) and carries on flying to destroy any other potential enemies. The beam is fired from the center of the ship and is available only in the third level (FunOrb membership required). To obtain the beam, the back cannon has to be maximized (a total of five power-ups must be collected). It will fire approximately twice a second and like all other weapons is infinite use. The beam starts off as a compact meteor of light, and expands as it reaches the edge of the screen.
Rewind Module
The rewind module is a purple upgrade with a purple barrier surrounding it. Collecting it will grant you one rewind module - an extra life. Shooting it has no effect. The upgrade has X written on it.
Enemies
StarCannon features a variety of enemies, and a boss at the end of each level. Enemy looks differ between levels (including bosses), but not difficulties.
| Appearance | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
  |
Fighter | The most common enemy. Appears the most often, and the easiest to defeat. |
  |
Interceptor | Not very dangerous at first, but if not destroyed fast enough, can shoot very large streams of purple bullets, often killing the player if more than one interceptor is present. |
 |
Invader | Comes alone or in twos. Moves around the screen a lot and fires one or three bullets (depends on difficulty). |
 |
Comes in groups which move fast in a vertical line firing to the sides. | |
  |
Cruiser | Does not move. Its shooting pattern consists of shooting downwards, as well as an occasional spray to the sides. |
 |
Spawn | Does not shoot, but may be tricky to avoid. Comes in clusters of either one or four. |
 |
Moves around and shoots thick purple bullets downwards. | |
 |
Level 1 Boss | Encountered at the end of Level 1 and beginning of Level 4, this boss's attacks are relatively easy to avoid. |
 |
Level 2 Boss | Encountered at the end of Level 2 and middle of Level 4, this boss's attacks are tricky to avoid. |
 |
Level 3 Boss | Encountered at the end of Levels 3 and 4, this boss's attacks are very tricky to avoid. |
Achievements
Total Achievements: 15
Total Orb Coins: 46
Total Orb Points: 4600
[Secret Achievements] | [Hidden Achievements] [Halloween Achievements]
| Image | Name | Requirement | Orb Points | Orb Coins | Members? | Sorter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Defender |
Defend the solar system on Easy mode |
100 | 1 | No | AA |
 |
Interstellar Fighter |
Defeat the alien fleet on Medium mode |
300 | 3 | No | AB |
 |
Alien Aggressor |
Destroy the alien homeworld on Medium mode |
300 | 3 | Yes | AC |
 |
Interstellar Warrior |
Defeat the alien fleet on Hard mode |
500 | 5 | No | AD |
 |
Alien Dominator |
Destroy the alien homeworld on Hard mode |
500 | 5 | Yes | AE |
 |
Missile Gunner |
Max out side and back guns |
200 | 2 | Yes | AG |
 |
Destroyer Pilot |
Destroy 10 cruisers |
200 | 2 | No | AH |
 |
Battleship Pilot |
Destroy 30 cruisers |
300 | 3 | Yes | AI |
 |
Dog Fighter |
Destroy 50 interceptors |
100 | 1 | No | AJ |
 |
Wolverine Fighter |
Destroy 150 interceptors |
200 | 2 | No | AK |
 |
Fusion Engines |
Navigate through the solar system without firing a shot |
300 | 3 | No | AL |
 |
High Five Fighter |
Score 50,000 Points |
100 | 1 | No | AM |
 |
High Five Interceptor |
Score 100,000 Points |
200 | 2 | No | AN |
 |
High Five Invader |
Score 200,000 Points |
300 | 3 | No | AO |
 |
Zenon Warrior |
Defeat the alien revenge fleet on Hard |
1000 | 10 | Yes | AP |
All information for these achievements is stored on their respective pages, along with walkthroughs and tips for many of them. So, if you notice a mistake, or have a good strategy, go there!
Did you notice a missing achievement? You can help the FunOrb Wiki by making a page for it. Simply type the achievement name in this box to make a page for it.<createbox>
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Trivia
- In the second stage, a ruined ship with the name "TNS-HOOD" can be seen. The storyline tells us that this is the Terran flagship, that was destroyed by the alien fleet.
- For first 6 months, Interstellar Warrior achievement had picture of Zenon Warrior, Alien Dominator had picture of Interstellar Warrior and Zenon Warrion had picture of Alien Dominator. High Five Fighter and High Five Interceptor had also switched pictures (High Five Fighter was Silver and High Five Interceptor was Bronze) both in Achievements Online and in-game.