Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183195387
Source: Youtube Channel TREASURE Channel
I might have mentioned this before, as I tell the story often, but one of my biggest regrets in gaming was not picking up Ikaruga when I saw it for $20 new for the Nintendo Gamecube at a wholesale store. I would have not guessed that a shoot-em-up would become so rare on the Gamecube and so sought out. I searched for years after that for a used copy and never found one. A few years back, I was with a friend at a Gamestop and he grabbed a game and looked and me saying "look what I found". I was excited and ready to buy it right then and there, and then he said he was going to buy it...But of course he invited me over to play with him as it supports 2-player cooperative play. Still, I never got to go through the whole game and I'm not close by my friend's place no more. So it was only natural that I was very happy and excited to see Ikaruga show up on Steam Greenlight front page.
If you've never heard of the game and wondering why so many people are getting excited over it, it's one of the most finely crafted and challenging vertical shoot-em-ups that featured a polarity system where players were encouraged to run into bullets of the affinity they are switched to. It also didn't have that many prints go out for consoles which is why it became so rare. From what it says on the Steam Greenlight page, the steam version of Ikaruga will be an updated version of the Xbox Live Arcade version which was already updated from previous versions. Besides its simple but innovative polarity game mechanic and its challenging nature, the game was often praised for its beautiful visuals as well. The Steam version will have vertical screen mode (Do you have a wide-screen monitor that can be switched sideways? It's perfect for shoot-em-ups!), 2-player cooperative mode, Xbox 360 controller compatibility (WHY? I'm okay if it's that AND other controllers, but it's ALWAYS only Xbox 360 controller!), and Double Play mode for the most extreme shoot-em-up players where you play two ships on one controller (yes, at the same time). Besides possibly only being compatible with a Xbox 360 controller, I'm pretty excited about getting Ikaruga on Steam.
Showing posts with label Shoot-Em-Up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shoot-Em-Up. Show all posts
Friday, October 4, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
GameLight Review - Razor 2: Hidden Skies
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/34920/
Source: Youtube Channel INVENT4E
Developer: Invent4 Entertainment
Publisher: Strategy First
Platforms: PC
Release Date: Jul 19, 2010
Genre: Shoot-Em-Up
Pro:
+ Lots of action going on all the time
+ Incredible graphics for backdrops, enemies, effects, and user-interface
+ Not particularly memorable, but some pretty good orchestrated tracks
+ Upgradeable weapons, defenses and boosters
Cons:
- All sorts of problems when mapping keys to a controller
- The hit box for the player's ship is the whole ship, and bullets are pretty long/big
- You can't save the game in-between and nothing is saved other than hi-scores
- Even at the highest weapon upgrades, they're weak against even regular enemies
- The game's mechanics is flawed and poorly designed for a Shoot-em-up
- A lot of the boss battles are similar to each other with a few exceptions
Recommended: No, there are so many other better shoot-em-ups to play on Steam/PC
Razor 2: Hidden Skies presents itself really well in videos and screenshots due to its incredible graphics. The backdrops are 3D as many other objects in the game are, but still plays like a 2D vertical shooter. The effects from weapons, enemy explosions and such are flashy and color showing a more modern aesthetic to an old-school style of shoot-em-ups. The first problem I had with the game was trying to reconfigure the keys onto a controller and having all sorts of problems. I eventually had to download a keyboard to joystick program in order to get it somewhat working (the keys were still mapped wrong for some odd reason). As I got further into the game, enemies became significantly more resilient to my weapons, and so I focused on large damage to get through some of the heavy waves that appears; however, the weapons at full upgrade still struggles to take down the simplest of enemies. Adding onto the indestructibility of enemies is the amount of bullets they shoot out. It's normal for a shoot-em-up to have its difficulty rise by adding more bullets on the screen, but then I realized that the hit-box for the player's ship is the whole ship. It is literally impossible to dodge enemy bullets half-way through the game. This lead up to the notion that it was designed to have the player buy and upgrade stronger shields for the ship which would mean they would have to sacrifice weapon strength which was already struggling to take down enemies at full upgrade. Bullets are abundant and rather long in length, much like the ship. The player can choose to continue once after they have lost all their lives. But if they lose all their lives a 2nd time, it's game over and the player has to start over from the very beginning. The game looked great, but plays very poorly.
Aesthetics
Art-style: 2.5D Sci-fi
+ Incredible, moving, 3D backdrops that really immerses the player
+ Lots of colorful effects and explosions from enemies and gunfire
+ Clean and well designed user-interface
+ Okay orchestrated music
- The 3D graphics make it difficult to discern the orientation of projectiles
- Enemy bullets are the same color as player weapons (bullets hides behind them)
- The music isn't particularly memorable, nor does it really change the mood
Aesthetics: 6/10
Buttons
Controller: Keyboard, gamepad or joystick
+ Simple move, shoot, and alternate shoot button layout
+ Automatically auto-fires, no need to constantly mash the shoot button
+ Easy weapon and alternate switch
- Lots of problem mapping controllers and joysticks, mainly the directionals
- Moving with the keyboard is difficult when dodging bullets
Buttons: 6/10
Concept & Content
Core Concept: Shoot through enemies, buy upgrades, repeat
+ The 3D graphics and Orchestrated music has a nice modern feeling
+ There's a lot of action going on, keeping the player on their toes
+ Having 3 different weapons to accommodate situations adds dynamics
+ There's 3 difficulty levels to choose from
- Why is the hit-box so large in a shoot-em-up?
- Upgrades are a gimmick
- Weapons are weak, even at the highest upgrade
- Advertised as a casual game, but I can hardly imagine a casual gamer enjoying it
- All the boss battles are pretty similar with a few exceptions
Concept and Content: 4/10
Duration
- Played through it once and can't stand it anymore, not playing again, not worth it
Duration: 4/10
Fun
+ I have to admit that I really liked the stylized graphics
+ It was pretty exciting to see my weapons look stronger, but they were still weak
- I was already annoyed trying to get the controller to work with the game
- My weapons were so weak even at full upgrade
- It's irritating that it's necessary to upgrade shield because you HAVE to get hit
- The final straw was having to start all over after dying
Fun: 3/10
Overall
Honestly, Razor 2: Hidden Skies has a lot of potential to be a great Shoot-em-up. Sadly, it's poor design choices and problems with controller detect has turned it into a regrettable experience. I read many posts by other players that the game had tons of bugs and problems when it first released, so it was worse than it is now. If they fixed the controller support, made a smaller hit-box that's visible to see, made weapons stronger and more useful, have the player start over a level rather than the whole game when they've lost all their lives (at the very least on Easy), allow saving and new game+ for persistence, and recreate some more dynamic and interesting boss battles, I'd gladly double the score I'm about to give. But as it stands now, it's only a game of potential that isn't worth the time. Overall: 4.6/10
Source: Youtube Channel INVENT4E
Developer: Invent4 Entertainment
Publisher: Strategy First
Platforms: PC
Release Date: Jul 19, 2010
Genre: Shoot-Em-Up
Pro:
+ Lots of action going on all the time
+ Incredible graphics for backdrops, enemies, effects, and user-interface
+ Not particularly memorable, but some pretty good orchestrated tracks
+ Upgradeable weapons, defenses and boosters
Cons:
- All sorts of problems when mapping keys to a controller
- The hit box for the player's ship is the whole ship, and bullets are pretty long/big
- You can't save the game in-between and nothing is saved other than hi-scores
- Even at the highest weapon upgrades, they're weak against even regular enemies
- The game's mechanics is flawed and poorly designed for a Shoot-em-up
- A lot of the boss battles are similar to each other with a few exceptions
Recommended: No, there are so many other better shoot-em-ups to play on Steam/PC
Razor 2: Hidden Skies presents itself really well in videos and screenshots due to its incredible graphics. The backdrops are 3D as many other objects in the game are, but still plays like a 2D vertical shooter. The effects from weapons, enemy explosions and such are flashy and color showing a more modern aesthetic to an old-school style of shoot-em-ups. The first problem I had with the game was trying to reconfigure the keys onto a controller and having all sorts of problems. I eventually had to download a keyboard to joystick program in order to get it somewhat working (the keys were still mapped wrong for some odd reason). As I got further into the game, enemies became significantly more resilient to my weapons, and so I focused on large damage to get through some of the heavy waves that appears; however, the weapons at full upgrade still struggles to take down the simplest of enemies. Adding onto the indestructibility of enemies is the amount of bullets they shoot out. It's normal for a shoot-em-up to have its difficulty rise by adding more bullets on the screen, but then I realized that the hit-box for the player's ship is the whole ship. It is literally impossible to dodge enemy bullets half-way through the game. This lead up to the notion that it was designed to have the player buy and upgrade stronger shields for the ship which would mean they would have to sacrifice weapon strength which was already struggling to take down enemies at full upgrade. Bullets are abundant and rather long in length, much like the ship. The player can choose to continue once after they have lost all their lives. But if they lose all their lives a 2nd time, it's game over and the player has to start over from the very beginning. The game looked great, but plays very poorly.
Aesthetics
Art-style: 2.5D Sci-fi
+ Incredible, moving, 3D backdrops that really immerses the player
+ Lots of colorful effects and explosions from enemies and gunfire
+ Clean and well designed user-interface
+ Okay orchestrated music
- The 3D graphics make it difficult to discern the orientation of projectiles
- Enemy bullets are the same color as player weapons (bullets hides behind them)
- The music isn't particularly memorable, nor does it really change the mood
Aesthetics: 6/10
Buttons
Controller: Keyboard, gamepad or joystick
+ Simple move, shoot, and alternate shoot button layout
+ Automatically auto-fires, no need to constantly mash the shoot button
+ Easy weapon and alternate switch
- Lots of problem mapping controllers and joysticks, mainly the directionals
- Moving with the keyboard is difficult when dodging bullets
Buttons: 6/10
Concept & Content
Core Concept: Shoot through enemies, buy upgrades, repeat
+ The 3D graphics and Orchestrated music has a nice modern feeling
+ There's a lot of action going on, keeping the player on their toes
+ Having 3 different weapons to accommodate situations adds dynamics
+ There's 3 difficulty levels to choose from
- Why is the hit-box so large in a shoot-em-up?
- Upgrades are a gimmick
- Weapons are weak, even at the highest upgrade
- Advertised as a casual game, but I can hardly imagine a casual gamer enjoying it
- All the boss battles are pretty similar with a few exceptions
Concept and Content: 4/10
Duration
- Played through it once and can't stand it anymore, not playing again, not worth it
Duration: 4/10
Fun
+ I have to admit that I really liked the stylized graphics
+ It was pretty exciting to see my weapons look stronger, but they were still weak
- I was already annoyed trying to get the controller to work with the game
- My weapons were so weak even at full upgrade
- It's irritating that it's necessary to upgrade shield because you HAVE to get hit
- The final straw was having to start all over after dying
Fun: 3/10
Overall
Honestly, Razor 2: Hidden Skies has a lot of potential to be a great Shoot-em-up. Sadly, it's poor design choices and problems with controller detect has turned it into a regrettable experience. I read many posts by other players that the game had tons of bugs and problems when it first released, so it was worse than it is now. If they fixed the controller support, made a smaller hit-box that's visible to see, made weapons stronger and more useful, have the player start over a level rather than the whole game when they've lost all their lives (at the very least on Easy), allow saving and new game+ for persistence, and recreate some more dynamic and interesting boss battles, I'd gladly double the score I'm about to give. But as it stands now, it's only a game of potential that isn't worth the time. Overall: 4.6/10
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
VGCulture - Shoot 'em Ups on Steam
I have once again accumulated a decent amount of games to review. So instead of having a detailed review of each one, I'm going write a short article about the shoot-em-ups I've played and briefly reflect on them.
eXceed Complete Pack - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel Fiorion
eXceed Complete Pack is totally worth it for those who love bullet hell/Danmaku shoot-em-ups. Rather than just being upgrades from each other, each of the eXceed games are vastly different from each other in terms of game mechanics. The first eXceed is sadly not translated to English, but is still playable with classic insanity of bullets even on the easiest level. eXceed 2nd uses the polarity bullet mechanic that is most well known for in the shoot-em-up Ikaruga. eXceed 3rd plays much like Touhou with grazing bullet mechanics much like Shikigami no Shiro 3 (Castle of Shikigami 3). Side from beautiful visuals, the games have an incredible collection of music that plays throughout the levels. One of my favorites is the first half of the one that plays in the video above.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - $3.99
Geometry Wars is a great game to play when there isn't that much time for a break or if you want to play a short session for it. This Arena style arcade shooter is matched with tight controls, colorful visuals, and a motivating song that keeps the action going.
Sine Mora - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel DigitalRealityGames
The graphics and aesthetics in Sine Mora is breath-taking and absolutely beautiful. This 2D shooter with 3D graphics has a unique mechanic, challenging boss battles and all sorts of weapons and ships to use, but it's sadly a game I didn't enjoy entirely. Rather than having health or lives, the game runs on time. When the player gets hit, they lose a bit of time and running out of time meant game over. The way a player acquired stronger versions of their weapons is by picking up power-ups dropped by enemies. If the player is hurt in any kind of way, the power-up falls out of the player's ship and starts floating away. Here's where I had problems with the game. Without those power-ups, the player is really weak and useless and won't be able to defeat bosses in time without them. It makes sense to avoid getting hit, but there are a lot of moments where unexpected speeding danger hits the player. The power-ups float towards danger which causes the player to run into more things that eats up time just to get back time. But if you don't grab the power-ups, you run out of time trying to whittle down the bosses. Add this with unchangeable key bindings, unruly movement controls (too fast on keyboard and too slow on mouse) along with moving levels while getting shot from all 360 degrees and you find yourself being more frustrated with the game than enjoying it. It's sadly not a game I can't recommend. Great visuals and audio (music/sfx/interesting choice of having voice acting in Hungarian), but the game mechanics and controls were just awful for me.
Ether Vapor Remaster - $7.99
Holy cow is this game hard! Edelweiss is apparently known for making really difficult and challenging games. The game's life system works much like Gradius V for those who have played it. Essentially, the more you play the game, the more lives and shields you'll receive. This can be very discouraging for some players having to lose over and over and starting over from the very beginning of the game. The concept behind this game is like many older games where you try to learn and get better each time you restart the game. It's a dastardly way to extend a game's play length, but those that have the patience and time will find challenge and gratification when they get to the end of the game.
Really Big Sky - $5.99
Source: Youtube Channel bossbaddiegames
I think this game randomly generates levels every time. Each time I played it, the level changes. The player can keep improving their ship at the end of each playthrough. The visuals are super flashy and the audio makes for a explosive experience. There are a lot of modes to play but must be acquired by fulfilling certain conditions. It's a great distraction to sit down and relax to this game.
Scoregasm - $9.99
I have a hunch that this game is by the same developer as bullet candy as the concept is similar and the ship looks the same. Although significantly better in visuals, gameplay, and level design than Bullet Candy, I still got bored of the game fairly quickly. What I enjoyed most were the boss battles where it felt more like a bullet hell. With the rest of the levels, it just felt like a tight-spaced geometry wars in very short durations.
Titan Attacks! - $4.99
Source: Youtube Channel Puppygames001
An homage to old arcade games such as Galaga and Asteroids, Titan Attacks is essentially Space Invaders with power-ups. I've played quite a few flash games with the same concept and similar visual aesthetics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Titan Attacks is mildly entertaining, but starts getting boring after the player gets full on all the items. It wasn't a bad game, but don't expect too much out of it either.
eXceed Complete Pack - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel Fiorion
eXceed Complete Pack is totally worth it for those who love bullet hell/Danmaku shoot-em-ups. Rather than just being upgrades from each other, each of the eXceed games are vastly different from each other in terms of game mechanics. The first eXceed is sadly not translated to English, but is still playable with classic insanity of bullets even on the easiest level. eXceed 2nd uses the polarity bullet mechanic that is most well known for in the shoot-em-up Ikaruga. eXceed 3rd plays much like Touhou with grazing bullet mechanics much like Shikigami no Shiro 3 (Castle of Shikigami 3). Side from beautiful visuals, the games have an incredible collection of music that plays throughout the levels. One of my favorites is the first half of the one that plays in the video above.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - $3.99
Geometry Wars is a great game to play when there isn't that much time for a break or if you want to play a short session for it. This Arena style arcade shooter is matched with tight controls, colorful visuals, and a motivating song that keeps the action going.
Sine Mora - $9.99
Source: Youtube Channel DigitalRealityGames
The graphics and aesthetics in Sine Mora is breath-taking and absolutely beautiful. This 2D shooter with 3D graphics has a unique mechanic, challenging boss battles and all sorts of weapons and ships to use, but it's sadly a game I didn't enjoy entirely. Rather than having health or lives, the game runs on time. When the player gets hit, they lose a bit of time and running out of time meant game over. The way a player acquired stronger versions of their weapons is by picking up power-ups dropped by enemies. If the player is hurt in any kind of way, the power-up falls out of the player's ship and starts floating away. Here's where I had problems with the game. Without those power-ups, the player is really weak and useless and won't be able to defeat bosses in time without them. It makes sense to avoid getting hit, but there are a lot of moments where unexpected speeding danger hits the player. The power-ups float towards danger which causes the player to run into more things that eats up time just to get back time. But if you don't grab the power-ups, you run out of time trying to whittle down the bosses. Add this with unchangeable key bindings, unruly movement controls (too fast on keyboard and too slow on mouse) along with moving levels while getting shot from all 360 degrees and you find yourself being more frustrated with the game than enjoying it. It's sadly not a game I can't recommend. Great visuals and audio (music/sfx/interesting choice of having voice acting in Hungarian), but the game mechanics and controls were just awful for me.
Ether Vapor Remaster - $7.99
Holy cow is this game hard! Edelweiss is apparently known for making really difficult and challenging games. The game's life system works much like Gradius V for those who have played it. Essentially, the more you play the game, the more lives and shields you'll receive. This can be very discouraging for some players having to lose over and over and starting over from the very beginning of the game. The concept behind this game is like many older games where you try to learn and get better each time you restart the game. It's a dastardly way to extend a game's play length, but those that have the patience and time will find challenge and gratification when they get to the end of the game.
Really Big Sky - $5.99
Source: Youtube Channel bossbaddiegames
I think this game randomly generates levels every time. Each time I played it, the level changes. The player can keep improving their ship at the end of each playthrough. The visuals are super flashy and the audio makes for a explosive experience. There are a lot of modes to play but must be acquired by fulfilling certain conditions. It's a great distraction to sit down and relax to this game.
Scoregasm - $9.99
I have a hunch that this game is by the same developer as bullet candy as the concept is similar and the ship looks the same. Although significantly better in visuals, gameplay, and level design than Bullet Candy, I still got bored of the game fairly quickly. What I enjoyed most were the boss battles where it felt more like a bullet hell. With the rest of the levels, it just felt like a tight-spaced geometry wars in very short durations.
Titan Attacks! - $4.99
Source: Youtube Channel Puppygames001
An homage to old arcade games such as Galaga and Asteroids, Titan Attacks is essentially Space Invaders with power-ups. I've played quite a few flash games with the same concept and similar visual aesthetics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Titan Attacks is mildly entertaining, but starts getting boring after the player gets full on all the items. It wasn't a bad game, but don't expect too much out of it either.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
GameLight Review - Gundemonium Collection
Official Site: http://gundemonium.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/11712/
Source: Youtube Channel rockinandroid
Developer: Platine Dispositif
Publisher: Rockin' Android
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS3 (PSN)
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Shoot-em-Up (Bullet Hell)
Pros:
-All the original graphics, music, and voice acting is kept intact
-3 games for $10 ($5 during sales, like right now)
-Fast-paced, challenging, adrenaline pumping shooter action
-Gundeadligne (Gundemonium 2) is online capable for 2-player co-op action
Cons:
-Geared towards danmaku (Bullet Hell) players, noobs beware
-Story is confusing and ambiguous
-Each game is very short, about 30 mins if you successfully run through it without dying
-Hard to discern where the player's hitbox exactly is at when a flood of bullet is headed their way
It's been a while since I've played a shooter, and getting the Gundemonium Collection was a good choice in playing one again. Gundemonium 1 and 2 are horizontal shooters with very unique bullet patterns that the player has to weave through as well as utilizing several special abilities that make it unique (mana, bomb, switch directions). Hitogata Happa is a very unique vertical shooter in which activating a bomb requires the player to ram right into the enemy. All three games are very challenging and have their unique aspects which make replaying them fun. There's a lot of abilities to choose from, 4 difficulty levels with the easiest one still being quite the nail biter, and Gundemonium 2 allows you to play with a friend online. What I especially like in shooters are boss battles, and the boss battles in each of the three games have multiple forms and abilities which keep you on your toes. If you're a hardened bullet hell player, than I highly recommend getting the collection. If you happen to have played little to no bullet hell type shooters but still have interest in the game, then play it with patience and learn the bullet patterns as you will find satisfaction in overcoming the challenges you'll face in the game.
Aesthetics
The Gundemonium series is drawn in a cutesy animé style. All the sprites in the game are hand-drawn I believe and everything done in the original game was by one guy (Aeju Murasame I believe). There has been some concerns about the nudity of some of the enemy characters, but honestly you can really see them if you're shooting them (all the flashes of the white light from the bullets cover everything up). The interface in-game is very arcade-like with hearts on top to indicate lives and revolver chambers on the bottom to indicate the remaining bombs (for gundemonium). In the first two Gundemonium games (horizontal shooter), everything looks really big and up close, so there "seemingly" doesn't seem as much space to move around in. Hitogata Happa is played vertically and everything is drawn back (smaller) so a lot more enemies, bullets, and objects are moving about in the screen. One of the things I don't like is how it's difficult to distinguish where the pixel hit box on the player's character is at when trying to avoid a whole slew of bullets. The horizontal perspective is a bit odd and the sizes of the objects in the game makes it difficult to discern which ones can hurt the player. It takes a bit of getting used to, but making the hitbox a bit more obvious would help in the harder difficulty levels. The sound effects are effective and strong. Lots of destruction and power behind it which is a lot more important than most people think. The sound effects for bullet impact and destruction indicates contact and let's the player know that they're hitting their mark. There's a choice between playing with the original music and remixed versions. The remixed versions are actually really good and make it sound more modern. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
First and foremost, you can't play any of the games unless you have a USB controller of some sort. Or at least that's how it was like for me, I had to Alt+Ctrl+Del many times trying to move in the menu screen or even just to exit out. Luckily, I have a USB Arcade stick I use for my fighting games on PS3 and is compatible with the 3 gundemonium games. So after finding out I needed a USB controller to play the games, I started each of the 3 games up and tried them out (and eventually beat all of them). It's a bit confusing at first having to alternate between shooting, mana usage, bombs, switching directions, and rapid fire (all depending which game you play), but I eventually got used to it. The characters really affects how the game works as some are faster, some have no range, some require charging, etc. It might seem unfair at times when the character is too slow to dodge fast bullets or when they're to fast to weave through multiple bullets, but they can be adapted to and no longer become problems (for the most part). The controls are very responsive and you don't have to constantly mash the buttons for firing (except for Hitogata Happa). It's a bit more difficult to switch between regular movement and slow movement in Hitogata Happa as slowing down means an alternate attack by holding down the fire key. For the most part, the controls are tight and responsive, but Hitogata Happa has control schemes that make it a bit more difficulty to maneuver around. Buttons: 8/10
Concept and Content
Most of the changes are mainly translations for words, a remixed track, and possibly the inclusion of online play (I'm not sure if it was there before). Although it doesn't seem very much to add to the game, having it localized and compatible with steam, leaderboards, online play and being able to read everything really offers a lot to the player who wants to be able to fully appreciate the game to its fullest. The first game is played horizontally like Gradius but all the graphics are human, monsters, objects of sorts that's not "sci-fi". The first game has a total of 5 stages with mini-bosses and bosses. It's just like any other shooter where you keep going right and fight off all the enemies and beat the boss at the end. The unique twists are the bullet patterns, the abilities the characters use, and bomb-saving (using a bomb to counter-act losing a life). The 2nd game is similar except that the player can now change directions to face left to shoot enemies from behind. Hitogata Happa probably is the most unique. It's played vertically and uses "dolls" as the fighters. The keys are very simple: fire, hold to alternate fire and slow down, and switch which doll goes next after death. The goal is the same: get to the boss and defeat them to move to the next level. The hard part is that you can't die after time runs out at a boss battle or it's an automatic game over. And what the bosses are most susceptible to are the bombs. The bomb is actually the doll itself, and you have to successfully ram into an enemy in order for it to activate. If you get shot, it doesn't count and the explosion won't go off. Because you lose your doll, you'll get to make a lot with 12 max of each doll with 8 in total and 4 that can be unlocked (probably by finishing each difficulty level. The easiest one gave me a really hard time). So each of those 8-12 dolls can perform their own attacks and specials. This is why Hitogata Happa is so unique, but it's also frustrating. It might sound easy to ram your tiny character into a large boss, but remember that it's a bullet hell and you have to weave through several hundred pellets trying to kill you to get to the boss. And having 12 dolls of each one sounds like a lot to keep you alive, but the main problem is running out of time on the boss battles. There's also special mission modes for each of the games where the player can fulfill a task by playing a certain way. Like in Hitogata Happa, you can play solo mode where you only use one kind of doll to try to finish the entire game. I really like the level designs (the bullet patterns) of Gundemonium 1 and 2 and I like the bomb concept in Hitogata Happa as it changes the way the player approaches the situations of boss battles (you generally stay on the very bottom, but ramming means having to go up close). The story of each one is ambiguous and not entirely important, but a PDF with more information for each game is available on the official website if players are interested in the lore. So for a shooter made by one guy and localized by a team with remixed tracks and such, it's a pretty interesting one that's different, challenging, and enjoyable. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
I kind of wish Gundemonium 1 and 2 had a few extra levels and made it longer, but 5 level is a decent amount. Hitogata Happa has 6 levels and that was more than enough for me (I hated boring/difficult some of the boss battles were and had to restart countless times for running out of time). I can feel the progression of each level as it becomes harder to dodge bullets and the screen is filled with more enemies in the higher levels. I liked the pacing of the first two games more than Hitogata Happa, even though it's more unique of a shooter. I think what I really like about the games is the replay value. There's 4 levels of difficulty, a lot of characters to choose from, various modes and missions, and an online play for the 2nd game so a friend can suffer the torment of absolute chaos with you. I'll be replaying each one to try to finish the harder difficulty levels, try out the new characters and modes, and to play online. Duration: 9/10
Fun
My first impression was that it was hard, but only because I started at the hardest difficulty level to see how crazy the game can become. I liked how it was fast-paced, had a lot of action and required a lot of focus out of me. I like the challenge in shooters, and so Gundemonium is my type of game. I got through Gundemonium 1 and 2 fairly quickly (about 30 mins each), yet it still proved to be quite difficult during the boss battles. Hitogata Happy drove me nuts the first time I played it because I had no idea how to beat the first boss until I read on the PDF on the official website that you're supposed to ram right into it when the "flow" meter is full. The rest of the game was alright and it was fun experimenting with all the different dolls, but the last 2 levels proved to be very annoying with a lot of bosses that were difficult to beat because they required so many bombs to defeat and shooting them took too long and made me run out of time. I complained a lot about Hitogata Happa throughout this review and it's because I half loved it (the innovation, forcing the player to go to the top of the screen and also utilizing the different abilities of each doll) and half hated it (I can't get near anything without some pellet knocking my doll out and forcing me to fill up my flow gauge again). What I think I felt was a genuine kind of entertainment I once had with shooters from the retro days. The game was hard, but it was always possible. That excitement I feel of dodge and weaving through thousands of bullets each level was good and reminded me of the simple game play that made videogames fun. I didn't need a deep storyline or incredible 3D graphics to enhance the amount of fun I had. The game is pure and innovative, but it's also reaching out to a niche group of gamers so not everyone will have fun with the 3 games. Yes, it was frustrating but it felt good to complete each of those games. After I completed them, I wanted more of it. What's good is that it still had more to offer. Fun: 9/10
Overall
I bought the collection for $5 and enjoyed each one, even though there were times where I was groaning and complaining about losing at pivotal moments. Traditional shooters are rare nowadays, at least in the western market. I really hope that shooters are still made and brought over, and Gundemonium Collection was a good purchase that reminded me that these types of games are still really fun to play and shouldn't be abandoned by game developers. The art style is silly, cute and wild; the music is really exciting, the controls are great and offers all sorts of different play styles, and the concepts are different and possibly fresh for some gamers. Getting the game at $5 or even at its regular price of $10 would be a good investment if you're the type to enjoy hardcore/difficult games, shoot-em-ups, or want to try something new. I hope Rockin' Android translates and localize more games in the future. Overall: 8.6/10
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/11712/
Source: Youtube Channel rockinandroid
Developer: Platine Dispositif
Publisher: Rockin' Android
Platforms: PC (Steam), PS3 (PSN)
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Genre: Shoot-em-Up (Bullet Hell)
Pros:
-All the original graphics, music, and voice acting is kept intact
-3 games for $10 ($5 during sales, like right now)
-Fast-paced, challenging, adrenaline pumping shooter action
-Gundeadligne (Gundemonium 2) is online capable for 2-player co-op action
Cons:
-Geared towards danmaku (Bullet Hell) players, noobs beware
-Story is confusing and ambiguous
-Each game is very short, about 30 mins if you successfully run through it without dying
-Hard to discern where the player's hitbox exactly is at when a flood of bullet is headed their way
It's been a while since I've played a shooter, and getting the Gundemonium Collection was a good choice in playing one again. Gundemonium 1 and 2 are horizontal shooters with very unique bullet patterns that the player has to weave through as well as utilizing several special abilities that make it unique (mana, bomb, switch directions). Hitogata Happa is a very unique vertical shooter in which activating a bomb requires the player to ram right into the enemy. All three games are very challenging and have their unique aspects which make replaying them fun. There's a lot of abilities to choose from, 4 difficulty levels with the easiest one still being quite the nail biter, and Gundemonium 2 allows you to play with a friend online. What I especially like in shooters are boss battles, and the boss battles in each of the three games have multiple forms and abilities which keep you on your toes. If you're a hardened bullet hell player, than I highly recommend getting the collection. If you happen to have played little to no bullet hell type shooters but still have interest in the game, then play it with patience and learn the bullet patterns as you will find satisfaction in overcoming the challenges you'll face in the game.
Aesthetics
The Gundemonium series is drawn in a cutesy animé style. All the sprites in the game are hand-drawn I believe and everything done in the original game was by one guy (Aeju Murasame I believe). There has been some concerns about the nudity of some of the enemy characters, but honestly you can really see them if you're shooting them (all the flashes of the white light from the bullets cover everything up). The interface in-game is very arcade-like with hearts on top to indicate lives and revolver chambers on the bottom to indicate the remaining bombs (for gundemonium). In the first two Gundemonium games (horizontal shooter), everything looks really big and up close, so there "seemingly" doesn't seem as much space to move around in. Hitogata Happa is played vertically and everything is drawn back (smaller) so a lot more enemies, bullets, and objects are moving about in the screen. One of the things I don't like is how it's difficult to distinguish where the pixel hit box on the player's character is at when trying to avoid a whole slew of bullets. The horizontal perspective is a bit odd and the sizes of the objects in the game makes it difficult to discern which ones can hurt the player. It takes a bit of getting used to, but making the hitbox a bit more obvious would help in the harder difficulty levels. The sound effects are effective and strong. Lots of destruction and power behind it which is a lot more important than most people think. The sound effects for bullet impact and destruction indicates contact and let's the player know that they're hitting their mark. There's a choice between playing with the original music and remixed versions. The remixed versions are actually really good and make it sound more modern. Aesthetics: 8/10
Buttons
First and foremost, you can't play any of the games unless you have a USB controller of some sort. Or at least that's how it was like for me, I had to Alt+Ctrl+Del many times trying to move in the menu screen or even just to exit out. Luckily, I have a USB Arcade stick I use for my fighting games on PS3 and is compatible with the 3 gundemonium games. So after finding out I needed a USB controller to play the games, I started each of the 3 games up and tried them out (and eventually beat all of them). It's a bit confusing at first having to alternate between shooting, mana usage, bombs, switching directions, and rapid fire (all depending which game you play), but I eventually got used to it. The characters really affects how the game works as some are faster, some have no range, some require charging, etc. It might seem unfair at times when the character is too slow to dodge fast bullets or when they're to fast to weave through multiple bullets, but they can be adapted to and no longer become problems (for the most part). The controls are very responsive and you don't have to constantly mash the buttons for firing (except for Hitogata Happa). It's a bit more difficult to switch between regular movement and slow movement in Hitogata Happa as slowing down means an alternate attack by holding down the fire key. For the most part, the controls are tight and responsive, but Hitogata Happa has control schemes that make it a bit more difficulty to maneuver around. Buttons: 8/10
Concept and Content
Most of the changes are mainly translations for words, a remixed track, and possibly the inclusion of online play (I'm not sure if it was there before). Although it doesn't seem very much to add to the game, having it localized and compatible with steam, leaderboards, online play and being able to read everything really offers a lot to the player who wants to be able to fully appreciate the game to its fullest. The first game is played horizontally like Gradius but all the graphics are human, monsters, objects of sorts that's not "sci-fi". The first game has a total of 5 stages with mini-bosses and bosses. It's just like any other shooter where you keep going right and fight off all the enemies and beat the boss at the end. The unique twists are the bullet patterns, the abilities the characters use, and bomb-saving (using a bomb to counter-act losing a life). The 2nd game is similar except that the player can now change directions to face left to shoot enemies from behind. Hitogata Happa probably is the most unique. It's played vertically and uses "dolls" as the fighters. The keys are very simple: fire, hold to alternate fire and slow down, and switch which doll goes next after death. The goal is the same: get to the boss and defeat them to move to the next level. The hard part is that you can't die after time runs out at a boss battle or it's an automatic game over. And what the bosses are most susceptible to are the bombs. The bomb is actually the doll itself, and you have to successfully ram into an enemy in order for it to activate. If you get shot, it doesn't count and the explosion won't go off. Because you lose your doll, you'll get to make a lot with 12 max of each doll with 8 in total and 4 that can be unlocked (probably by finishing each difficulty level. The easiest one gave me a really hard time). So each of those 8-12 dolls can perform their own attacks and specials. This is why Hitogata Happa is so unique, but it's also frustrating. It might sound easy to ram your tiny character into a large boss, but remember that it's a bullet hell and you have to weave through several hundred pellets trying to kill you to get to the boss. And having 12 dolls of each one sounds like a lot to keep you alive, but the main problem is running out of time on the boss battles. There's also special mission modes for each of the games where the player can fulfill a task by playing a certain way. Like in Hitogata Happa, you can play solo mode where you only use one kind of doll to try to finish the entire game. I really like the level designs (the bullet patterns) of Gundemonium 1 and 2 and I like the bomb concept in Hitogata Happa as it changes the way the player approaches the situations of boss battles (you generally stay on the very bottom, but ramming means having to go up close). The story of each one is ambiguous and not entirely important, but a PDF with more information for each game is available on the official website if players are interested in the lore. So for a shooter made by one guy and localized by a team with remixed tracks and such, it's a pretty interesting one that's different, challenging, and enjoyable. Concept & Content: 9/10
Duration
I kind of wish Gundemonium 1 and 2 had a few extra levels and made it longer, but 5 level is a decent amount. Hitogata Happa has 6 levels and that was more than enough for me (I hated boring/difficult some of the boss battles were and had to restart countless times for running out of time). I can feel the progression of each level as it becomes harder to dodge bullets and the screen is filled with more enemies in the higher levels. I liked the pacing of the first two games more than Hitogata Happa, even though it's more unique of a shooter. I think what I really like about the games is the replay value. There's 4 levels of difficulty, a lot of characters to choose from, various modes and missions, and an online play for the 2nd game so a friend can suffer the torment of absolute chaos with you. I'll be replaying each one to try to finish the harder difficulty levels, try out the new characters and modes, and to play online. Duration: 9/10
Fun
My first impression was that it was hard, but only because I started at the hardest difficulty level to see how crazy the game can become. I liked how it was fast-paced, had a lot of action and required a lot of focus out of me. I like the challenge in shooters, and so Gundemonium is my type of game. I got through Gundemonium 1 and 2 fairly quickly (about 30 mins each), yet it still proved to be quite difficult during the boss battles. Hitogata Happy drove me nuts the first time I played it because I had no idea how to beat the first boss until I read on the PDF on the official website that you're supposed to ram right into it when the "flow" meter is full. The rest of the game was alright and it was fun experimenting with all the different dolls, but the last 2 levels proved to be very annoying with a lot of bosses that were difficult to beat because they required so many bombs to defeat and shooting them took too long and made me run out of time. I complained a lot about Hitogata Happa throughout this review and it's because I half loved it (the innovation, forcing the player to go to the top of the screen and also utilizing the different abilities of each doll) and half hated it (I can't get near anything without some pellet knocking my doll out and forcing me to fill up my flow gauge again). What I think I felt was a genuine kind of entertainment I once had with shooters from the retro days. The game was hard, but it was always possible. That excitement I feel of dodge and weaving through thousands of bullets each level was good and reminded me of the simple game play that made videogames fun. I didn't need a deep storyline or incredible 3D graphics to enhance the amount of fun I had. The game is pure and innovative, but it's also reaching out to a niche group of gamers so not everyone will have fun with the 3 games. Yes, it was frustrating but it felt good to complete each of those games. After I completed them, I wanted more of it. What's good is that it still had more to offer. Fun: 9/10
Overall
I bought the collection for $5 and enjoyed each one, even though there were times where I was groaning and complaining about losing at pivotal moments. Traditional shooters are rare nowadays, at least in the western market. I really hope that shooters are still made and brought over, and Gundemonium Collection was a good purchase that reminded me that these types of games are still really fun to play and shouldn't be abandoned by game developers. The art style is silly, cute and wild; the music is really exciting, the controls are great and offers all sorts of different play styles, and the concepts are different and possibly fresh for some gamers. Getting the game at $5 or even at its regular price of $10 would be a good investment if you're the type to enjoy hardcore/difficult games, shoot-em-ups, or want to try something new. I hope Rockin' Android translates and localize more games in the future. Overall: 8.6/10
Friday, September 9, 2011
GameOn - Shmups - Castle of Shikigami 3
On the last day of this week's GameOn series of Shoot-em-ups (Shmups), I'll be talking about Castle of Shikigami 3 and the sub-genre Danmaku.
Source: Youtube Channel jedikevin20
I could've talked about Touhou, but I seem to talk about Touhou whenever it's about Shmups now (and so does many other Shmups gamers), so I chose a non-obvious choice. Castle of Shikigami 3 is a vertical shmup danmaku (or more commonly known in English terms as Bullet Hell) where the levels consist mainly of enemy bullets. There aren't that many Bullet Hell shooters in the United States (as far as I know) and the ones that are brought over are extremely rare (argh, still can't find Ikaruga!). I first tried Shikigami no Shiro 3 (Japanese name for it) through a demo on PC and really enjoyed the unique characters, the music, the spectacular 3D-like graphics and effects, and the challenge of the "extreme" difficulty. So when I heard that it was being translated and brought over to the States for the Wii, I really wanted it. The voice acting is atrociously bad, but it's bad in a way to be considered humorous and laughable. It added to the light hearted vibe the story gave considering its insane difficulty. From the video above, it doesn't seem much. This video here is closer to what a Bullet Hell usually looks like:
Source: Youtube Channel YannBer16
That excitement and thrill you get from barely escaping through enemy fire in such a chaotic moment is the charm of most Danmaku/Bullet Hell games. It gets even crazier with a 2nd player joining in. For Castle of Shikigami 3, the story/dialogue of the characters changes depending on who the player chooses and who they're paired up with. Bullet Hell and even just shooters in general aren't as popular anymore (at least in the Western Market), but those that get brought over or are made are usually of the Bullet Hell style sub-genre. The most recent one I bought and played is indie developed Jamestown. I actually still play Castle of Shikigami 3 and see how little continues I need to use before beating the game each time and because I find the dialogues to be hilarious between the characters. I hope you enjoyed this week's GameOn and I encourage everyone to try out all these sorts of Shoot-em-ups in the future.
Source: Youtube Channel jedikevin20
I could've talked about Touhou, but I seem to talk about Touhou whenever it's about Shmups now (and so does many other Shmups gamers), so I chose a non-obvious choice. Castle of Shikigami 3 is a vertical shmup danmaku (or more commonly known in English terms as Bullet Hell) where the levels consist mainly of enemy bullets. There aren't that many Bullet Hell shooters in the United States (as far as I know) and the ones that are brought over are extremely rare (argh, still can't find Ikaruga!). I first tried Shikigami no Shiro 3 (Japanese name for it) through a demo on PC and really enjoyed the unique characters, the music, the spectacular 3D-like graphics and effects, and the challenge of the "extreme" difficulty. So when I heard that it was being translated and brought over to the States for the Wii, I really wanted it. The voice acting is atrociously bad, but it's bad in a way to be considered humorous and laughable. It added to the light hearted vibe the story gave considering its insane difficulty. From the video above, it doesn't seem much. This video here is closer to what a Bullet Hell usually looks like:
Source: Youtube Channel YannBer16
That excitement and thrill you get from barely escaping through enemy fire in such a chaotic moment is the charm of most Danmaku/Bullet Hell games. It gets even crazier with a 2nd player joining in. For Castle of Shikigami 3, the story/dialogue of the characters changes depending on who the player chooses and who they're paired up with. Bullet Hell and even just shooters in general aren't as popular anymore (at least in the Western Market), but those that get brought over or are made are usually of the Bullet Hell style sub-genre. The most recent one I bought and played is indie developed Jamestown. I actually still play Castle of Shikigami 3 and see how little continues I need to use before beating the game each time and because I find the dialogues to be hilarious between the characters. I hope you enjoyed this week's GameOn and I encourage everyone to try out all these sorts of Shoot-em-ups in the future.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
GameOn - Shmups - Space Harrier 2
Watching some of the videos of Space Harrier 2 brought a sense of nostalgia of childhood back.
Source: Youtube Channel ACESpark
It was (and kinda still is) amazing seeing the illusion of 3D perspective of running on the planet at a fast pace and fighting monsters that can appear far and close. Space Harrier 2 is of a sub-genre of Shmups called "Rail Shooters". The screen moves on its own while the player shoots at whatever is on the screen that's incoming while moving their character around (if there is one) to avoid enemy fire. It was so fun playing Space Harrier 2 flying around and running at a crazy speed while mowing down all sorts of weird enemies while avoid incoming pillars and obstacles. Rail Shooters are more synonymous to arcades and so we don't see that many Rail Shooters on home consoles (though more of the gun shooters are still around such as Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Dead Space Extraction, and House of the Dead: Overkill). Rail Shooters are unique in that they're more 3-dimensional more on the Y-axis and Z-axis than the Y-axis and X-axis (if you look at it in more of a grid format). But one of the things that really got me pumped up for Space Harrier 2 was its catchy music. The main theme for Space Harrier 1 and 2 is like 4 minutes long, which is an incredible length for games back then. If you're interested in Rail Shooters such as this one, look for Sin and Punishment: Star Successor or Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (both on Wii). I think both utilize the motion controller to aim. Rail Shooters are rare these days, but they have a certain charm to them compared to other Shmups.
Source: Youtube Channel ACESpark
It was (and kinda still is) amazing seeing the illusion of 3D perspective of running on the planet at a fast pace and fighting monsters that can appear far and close. Space Harrier 2 is of a sub-genre of Shmups called "Rail Shooters". The screen moves on its own while the player shoots at whatever is on the screen that's incoming while moving their character around (if there is one) to avoid enemy fire. It was so fun playing Space Harrier 2 flying around and running at a crazy speed while mowing down all sorts of weird enemies while avoid incoming pillars and obstacles. Rail Shooters are more synonymous to arcades and so we don't see that many Rail Shooters on home consoles (though more of the gun shooters are still around such as Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, Dead Space Extraction, and House of the Dead: Overkill). Rail Shooters are unique in that they're more 3-dimensional more on the Y-axis and Z-axis than the Y-axis and X-axis (if you look at it in more of a grid format). But one of the things that really got me pumped up for Space Harrier 2 was its catchy music. The main theme for Space Harrier 1 and 2 is like 4 minutes long, which is an incredible length for games back then. If you're interested in Rail Shooters such as this one, look for Sin and Punishment: Star Successor or Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers (both on Wii). I think both utilize the motion controller to aim. Rail Shooters are rare these days, but they have a certain charm to them compared to other Shmups.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
GameOn - Shmups - Gradius
Gradius has been an influential horizontal side-scroll shooter from the beginning till now. From its difficult level designs to its catchy tunes, Gradius had set the history of shoot-em-ups in motion with a formula that is still commonly used today in horizontal side-scroll shooters.
Source: Youtube Channel Toad22484
One thing that really got me interested in Gradius when I was playing it as a little kid was all the power-ups the player can acquire. The player can add: speed, missiles, lasers, double shot, an option (extra tiny ship to fight beside you), and shield to help fight against the hordes of enemies the player faces through the game. One of the biggest challenges in side-scroll shooters such as Gradius is having to weave through enemies and their bullets with enemies popping around the end of the screen trying to destroy the player's ship. In yesterday's post on Space Invaders, fixed shooters (or I like to call them arcade shooters) only had enemies and their enemy fire to worry about. With Gradius, there's environmental hazards where touching the walls would destroy the ship. Like Space Invaders, Gradius has evolved, but the looks and concept are fairly similar.
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
I really enjoyed Gradius V because it still felt like Gradius, but on a totally different level. Treasure, the developers well known for their danmaku (bullet hell) sub-genre of Shmups worked on Gradius V and gave the game a challenge like no other. I will be talking about Bullet Hell on Friday. Horizontal shooters seem to have lost its popularity now as more 3D shooters and vertical shooters are played more. The Gundemonium series will be out on Steam soon, so maybe I'll get my fix of horizontal shooters when that comes out.
Source: Youtube Channel Toad22484
One thing that really got me interested in Gradius when I was playing it as a little kid was all the power-ups the player can acquire. The player can add: speed, missiles, lasers, double shot, an option (extra tiny ship to fight beside you), and shield to help fight against the hordes of enemies the player faces through the game. One of the biggest challenges in side-scroll shooters such as Gradius is having to weave through enemies and their bullets with enemies popping around the end of the screen trying to destroy the player's ship. In yesterday's post on Space Invaders, fixed shooters (or I like to call them arcade shooters) only had enemies and their enemy fire to worry about. With Gradius, there's environmental hazards where touching the walls would destroy the ship. Like Space Invaders, Gradius has evolved, but the looks and concept are fairly similar.
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
I really enjoyed Gradius V because it still felt like Gradius, but on a totally different level. Treasure, the developers well known for their danmaku (bullet hell) sub-genre of Shmups worked on Gradius V and gave the game a challenge like no other. I will be talking about Bullet Hell on Friday. Horizontal shooters seem to have lost its popularity now as more 3D shooters and vertical shooters are played more. The Gundemonium series will be out on Steam soon, so maybe I'll get my fix of horizontal shooters when that comes out.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
GameOn - Shmups - Space Invaders
Good evening everyone! I hope everyone had a pleasant Labor Day holiday yesterday. This week, I'm going to be doing a GameOn series which I feel as if I hadn't in the longest time. Each of the four days, I will be talking about a sort of "Shmups" (shortened for Shoot-em-ups) sub-genre. Today, I will be talking about Space Invaders of the past and now.
Source: Youtube Channel pspshow
Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooters that I played when I was a little kid. It was a simple objective, but a difficult task. Shoot-em-ups consists of a level of enemies that the player has to mow down to progress. For Space Invaders, it was a single screen game where a bunch of aliens planning on invading Earth. The player takes the role of a single fighter and shoots them out of space and from invading and destroying the player and earth. In the past 25 years or so, Space Invaders have gone through many iterations with little to no change at all but has introduced things such as power ups, special aliens, and different aspects that changes the game around. Space Invaders is still played today, even if it looks and plays differently. It still has that frantic feeling of the last alien whizzing down the screen. It's still fun for me, but has been overshadowed by many other sub-genre of shooters. I would call this an Arcade Shooter (I guess it's called a "Fixed shooter" on Wikipedia, makes sense) because of its history of shoot-em-ups in arcades with Galaga, Galaxian, and such being the popular shooters during those days. You can probably find a site that still has the original Space Invaders for you to play, and there's also many iterations of Space Invaders all around on different consoles and sites. Space Invaders certainly isn't the first shooter or game to come out, but it is one of the most influential ones that have paved the way for other Shmups.
Source: Youtube Channel pspshow
Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooters that I played when I was a little kid. It was a simple objective, but a difficult task. Shoot-em-ups consists of a level of enemies that the player has to mow down to progress. For Space Invaders, it was a single screen game where a bunch of aliens planning on invading Earth. The player takes the role of a single fighter and shoots them out of space and from invading and destroying the player and earth. In the past 25 years or so, Space Invaders have gone through many iterations with little to no change at all but has introduced things such as power ups, special aliens, and different aspects that changes the game around. Space Invaders is still played today, even if it looks and plays differently. It still has that frantic feeling of the last alien whizzing down the screen. It's still fun for me, but has been overshadowed by many other sub-genre of shooters. I would call this an Arcade Shooter (I guess it's called a "Fixed shooter" on Wikipedia, makes sense) because of its history of shoot-em-ups in arcades with Galaga, Galaxian, and such being the popular shooters during those days. You can probably find a site that still has the original Space Invaders for you to play, and there's also many iterations of Space Invaders all around on different consoles and sites. Space Invaders certainly isn't the first shooter or game to come out, but it is one of the most influential ones that have paved the way for other Shmups.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
GameLight Review - Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony
Official Site: http://www.finalformgames.com/jamestown/
Buy it now on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/94200/
Source: Youtube Channel FinalFormGames
Developer: Final Form Games, LLC
Distributor: Steam, Direct2Drive, and GamersGate
Platforms: PC
Release Date: June 8, 2011.
Genre: Shoot-em-Up, Indie
Pros:
-Amazing handcrafted pixel based artwork with rich colors and an old-school, retro vibe
-Compelling and challenging, but still easy enough for anyone to pick up and play
-Masterfully produced soundtrack with an orchestral feeling to it
-The ability to play 4-players local cooperatively, a lost and very much missed aspect in modern games
Cons:
-The game can be very difficult, and so it might be a bit hard to convince a friend to play with you
-The core game is rather short, and so the replay value comes from playing the higher difficulty levels
-The rescue ability in multiplayer can't be done in single-player which makes playing solo harder
-No online cooperative play
Bullethell Shoot-em-Ups is a genre that seems to have its own niche in the western gaming community, and so it is rare to see that many be released in the Western market. When I first heard of Jamestown, the plot and theme was so odd that I didn't know what to think. However, after one play-through on the highest difficulty I was capable of choosing (called divine which is the 4th hardest difficulty level out of five), I was convinced that the game was just right in every aspect to be very enjoyable. To my surprise, the game had a very good feel of Japanese shoot-em-ups of the past with its rich sprite art, crazy bullet patterns, and very challenging gameplay. My fear before playing the game was that it was going to be either too easy, too hard, or have terrible gameplay and controls like many other vertical shoot-em-ups I have played. If you're looking for a good shoot-em-up or a 4-player co-op game to play, then I urge you to spend just $10 to enjoy this masterpiece.
Graphics
The graphics are all pixel-based sprites and backgrounds which gives it a retro vibe like many Japanese shoot-em-ups. The theme is a mix between historical 17th century Britain and Sci-Fi space. The color contrast plays a big part in dodge bullets as they are very prominent on the screen and easy to spot. The landscapes are beautiful and the enemies are nicely plotted through each level that keeps the player on the edge. It's very easy to determine what is dangerous, what can be collected, and which player is who. All the designs, colors, and aspects in the graphics were carefully chosen visually and gameplay wise. With that said, it sucks to run into an enemy bullet when you clearly saw it coming. Graphics: 10/10
Audio
The soundtrack is mostly orchestral sounding with some choir and some electronic aspects. Honestly, the soundtrack isn't very memorable or one that I would listen to that often outside of the game, but it sure is impressive for an indie game. It has the resounding feel of an epic journey and matches its theme of 17th century Britain despite being out of the ordinary being on Mars. The sound effects are what you would expect out of a bullethell and works really well with the game and art style. The audible cues from enemy attacks are an important aspect in the gameplay in knowing what's coming next and being able to react from it. The quality in music and sound effects are truly high in this indie game. Audio: 9/10
Gameplay
Seeing how it was an indie developed game, I was unsure of how well balanced the difficulty levels, enemy spawns, and controls were going to turn out as I've had plenty of bad experiences with indie shoot-em-ups. I've played a lot of bad ones, a few good ones, but none as high of a quality as Jamestown did in terms of the challenge, fairness, controls, and concept aspects. It's very basic actually. The player scrolls upwards like any other vertical shoot-em-up, they can move around freely and shoot enemies, have an alternate shot, and instead of a bomb, each player has a mode called vaunt which grants temporary invincibility while making the shots from the player more powerful. The game can be played stage by stage, or they can purchase with in-game credits caused gauntlet mode which allows players to play the game from beginning to end like a traditional arcade shooter. There are 4 ships to choose from, but there are 3 that must be purchased with in-game credits by playing through the game. There are 5 difficulty levels to choose from with the hardest one locked until bought. And then there's challenges that can be played through by completing one level on Divine difficulty (4th one out of 5) and then buying the other challenges in the shoppe. The real fun comes from playing multiplayer, but in a modern day of gaming where local multiplayer has died off, it was sad to see that the game didn't provide online co-op play. Still, even playing singleplayer has its own gratification and entertainment as it is more challenging. Gameplay: 9/10
Replay Value
There are 5 difficulty levels to choose from in Jamestown, and Bullethell shoot-em-ups don't get interesting until they're played on the most difficult settings. This allow the player to gradually build up their skill level without having to dive head first into the true bullethell. With over 5 stages, 5 difficult levels, 4 ships, tons of challenges, the ability to play 4 players co-op, and the addition of Steam achievements (only for Steam users), the game is sure to provide dozens of hours of play which is well worth the $10. However, for those who are already godly on Bullethell games, this may provide about 5-10 hours of gameplay before exhausting out the most difficult challenges in the game. It will be up to playing multiplayer to change it up if that's the case. Replay Value: 8/10
Overall
Jamestown is a really fun game, and is much more approachable than other shoot-em-ups for beginners when trying to convince friends to play co-op. The game provides a decent challenge when the player has improved and allows the player to choose from 4 different ships which change the play style between each one. The art style and soundtrack is very welcoming and an enjoyable aspect to the game. Not having online co-op play is actually a very small setback for the game as it is one of the only few shoot-em-up games to support up to 4 players (usually shumps are up to 2-player co-op). I highly recommend this game to anyone who like action games, shoot-em-ups, co-op games, or difficult games. Overall: 9/10
Buy it now on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/94200/
Source: Youtube Channel FinalFormGames
Developer: Final Form Games, LLC
Distributor: Steam, Direct2Drive, and GamersGate
Platforms: PC
Release Date: June 8, 2011.
Genre: Shoot-em-Up, Indie
Pros:
-Amazing handcrafted pixel based artwork with rich colors and an old-school, retro vibe
-Compelling and challenging, but still easy enough for anyone to pick up and play
-Masterfully produced soundtrack with an orchestral feeling to it
-The ability to play 4-players local cooperatively, a lost and very much missed aspect in modern games
Cons:
-The game can be very difficult, and so it might be a bit hard to convince a friend to play with you
-The core game is rather short, and so the replay value comes from playing the higher difficulty levels
-The rescue ability in multiplayer can't be done in single-player which makes playing solo harder
-No online cooperative play
Bullethell Shoot-em-Ups is a genre that seems to have its own niche in the western gaming community, and so it is rare to see that many be released in the Western market. When I first heard of Jamestown, the plot and theme was so odd that I didn't know what to think. However, after one play-through on the highest difficulty I was capable of choosing (called divine which is the 4th hardest difficulty level out of five), I was convinced that the game was just right in every aspect to be very enjoyable. To my surprise, the game had a very good feel of Japanese shoot-em-ups of the past with its rich sprite art, crazy bullet patterns, and very challenging gameplay. My fear before playing the game was that it was going to be either too easy, too hard, or have terrible gameplay and controls like many other vertical shoot-em-ups I have played. If you're looking for a good shoot-em-up or a 4-player co-op game to play, then I urge you to spend just $10 to enjoy this masterpiece.
Graphics
The graphics are all pixel-based sprites and backgrounds which gives it a retro vibe like many Japanese shoot-em-ups. The theme is a mix between historical 17th century Britain and Sci-Fi space. The color contrast plays a big part in dodge bullets as they are very prominent on the screen and easy to spot. The landscapes are beautiful and the enemies are nicely plotted through each level that keeps the player on the edge. It's very easy to determine what is dangerous, what can be collected, and which player is who. All the designs, colors, and aspects in the graphics were carefully chosen visually and gameplay wise. With that said, it sucks to run into an enemy bullet when you clearly saw it coming. Graphics: 10/10
Audio
The soundtrack is mostly orchestral sounding with some choir and some electronic aspects. Honestly, the soundtrack isn't very memorable or one that I would listen to that often outside of the game, but it sure is impressive for an indie game. It has the resounding feel of an epic journey and matches its theme of 17th century Britain despite being out of the ordinary being on Mars. The sound effects are what you would expect out of a bullethell and works really well with the game and art style. The audible cues from enemy attacks are an important aspect in the gameplay in knowing what's coming next and being able to react from it. The quality in music and sound effects are truly high in this indie game. Audio: 9/10
Gameplay
Seeing how it was an indie developed game, I was unsure of how well balanced the difficulty levels, enemy spawns, and controls were going to turn out as I've had plenty of bad experiences with indie shoot-em-ups. I've played a lot of bad ones, a few good ones, but none as high of a quality as Jamestown did in terms of the challenge, fairness, controls, and concept aspects. It's very basic actually. The player scrolls upwards like any other vertical shoot-em-up, they can move around freely and shoot enemies, have an alternate shot, and instead of a bomb, each player has a mode called vaunt which grants temporary invincibility while making the shots from the player more powerful. The game can be played stage by stage, or they can purchase with in-game credits caused gauntlet mode which allows players to play the game from beginning to end like a traditional arcade shooter. There are 4 ships to choose from, but there are 3 that must be purchased with in-game credits by playing through the game. There are 5 difficulty levels to choose from with the hardest one locked until bought. And then there's challenges that can be played through by completing one level on Divine difficulty (4th one out of 5) and then buying the other challenges in the shoppe. The real fun comes from playing multiplayer, but in a modern day of gaming where local multiplayer has died off, it was sad to see that the game didn't provide online co-op play. Still, even playing singleplayer has its own gratification and entertainment as it is more challenging. Gameplay: 9/10
Replay Value
There are 5 difficulty levels to choose from in Jamestown, and Bullethell shoot-em-ups don't get interesting until they're played on the most difficult settings. This allow the player to gradually build up their skill level without having to dive head first into the true bullethell. With over 5 stages, 5 difficult levels, 4 ships, tons of challenges, the ability to play 4 players co-op, and the addition of Steam achievements (only for Steam users), the game is sure to provide dozens of hours of play which is well worth the $10. However, for those who are already godly on Bullethell games, this may provide about 5-10 hours of gameplay before exhausting out the most difficult challenges in the game. It will be up to playing multiplayer to change it up if that's the case. Replay Value: 8/10
Overall
Jamestown is a really fun game, and is much more approachable than other shoot-em-ups for beginners when trying to convince friends to play co-op. The game provides a decent challenge when the player has improved and allows the player to choose from 4 different ships which change the play style between each one. The art style and soundtrack is very welcoming and an enjoyable aspect to the game. Not having online co-op play is actually a very small setback for the game as it is one of the only few shoot-em-up games to support up to 4 players (usually shumps are up to 2-player co-op). I highly recommend this game to anyone who like action games, shoot-em-ups, co-op games, or difficult games. Overall: 9/10
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