Shining Song Starnova: Idol Empire Review

By Teepu

Player(s): 1
Platform: Windows

As both a Japanese idol fan and a lover of strategy games, one of the games I’ve been wanting very badly has been an idol group management simulator. Shining Song Starnova: Idol Empire brings my wish to reality.

The first thing to note is that if you were a fan of Shining Song Starnova, a visual novel I quite enjoyed that explored the good and bad of the idol industry, you shouldn’t expect anything like that here. This game is not a visual novel, and the story is relatively short and rather lackluster. It explores the development of Starnova after the events of the visual novel as the manager works towards making a completely competent group again. On paper this sounds like it could be fun, but it sticks to a one-dimensional and cookie cutter tale. On the bright side, the story mode does serve as a reasonably effective tutorial for the game, which I imagine is its only real purpose. It works in the same way as a game like StarCraft, where each mission introduces some kind of new concept and focuses on that as the objective, that way you can learn the ins and outs of the game in a reasonable form of progression. It’s not particularly original, but it is very effective, even if some of the actual explanations are a bit convoluted. Thankfully, it isn’t too bad to fiddle a bit and figure things out, as the story mode generally is lenient, giving the player much room to make mistakes.

You can furnish the building however you like.

The real fun begins once you start messing around with Free Mode, where you have complete freedom in how you develop and manage your idol group. You are given an empty building, within which you can set up rooms that serve various functions (such as a recording room, for example) in order to accomplish whatever goals you set forth for yourself. Within these rooms you have full control over how to place the furniture, some of it being needed for the function of the room, some of it is used for bonus effects and some of it being entirely aesthetic. The furniture sometimes doesn’t place correctly if placed at the edge of the room, where it’ll overlap with walls or just not be visible properly, but this is a lack of polish over a lack of gameplay quality, as the stats will still be calculated properly.

It doesn’t end there though, as you do have control over the members and what they do. You can send them to specific rooms to perform specific actions, which will earn money, raise stats, or affect their mood. They each have a stamina bar as well, so you need to be careful to allow for appropriate breaks and not to overwork them. As your number of usable members grows and as your facilities grow with them, you’ll find that micromanaging each individual member will not be practical anymore. That’s where the scheduling mechanic comes in. It’s exactly what it sounds like. You set an automated schedule for your members which you can assign for one specific day or on a continuous schedule. This adds another layer of complexity which gives you a lot more control over every facet of your wonderful idol group. 

Their personalities carry over well from the visual novel.

This is me watering down all the features of the game. There are plenty of individual things you can do which make things even more engaging. One of my favorite things is that you can make your own custom PV. For those who don’t know, that’s basically a music video. They won’t be anything more than a still image, but it’s fun to be able to exercise more control over the content your group produces. You can cater to your girls’ desires and talents or do whatever you want at a cost to their morale. This applies to all actions, including sending them to do odd-jobs or promotional events. The girls all have their own personalities, which may or may not mesh with the other members. They can sometimes cause chaos, or sometimes enhance the group. It can lead into some delicate management which helps the game feel more authentic as a business simulator.

You'll spend a lot of time managing finances to assure you have funds.

An idol-based game wouldn’t be complete without concerts though, and you certainly do need to have the girls perform. The concerts revolve around a mini-game which isn’t very deep but is engaging enough to add to the variety. I wish the concerts were a little more fleshed out, but it’s a minor complaint in an already packed game. 

I have two underlying issues with this game. The first is the lack of any real content. Beyond the tutorial story mode with a dull narrative, there’s only really Free Mode or Quasar Battle. Quasar Battle is just the mini-game, and Free Play is a mode that allows you to play for as long as you can survive. There’s also Generations, which is the same as Free Play, with your girls aging so that you have cycling members. Due to the lack of unlockables and the lackluster story, you’ll find yourself bored quickly if you want more to do beyond a sandbox mode. Being able to create custom maps is a nice addition, but ultimately meaningless thanks to the lack of game modes overall. Having some interesting challenge modes or unique scenarios that take advantage of the mechanics in fun ways would have been neat, but alas that is not the case here.

These are all the available game modes.

The second issue is with the clunky controls. Due to bugs, glitches, and a poorly designed interface, you will often find yourself being irritated with accomplishing tasks. There was later a patch implemented to allow for key binding, but the lack of an interface that makes use of logic still causes problems.

The music and sound isn’t too good either. A game revolving around managing a music group should, presumably, have good music. Not here! The music is grating and dull, and the sounds are generic. The voices are often constantly overlapping. It’s just an aural mess all around. The only solace is that most of us who regularly play strategy games like this will have our own playlists we’ll play in the background. That doesn’t forgive poor design from the developers though.

I wish there were more opportunities for fun interactions.

If you couldn’t tell by now, the game is quite a mix of good and bad. On the surface, the game should be fantastic. It has all the makings of a great strategy sim with a lot of subject-relevant things to do. On the other hand, it’s clear this is the first time the developers have made a game like this. I commend them on going out of their comfort zone, but some more time to polish, focus-test and plan out the game would have done the game wonders. As it stands, if you’re looking for a good strategy sim, there are tons of other very good options on the market; there’s no doubt you’ll find enjoyment out of the game if you stick with it, but why do so when there are better options? If you are a fan of idols and/or Shining Song Starnova, you will likely be able to look passed all the flaws and still find enjoyment out of the game as I did. I’ve put in about 30 hours and honestly, I can see myself playing more when I feel in the mood, but I don’t see myself putting the same amount of time as I do with games like Civilization, Cities: Skylines or Game Dev Story. On the bright side, the game is only $14.99, so decide for yourself.

For More Info On "Shining Song Starnova: Idol Empire":
https://loveinspace.net/idolempire/

---

Graphics: B
Sound: D+
Gameplay: B-
Value: C

OVERALL: C-

Pros:
+ Allows players to manage many facets of growing an idol group
+ Each girl has unique personalities, allowing for fun interaction management
+ The graphical style of Shining Song Starnova is just as adorable here

Cons:
- UI is lackluster, clunky, and illogical
- Lack of game modes gives you little to do beyond the main game
- Music and sound are grating and confusing at times

---

Disclaimer: This game was provided by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of this review.