A Shooter (Xbox Live)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
13 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Sorcery Games
Published by Sorcery Games in 2010

Ladies and gentlemen, behold one of the contenders for game with the most generic title ever. Any doubts about that? And the best thing about A Shooter is that it is, well, a shooter! Although this little game fails miserably to sell itself and is often object of mockery upon a quick glance at its cover, the truth is that it's actually quite decent given the budget constraints and the limited production values involved. Once again, it's an example that in order to do things the right way one needs no big money and no big name. Keep it simple, but keep it good and make it interesting.

In the shmup world there's nothing more classic and emblematic than a spaceship cruising the vastness of outer space shooting other spaceships. That's exactly where A Shooter starts, against a shy background of scrolling stars and punctuated with just a few enemies prior to an easy boss fight. It's pretty underwhelming, to be honest. But then the magic of the genre (and the cleverness of the developer) starts to rear its shiny head. With the exception of the scrolling stars in the background, which remain the same throughout the whole game, everything else will receive a welcome boost that turns A Shooter into a surprisingly challenging and fun experience.

It seems dull, but it's actually fun

Every level comes with one power-up hidden inside a pink meteor. Power-up effect is permanent, but don't miss one or you'll be slightly underpowered during the next wave. The initial firepower is almost a joke because it's so weak, only by stage 3 it starts getting better. Each level adds a new enemy to the ones you've already dealt with, steadily increasing the challenge and the need to focus in specific dangers. As for the bosses, they're basically the same small ship that shoots the most varied bullet configurations, also getting harder with every level. One of the best features in A Shooter is that the stages are short, so the slow pace never results in dull gameplay, rather instilling the will to come back for more. Even though there are no continues, the game saves your progress and allows the selection of any beaten stage when you start a credit.

The player is allowed to take two hits before dying, and this is indicated by the color of the ship's core: green means no hits taken, yellow means you've been hit once and red is a warning of imminent GAME OVER. This life/health reserve is reset in every stage, so you'll always be able to sustain at least two hits per level. At first I thought this made the game too easy, but by the time I got to stage 9 I didn't feel the same way anymore. Blame it on the ship's large hitbox and slow speed, which demand a strict adaptation to enemy behavior and bullet manipulation. Fortunately hit detection is implemented in a competent manner, so the game never gets unfair. Tough, yes, sometimes even close to bullet hell, but not cheap at all.

Starting stock for bombs is three, and for every defeated boss you get another one out of three types: the bullet nullifier, the bullet deflector and the bullet applefier (or fruiterizer, as the developer calls it). This last one is pretty cool, since it turns all enemy bullets into apples that are worth 500 points each. Scorewise it's the only type of bomb worth using (and only during the last stages), since unused bombs result in a better end-of-stage bonus. Speaking of which, a 100% health (green core) at the end of the stage yields increasingly higher bonuses, so don't get hit and watch you scores inflate. Other collectibles that are worth something are the stars (cumulative value within the stage, up to 10.000 points each) and the occasional bee (worth 10.000 points).

Bomb treatment could've been better. A full stock will not let you incorporate the new one you get from a defeated boss. The game always starts with three nullifiers, so if you want to get the applefier it's mandatory to bomb in order to gamble on new random bombs. There's a reasonable default autofire enabled, but if necessary you can get a slightly better firing rate by tapping the button.

Trailer for A Shooter
(courtesy of YouTube user and developer SorceryGames)

A Shooter is worthwhile fun and shows a near perfect balance between a humble indie spirit, length and challenge. The music is excellent and the loud sound effects for the explosions are great. If you want to mess with the backgrounds there are several sizes you can apply to the scrolling stars in the OPTIONS menu, it's even possible to eliminate them completely. I was slightly impressed with the written tutorial, because in teaching how to play the game it also gives very solid information on how to approach gameplay in any given shmup. It's especially useful for uninitiated gamers who want to get better at the genre. Who would guess such a nice lecture would be hidden inside a little indie shmup?

The local leaderboard does not make any distinction between difficulty levels, which is a shame. There is also a global table but it's disabled on my console, probably because I'm not a gold subscriber... And below is the 1CC result I achieved on NORMAL:

Rez (Dreamcast)

Rail shooter
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
5 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by United Game Artists
Published by Sega in 2001

Among some of the most intriguing games ever designed and commercially released, Rez is certainly one to raise controversy, be it for its effectiveness as a video game or simply its genre labeling. Emerging from the legacy of the Panzer Dragoon series and infused with unique characteristics that provide a departure from the common rail shooter formula, Rez is seen by many people as an experience rather than a proper game. Sega’s marketing is partially to blame for this because the game debuted on the Dreamcast, but in all honesty there isn’t that much reason for such a fuss. At the end of the day, Rez is a game like any other, with strengths and weaknesses, and definitely worth a try regardless of genre conventions.

Now for the inevitable question: is Rez a shmup? If you agree that rail shooters qualify then the answer is yes. However, Rez is a very special type of rail shooter. Whereas in Panzer Dragoon you possess a mild ability to dodge incoming fire, in Rez you just don’t have it. Your avatar sits there in the middle of the screen, and with very few exceptions every enemy projectile that’s not destroyed will hit you and devolve your current evolutionary form. Therefore, basic gameplay is down to one simple rule: hit them before they hit you. The whole stage and sound design revolves around this concept, and every action the player takes has an influence in the music.

What the developers tried to create is a strong interaction between the player and the game, with the objective of establishing an aural synesthesia that’s supposed to “unite” both. Every shot fired inserts a beat into the rhythm, and every different form you assume (out of six) will change this beat according to a specific frequency. BPM evolves and accelerates as the stage sections unfold, following your invasion into a virtual reality. The character's main mission is to the breach the security of several layers of code (10 per stage) and free an imprisoned digital being known as Eden, all of this while going through a series of trippy, abstract landscapes to the sound of five electronic music tracks. Sound is so important in Rez that the relation between its quality and the overall experience is explicitly stressed even before the Sega logo appears when loading the game.

An ever-changing being inside a melting reality

The journey starts with the character in its primary form, a humanoid shape comprised of single geometrical forms. If you get hit you revert to the most basic and defenseless form, the sphere (another hit taken means death). Higher forms come in the shape of two more complete humanoid figures, a flying guru, a pulsating energy sphere and a fetus. In order to evolve you have to collect blue power-ups left by selected enemies - it takes 8 of these to advance to the next form. Destroying enemies is done by using a reticle. You can either aim and shoot or hold the fire button while you lock onto a maximum of 8 targets or hit points. Once locked, release the button and watch as the targets take damage. Besides the blue power-up there's also a red power-up that fills one cell of the overdrive bar. Overdrive is just another name for the screen-clearing bomb: use it to become invincible and kill everything in sight for a short time.

Rez is a deeply layered shooter, and it's not possible to tell it just by the main game mode alone. This mode, for instance, has absolutely no score - what you get at the end of every stage are just stats on the percentage of subareas "analyzed", enemies shot down and items collected. Progress is saved and you can repeat stages at will, unlocking a specific score attack mode for every level you beat, but you only get access to the last stage by achieving a 100% analyzation rate in the previous 4 stages (shooting down all the cubes that separates the layers). The real fun starts once the game is fully beaten, because then you unlock the "Beyond" mode, which includes two options called Direct Assault and Lost Area. Direct Assault is the proper game with scoring, stages in order and no continues. Lost area is just a single stage with different enemies, I wonder if it's the remainder of a beta version named K-Project (a homage to abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky, a major influence on the whole game). There are many other unlockables in Rez, most of them cascaded with beating currently unlocked modes. Extra color schemes and extra music tracks and sounds are the most useful ones; Travelling and Trance modes are just to chill out, since you don't take any damage when playing them.

It’s great to know that Rez allows a proper scoring challenge with the Beyond/Direct Assault mode. Unfortunately, delving into the scoring system also exposes the inherent flaws of the game design. Scoring works in a simple multiplier scheme, in that the more targets you lock the higher the multiplier, up to ×8 (essential hint: enable the point display in the options to see your multiplier during any score-based mode). Going for a higher score means pursuing a maximum multiplier at all times, which increases the chance of letting enemies escape (if they leave the screen you lose the multiplier) and decreases the chance of getting the best endings. These endings are achieved by getting the best shot down percentage you can in stage 5, thresholds being 95% and 100%, with a final evolutionary form upon game completion. The worst thing of all is that you only know your stats after the stage ends, so it's impossible to evaluate how you're doing during the actual gameplay. When aiming for the best endings the best strategy is to kill everything on sight on the 5th stage, which totally goes against scoring. So which player do you want to be: a scorer or a killer?

Breaching virtual security and evolving in the 5th stage of Rez
(courtesy of YouTube user TeamAndromeda)

Abstract graphics with sections that blend with each other beautifully, a profusion of colors and the audio boldness are what make some people define Rez as an experience rather than a game. Sure you can take the easy route and target everything without worrying about the lock-on. Going through all stages and flying through all those sections and bosses feels great when you're in the right state of mind. However, things get a lot more serious (and a lot more fun in my opinion) when scoring is considered. For starters, the top score in the Direct Assault mode is one million points, which is considerably high and demands absolute focus and a lot more risk if you want to take over 1st place. Furthermore, performing well during a stage triggers a harder boss at the end of it. In any case, balancing lock-ons for a higher score while getting the best possible shot down ratio is the ultimate achievement you can get.

Regardless of the approach, Rez is one of those titles that must be tried at least once, even if you're not a fan of rail shooters. Alternative options to the Dreamcast version can be found on the PS2 and the Xbox 360. On the 1CC highest score shown below (Beyond > Direct Assault) I got the ending where Eden opens her hands and the screen fades to white. No butterflies yet, maybe in the future, in one of the other versions... This time I did beat the game in the final form, but the shot down ratio was 87,79%, with an item count of 70,59%.

Prehistoric Isle in 1930 (PSP)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
1 Difficulty level
5 Stages
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by SNK in 1989
Published by SNK Playmore in 2011

Coming out from SNK in its pre-Neo Geo days, Prehistoric Isle in 1930 is a dinosaur-ridden shooter full of creativity and heavily bent on destroying unaware players who refuse to approach the game in a methodical way. On my first sessions, while flying back and forth to Rio, it was excruciatingly hard just to get past the second stage. Sure I could blame the PSP format and its stinky d-pad, but even after I turned on to MAME for practice it took me a long time to feel comfortable with the game and get the confidence needed to return to the PSP.

The SNK Arcade Classics 0 compilation was released in April 2011 for the PSP in Japan, and a first round of testing quickly showed that Prehistoric Isle was the highlight of the game selection - for us shmuppers anyway. It was just too cool to be left aside, and really well made for a 1989 title. If there ever was anything game-related made with dinosaurs that sucked, the people involved should be hanged and sliced to pieces. There’s such a strong and fantastic aura about dinosaurs that even the most lackluster products involving these extinct animals aren’t really a waste. Of course that’s not the case here, so shooter fans who dig great production values and a good challenge will have nothing to complain about.

A biplane (or biplanes in co-op play) is sent on a mission to investigate strange occurrences in the area of the Bermuda Triangle, around a “Greenhell Isle”. The island is dangerous and filled with all sorts of prehistoric menaces, from insects to cavemen and large reptiles. There are no signs of civilization anywhere, and the only help you get comes from inside the flying eggs that carry power-ups.

A clunky stegosaur lurks inside the caves of the last stage

One of the most cruel facts about Prehistoric Isle is that it deceives the audience into thinking that the pod/orb you get once you collect your first power-up will be there to help you throughout the whole game. You're allowed to rotate it clockwise around the plane at the press of a button, taking advantage of its R-Typeish nature of blocking most incoming fire, damaging enemies and providing extra firepower. However, after a certain amount of beating the pod will lose its color (some people say it "rusts"), and the next damage taken will make it disappear. To restore the pod's health you must either take another power-up or collect a specific special item (keep reading). Problem 1: once you reach maximum power (5 Ps), power-ups cease to appear. Problem 2: the special items are random and sometimes don't appear at all.

Once the pod disintegrates, power-ups start showing up again. Then the whole process of activating the pod and further increasing its strength restarts, but depending on when this happens you're pretty much overwhelmed and screwed beyond belief by the prehistoric creatures and unforgiving bosses. It's sincerely disconcerting to see a great credit end in sheer desperation due to the loss of the pod. This realization is the bane of the gameplay in Prehistoric Isle: all the player's efforts must be aimed at preserving pod health. Let it take hits only when extremely necessary, such as during the fight against the second boss, and pray for one of the healing special items to appear at key points in the game. Besides power-ups (P) and speed-ups (S), destroyed eggs also bring money ($, worth from 100 to 1.000 points), a 5s time-bomb, a rapid-fire powerful cannon or an all-encompassing pod shield that makes you virtually invincible. Now here's the catch: only these last two items (the cannon and the shield) restore the pod to its full health once their temporary effect has passed. They may appear only at certain points in the game: twice in the 1st, once in the 3rd and once in the 4th stage. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, it's actually very common to play the whole game with none of them appearing at all.

Without the pod there's no chance at surviving in the game. Its protection function cannot be used when you're at full power, but the extra weaponry it provides should be exploited at all times. When pointing forward, it will replace the normal shot with a powerful cannon; diagonals down will release bombs like in Darius; pointing up and down unleashes a fire wave that bounces on surfaces; and diagonals up shoot energy balls in 45° that also bounce back. Anticipating the danger is the best way to use the pod's capabilities and have a chance at winning. Factor in the timing when moving the pod and you have yet another gameplay aspect to deal with, since turning it past the point where you want it to rest can be fatal. On the PSP you can configure the buttons at will, but unfortunately it does not offer an autofire option. We're talking about hardcore portable shmupping at its best here!

Though very hard, not everything in the gameplay works in favor of difficulty. Touching walls will only make you bounce slightly, and it's impossible to get too fast by taking successive speed-ups. Extends are score-based and come with 100.000 and 200.000 points only.

Watch out for the brachiosaur's bite!
(courtesy of YouTube user DarkMurdoc666)

Some hints to score higher: kill all enemies in a single wave to get an extra bonus; certain enemies spawn smaller versions of themselves or generate insects, so letting them live is advantageous; wait to collect money until it's about to leave the screen, since it's always worth more points this way; rank is related to survival, and more enemies are generated the longer you go on without dying.

Prehistoric Isle in 1930 has tons of variety in its enemy and stage design. With the exception of the quick second stage all levels are quite long, with bosses and mid-bosses that are described by brief stat messages before they enter the screen. Cavemen will try to bring you down by grabbing the plane and inducing an extra amount of weight, never mind the lack of proportions between them and everything else you see. Every stage is unique in its setting, the use of color is outstanding, sound effects of animal growls abound (there's even a nautilus that barks!) and the music is so good and fitting it could be used in any Land of the Lost episode or remake with excellent results.

On the SNK Arcade Classics 0 disc, SELECT pauses the game and calls up the menu, and START initiates a credit. Prehistoric Isle can be played in its original resolution or stretched, and either one is fine. Extras include a sound test and a graphic gallery with posters and arcade flyers for all titles. I played the game with the PSP connected to the TV, and cleared it losing two lives in the last section of the caverns, just before the tyrannosaurus (the same one that growls in the game's opening screen and isn't as tough as a few of the previous bosses). Sequel: Prehistoric Isle 2.

Gunbird (Playstation)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
7 Difficulty levels
7 Stages (loopable)
Ship speed fixed, selectable at start
- - - - - - -
Developed by Psikyo
Published by Atlus in 1995

After its debut in the arcade scene as a full-blown company with Sengoku Ace, Psikyo gave birth to two new shmup series practically at the same time. While Strikers 1945 adopted a straightforward military theme, its sibling Gunbird invested in a fantasy setting with slightly wacky humor. Both share the same basic structure, therefore the "sibling" association and the undeniable stench of lazyness that pops up whenever people start digging deep into Psikyo's output. Yes, Strikers 1945 and Gunbird are indeed drawn out from the same mold, shmup soul mates that have been poorly scrutinized by critics and players alike. But that doesn't mean these games aren't worthwhile.

The truth is that value in Psikyo games is almost exclusively gauged by gameplay, unlike the majority of titles out there, even shmups. Unless you find that sweet spot where a Psikyo shmup starts getting compelling, more often than not you're left with a "very short game" and varying degrees of frustration. Appreciation for graphical design, though well deserved in its own right, is put aside in face of the game's merciless bullet patterns. What matters is that Gunbird is quintessential Psikyo, not overly tough but no walk in the park either, and offers a great burst of fun that's also a nice way to test if the company's style is your cup of tea. The Playstation port is a controversial choice to try it, but more on that later.

Choosing one of five characters will make the game more or less difficult, never mind their polemic characterizations. Ash is supposed to be a pedophile and Tetsu is openly homossexual, but that I derived from others who were able to read the Japanese text in the cut scenes. Too bad I can't understand them.

Yuan Nang floats on her cloud against one of the bosses

All characters have the same basic attacks, which consist of the normal weapon (rapid fire), a charge shot and a bomb. They all have varying speeds and mildly different charging times, with bombs that might make a difference between life and death when you're trapped - Ash and Tetsu were shafted with a noticeable delay on their bombs, so extra planning is definitely needed when using them (no panic function for these guys). However, Ash is the fastest and has the strongest shot, while Tetsu is the slowest and weakest with the exception of his powerful long-range charge shot, which seems to take longer than the others to charge. In the middle spectrum we have protagonist Marion, a Sailor Moon-esque teenager who rides a broom, controls a talking rabbit (obvious Alice in Wonderland reference) and whose average firepower is complemented by homing stars (good to take out random popcorn stuff). Yuan-Nang and Valnus both share devastating close-range charge shots, but since his bomb lacks power it's quite clear that Nang is the best character in the game.

Items are released by oval carriers, larger enemies or boss parts, and consist of power-ups (P) and extra bombs (B). Psikyo implemented a timed power-down scheme in Gunbird: it takes three power-up items to reach maximum power, but this maximum level only lasts for a while unless you take another P before this time expires, for which you also score 2.000 extra points. Probably in order to compensate for this and the increasing bullet count, whenever you touch an enemy one of your power-ups will get loose and wander off for you to re-take it (if you're at the default level you start expelling bombs). After a while you'll pretty much find yourself preserving power-ups on screen so that you can always be at maximum power and benefit from the score bonuses. Scoring can also be positively affected by taking ground coins and by destroying all boss parts before dispatching them.

The initial three stages are shuffled from four available ones, with the last four being played in a fixed order. Bosses are huge machines operated by a group of vile and funny thugs led by a femme fatale, who stole and broke a magical mirror that all heroes are trying to put back together in order to fight the evil last boss, as seen in the intro to the game. Dialogue is shown both in-game and between stages, and if you're playing in co-op they will change to reflect the interaction between the characters. I like the music and the way it goes from cartoony compositions to darker, more serious tunes as the game comes closer to the final sections.

The horrendous US port from XS Games
(courtesy of YouTube user Vysethedetermined2)

Just like most Psikyo shooters, Gunbird rewards aggressive play and encourages point-blank strategies. Rank is dependent on survival, and the longer you stay alive the faster bullets will come towards you. Playing this game in short bursts is probably the best approach to avoid burnouts and ragequits, soon enough it clicks and the loop is reasonably within reach. There's only one extend at 400.000 points, and if you're able to beat the game prepare for a speedy bullet hell in the second loop. Remember that continuing doesn't reset the score, instead it adds a "1" to the last digit.

Regarding the Playstation ports, the copy I own is the Japanese one. It comes with character and art galleries as extras, and the game itself runs in a wobbling fashion that's not as bad as it sounds. Unfortunately there's no saving functionality and no TATE option either, both being the main reasons why Gunbird on the Saturn (Japan exclusive) is the superior port if you have to choose one. Please avoid the US localization for the PS1. Released by XS Games in 2003 as Mobile Light Force, it's an atrocity that disfigures the original character design beyond recognition, since it changes some of their names and removes all the in-game text. In this version Valnus is called Milf 2000! What were these people thinking?? They also removed the animated intro and all galleries present in the Japanese port. Well, at least the gameplay was left intact, if that counts for something...

Since I had already used Yuan-Nang when I beat the Saturn version, this time around I played with Marion. The final score below ended at the boss in stage 2-1, with the default difficulty setting (5).

Burning Angels (PC Engine)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
5 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by naxat soft
Published by naxat soft in 1990

The introduction to Burning Angels shows one of the “angels” – girls who pilot spaceships – being kidnapped by nasty evildoers. I wonder if there was supposed to be some inspirational connection with Charlie’s Angels, since the two remaining girls responsible for rescueing the kidnapped one always appear in sexy outfits while controlling their respective ships, kinda like what you’d expect from an edgy serial starred by strong female leads. The “burning” part of the title certainly refers to the special weapons these girls are able to deploy, so brace up for a fast, reflex-driven vertical shooter as you choose one of them to rescue your colleague.

Despite its strong run-of-the-mill nature, Burning Angels tries to be a little different by having two screen modes to choose from. Not only can you play the game in full screen resolution, but you can also shrink it horizontally in order to emulate an arcadey feel on your TV set. I didn’t like this mode at all, it seemed unnatural with everything looking horribly compressed. A real TATE mode would’ve been better, but I guess it was too much to ask from a console game back in 1990. Co-op play was a much more feasible asset, and if you like to shmup with a friend then this one is yet another choice for some serious shooting cooperation.

3rd stage stones cannot be destroyed, only slowed down

When playing solo, you can choose one of the two heroines who pilot two different spaceships: the Dragon and the "Phenix". Both travel at the same speed but have a very distinct arsenal. The Dragon ship is equipped with a wave shot as its main weapon, with fixed pods and long-range missiles. The "Phenix" ship shoots what seems to be bubbles, has rotating pods and short-range exploding missiles. All icons are released by a pink carrier: P increases the ship's power, B activates the auxiliary pods, M activates the missiles and L refills a bit of the health meter. After a while stars start appearing: collect them in order to fill the "burning" bar located between both ship's huds. If this bar is at the blue level, press combinations of buttons I or II with SELECT and watch as both ships merge in order to unleash a devastating attack. Button I + SELECT will turn the ship's firepower into a deadly laser beam, while button II + SELECT will render the ship invincible as it assumes the form of a flaming phoenix. Pressing SELECT without combining it with any of the buttons has no results whatsoever.

Every time you get hit you lose a little health and part of your firepower is reduced. First you lose the missiles, then the pods and then one power-up level until you get back to the default shot (it takes two Ps to max out the main weapon). Pods are capable of inflicting damage and absorbing bullets, and represent the best defense against some enemies who shoot only when they get very close to the bottom of the screen. It was pretty clear to me after just a few tries that the Dragon ship is better than the "Phenix", whose only advantage is a more powerful missile attack. There's no problem if you're able to keep all power-ups with the "Phenix", but once you start getting hit and you lose power it's really tough to keep up with the enemy waves. The rotating pods are also very unreliable when trying to block incoming bullets.

One of the trademarks in Burning Angels is how aggressive the initial bosses are. Their attacks are blazing fast and practically demand that you activate the burning attack if you want to get past them unharmed. Getting rammed by them also takes away a much larger chunk of health. A good strategy is to activate the burning attack before their nastier moves, knowing that the burning power is used only when you actually press the fire button. The third boss, for instance, can be defeated really fast before he does his initial clockwise arc if you use the burning laser for a brief while. In all cases, burning energy must be properly managed because it's not easy to refill the bar up to the blue level once you deplete it completely.

Intro to Burning Angels
(courtesy of YouTube user kingarthurpendragon)

It's safe to assume people will recognize qualities in this game, such as the frantic pace of most stages, a few nice BGMs here and there (despite the weak audio) and a humble albeit decent character design - our ladies meet and talk in between stages; one of them pilots the ship in a hoverbike fashion, the other sits back in the cockpit. Graphics are okay for the rather generic sci-fi motif, with some occasional layers of parallax and mid-bosses to spice up the action.

The only real issues I see in the game are the excess of enemies coming from the bottom of the screen from stage 3 onwards, the cumbersome way of deploying the burning attack (regular button with choice through SELECT would be much better), the lack of a high score buffer and the highly unstable scoring system. Example: sometimes you get out of the first stage with 120.000 points, but most of the time you'll only get 90.000 points, perhaps even less. At first I thought it was related to speed kills, but it doesn't seem to be the case, and destructible parts are not to be seen. I just can't figure out what influences what. Another prime example is the large ship that appears at the very beginning of the game: watch the score counter and try to get 10.000 points. In my case, 9 out of 10 times I only scored 5.000.

Burning Angels has no CONTINUES, but the game is on the short side and gives a decent challenge. The difficulty spike in stage 3 might incur in a mild frustration factor, and the best way to deal with it is to master the burning attack. Once you do it health isn't much of a problem because there are plenty of L items to help you go the distance. And the strangest thing of all: bosses become easier as the game reaches the end. My 1CC high score was achieved with Dragon on NORMAL, with regular (wide) screen resolution.

Silpheed (Sega CD)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
2 Difficulty levels
12 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Game Arts
Published by Game Arts in 1993

Available in a few PC formats since 1986, Silpheed graced the Sega CD library in 1993, wowing gamers with sleek polygon visuals and a sci-fi presentation that remains astonishing to this day. Polygons are what caused heated comparisons with Star Fox on the SNES, which came out the same year and proved to be a smash hit among shooter fans. Although this comparison helped fuel the competition between Sega and Nintendo during the 16-bit wars, it was without a doubt a foolish one. After all, Silpheed is a true vertical shmup, and Star Fox is one of the few rail shooters available for the SNES. Polygons are the whole basis and foundation of Star Fox, whereas Silpheed mixes them with sprites in order to create the illusion of an intergalactic war, complete with massively huge battleships, deadly lasers and lots of debris flying everywhere.

In the year 3076, tactical fighter spacecraft SA-77 Silpheed must travel 64 light years until reaching the Earth. You're its pilot and your mission is to take down a cosmic bad guy. Besides the game itself, your journey is conveyed by a series of cool polygon animated intermissions with great voice-over narrations. The introdution, for instance, is one of the most epic I've ever seen in any shmup, and I can just wonder how amazing it must've been to witness such awesomeness back in 1993 (I arrived quite late to the party). There is, however, a wide gap between these animated visuals and the actual gameplay, in what I consider to be the defining aspect whether or not someone will endorse Silpheed as a great shmup.

Watch out for the planet!

The first time you see your ship it's hard not to think of it as a wimpy looking spacecraft. The vertical perspective is tilted, and the ship gets even tinier as you move up the screen. The starting background for the first level isn't that impressive, the music is kinda cheesy and your guns feel slightly underpowered as waves of enemies swarm by in a familiar fashion many will immediately associate with Galaga. Nevertheless, there's an underlying heartbeat of greater things to come, hinted by a battleship that's reduced to shreds by a series of giant lasers just before the boss fight. A treacherous asteroid belt follows in the second level. By the time the third stage starts and a huge spaceship gets in the way of your bullets, it's quite obvious that Silpheed has many tricks up its sleeve, and loads of charm to attest its reputation of a Sega CD must-have.

With the exception of the first stage, every time a new level starts you halt at a weapon selection screen so that you can equip the ship. It’s possible to carry one main weapon on each side of the Silpheed, so you’re always shooting pair combinations of forward beam, wide beam, phalanx beam (best one in my opinion) and auto-aiming shot. These weapons are not instantly available - a new one is added for every 40.000 points you score. You can also assign one of the following optional weapons for each stage: graviton bomb (blocks bullets), EM defense system (shield), photon torpedo (slight homing ability) and anti-matter bomb (very powerful). They appear at random with every 50.000 points, and you can't use the same one in two consecutive stages. The use of optional weapons is limited, and its stock is automatically filled the more enemies you kill.

Lives in Silpheed work according to a health meter with 6 hits. After the 6th hit you get a message of "no shield". Getting hit again will cause "weapon failure", where only one of your selected main weapons will work. A further hit will trigger "engine failure", impairing movement and terribly slowing down the ship. In this condition, the next hit you take means GAME OVER. To recover health you must take repair items by destroying crystals that come from the top (you also get some health back in between stages). The crystals will also release bonus points (1.000 to 10.000), extra energy for the optional weapons and items for screen wipe-out and temporary invincibility. Sometimes you have to be sharp to get these items, they come staggering down and it's very easy to lose them when you're trying to dodge all the incoming fire.

Silpheed: stage 4
(courtesy of YouTube user Arcingi)

Despite the pale impressions from the first stage, the gameplay in Silpheed is smooth as silk and gets quite intense in later levels. Enemies will arrive in the most diverse formations from all sides, armed with aimed shots, kamikaze movement patterns and a wide variety of bullet spreads. Sometimes there’s so much going on that a few seconds of distraction are enough to reach a no-shield situation. More than the actual dodging, getting used to enemy behavior is the key to success in this game. Using the optional weapons wisely is also a good thing to do.

Silpheed is all about atmosphere, exuding an unique charm especially among other 16-bit shooters. The aesthetic effect that results from the use of polygon pre-rendered backgrounds is amazing. I feel like I’m fighting the death star from Star Wars every time I approach the 2nd boss. And the descent into a space fortress in stage 4 is even more impressive. Sound effects are great and most of the music evokes the outer space theme quite nicely, even though there’s a scratchy undertone to the whole audio in the game. And let’s not forget about the radio voice-over and this guy shouting useful tips such as “turn left” or “watch out for the cannon”, which adds greatly to the sense of action. He reminds me of the B-52’s lead singer when he yells “look at the size of that thing!”. Shmup shack, bay-beeeee… Gosh, I must be really old to remember these things.

Online sources point to two tougher difficulty levels, but I didn't get any results by doing the command sequences to get them. Once the credit is over you get a screen showing your score and stats for enemies destroyed and weapons fired. Don't press anything if you want to play for keepsies and register your performance! My new 1CC high score on NORMAL is just a little bit above the previous one I had.

A last note about the game: it received a sequel for the Playstation 2 called Silpheed - The Lost Planet, which supposedly preserves the same feel and atmosphere of the Sega CD chapter. Is it any good? I expect to find out soon!

Chaos Field (Dreamcast)

Vertical
Checkpoints OFF
3 Difficulty levels
5 Stages
Ship speed fixed
- - - - - - -
Developed by Milestone
Published by Milestone/Able Corporation in 2004

Some bullet hell shooters are really friendly towards the player on his/her first try. A classic example would be the DoDonPachi games, because they have simple controls that don't impose any heavy influence in a quick gaming session. And then there are bullet hell shmups that will teach you the meaning of rape on your first go. Game in question: Chaos Field. First Milestone shooter and, quite frankly, my favorite so far. A game that scares neophytes and doesn't want to make any friends. It floods the screen with bullets and leaves you dizzy with what seems to be a plethora of controls to manage. No, most people do not have fun on their first contact with Chaos Field. However, as intimidating and cruel as it is, the game does get addictive after a while.

Being a boss rush is what people seem to remember most about Chaos Field. Three bosses per stage (hereby named "phases"), with absolutely no cannon fodder. This departure from the norm creates interesting gameplay situations, all of which require strategy, memorization and a deep knowledge of scoring devices. Never mind the mildly washed out graphics, upon which some primitive textures (for Dreamcast standards) are applied. What lacks in graphical flair is more than compensated by the amazing techno soundtrack and a neat scoring system, a combination that's ultimately what drives me the most to enjoy a shmup. As its name implies, at first glance Chaos Field came off as a chaotic experience, so the first thing I had to do was find a comfortable controller configuration in order to start the journey.

Shooting is the main form of attack. Secondary firepower consists of a short-range sword, a lock-on attack and the "wing-layer", basically a bullet sponge that works as a shield. The last control input is the field shifter: upon the press of a button you switch from order field to chaos field and vice-versa (you'll know which mode you're on by the display below the score counter). Imagine two parallel realities sharing the same space. Order field is the starting/default mode. In chaos field the whole game acquires a red tint and enemy aggression doubles, but you get a boost in firepower and the lock-on shot is capable of locking on to bullets as well. You can't shift between the fields at will - a new shift is only possible after a few seconds, when a surrounding aura appears in front of the ship while you hear a subtle sound cue.

Ifumi gives some trouble to boss 1-3

Getting used to all these controls is no easy task, and it took me a while to do it. Bear in mind that the original arcade game has only three buttons, which calls for button combinations in order to trigger the special attacks. Fortunately the Dreamcast version allows mapping of all controls, and after trying out several configurations this is what I came up with: shot (A), sword (X), lock-on (B), wing-layer (R) and field shift (L). Once the control was set up, it was time to get used to the meta gauge, which is the fuel for lock-on and wing-layer. Each of these special attacks consumes one cell of the gauge. Destroying boss parts with the regular firepower or the lock-on will release meta cubes/sparks that get automatically drawn to the ship if you stop shooting for a split second, refilling the gauge. If the gauge is full the cubes will change color and add to the score, and if you lose a life you'll receive a small batch of meta cubes to refill the gauge.

The purpose of using lock-on and wing-layer attacks is to build up a multiplier combo. Every absorbed bullet and every boss part or bullet that gets locked onto adds to the multiplier. There is a timer that decreases whenever no bullets are being blocked or no bullets/boss parts are being targeted, and if the timer runs out the combo is lost. Therefore, the meta gauge must be kept filled so that you have enough fuel to keep the combo going (remember that bullets blocked by the sword don't count). Meta cubes are more easily obtained in order field, so a basic rule in the game is to always refill it in the order field before going into chaos field for better combo possibilities.

There are three characters to choose from, each one demanding a completely different gameplay approach since their weapons are widely distinct from each other. Hal’s the most balanced one, with a nice round wing-layer that’s perfect to nullify turrets. Ifumi’s laser (which would eventually make it to Radirgy, Milestone's second shmup) is weaker, but her wing-layer rotates around her. Jinn is the most awkward to use because of the way his shots work, as in a series of explosions. Hal is a no-brainer because he’s clearly the best choice both for surviving and for scoring.

In line with the complexity of its control scheme, the true joy of Chaos Field lies in its details. Here are a few hints I came up with:

• watch the introduction tutorial to have an idea of where the hitbox of your ship is located;
• there are aimed bullets and non-aimed bullets; most of the time the mindless non-aimed bullet spams from bosses can be easily avoided by knowing where to stand (remember to block bullets with the sword when needed);
• purple bullets and homing lasers cannot be neutralized/blocked; if possible, destroy their sources as fast as you can;
• while there’s no smart bomb anywhere in the game, this dear panic function we shmuppers all love is actually hidden within the gameplay: every time you switch fields all blockable bullets are melted, giving the player an invaluable tool to evade hairy situations;
• the sword can be activated in up to three consecutive slashes; slash and time it wisely for better results, since there’s a slight delay after its animation is over; this delay often interferes with your field shifting or special weapon usage;
• enemy behavior is ALWAYS the same; no rank, no surprises, the secret is to memorize and conquer;
• though you have plenty of time to kill the bosses, all fights are timed; timing out is bad because you don't reap the points you'd normally get from them, so pay attention to their health bar;
• in-between boss encounters the combo might be lost; activate the lock-on to freeze the timer temporarily and keep the chain going.

Professional chaining on the first phase of Chaos Field with pilot Hal
(courtesy of YouTube user MaximilianoDent)

Chaos Field is tough, but offers an excellent rush once you start to understand its scoring system. One of the turning points for me was when I started coming out of the first stage with over 20 million points and both extends already activated (first with 8 and second with 20 million). In my opinion the trickiest chain to pull off is in boss 3-2, that’s why getting a decent combo in stage 3 always felt good. And even though I can chain the whole last stage, the tension provided by the last boss always kept me from reaching the 9.999 maximum combo. I did it only once while practicing, but more frustrating than not reaching the desired combo value is losing it all right before the boss dies.

The Japanese Dreamcast received a straight port from the arcade game, packed with a brief albeit cool intro. Loading times are almost negligible, and the few cut scenes are instantaneously skippable. The necessary slowdown seems to be too much at times, and I heard reports saying this version has it in excess (a comparison with the PS2 port might be done someday). It bugs me that the game keeps track of your play time and saves your control configuration, yet it doesn’t save high scores. And why no level select for practice? There should be a law forcing companies to add it in bullet hell shooters!

And did I mention the mesmerizing soundtrack? [yes, I did, I know] Techno is not my thing, but when you’re dancing with that rotating globe in stage 2 amidst all those bullet showers I can't help but feel I'm experiencing pure shmup bliss. Try it after cranking up the volume for best results!

My 1CC clear was achieved with Hal, with a max combo of 7.124 (NORMAL).