Product description
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G. Darius Playstation
Review
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The Darius series has never gained the respect it deserves in
the US, and perhaps G Darius is the title that can turn that
around. It's definitely one of the more bizarre shooter series.
The premise behind Darius is simple - shoot the giant robotic
fish. Yes, fish. As ludicrous as it sounds, the bounty of the sea
is fighting back, and it's up to two Silver Hawk-brand fighter
pilots to single-handedly save the universe from a slew of
menacing crustaceans and cetaceans.
Despite the game's questionable tag line, "You will see the
creation of new lives," G Darius offers little more than the
purest and most satisfying side-scrolling destruction. In
addition to the upgradable lasers, missiles, and shields, you
have a unique weapon at your disposal - the capture ball. Instead
of the screen-clearing bombs of most shooters, G Darius gives you
a supply of hypnotic orbs with which to ensnare the mechanical
marine life. With a few exceptions, most standard enemies can be
captured. More impressive, however, is the ability to capture the
game's midbosses after inflicting a certain a of damage.
Following a successful capture, you have a number of options.
Most enemies form up alongside the Silver Hawk, acting like the
Options of the Gradius days, firing with you. Other enemies have
no attacks, simply protecting the ship. After playing a number of
times, you will quickly find your favorite enemy types for
handling a given situation, adding (god forbid) an element of
strategy to the bullet-dodging insanity. But wait, there's more!
Tapping the capture ball button when accompanied by an enemy will
detonate it, providing a temporary nuclear cloud to absorb
projectiles and damage any enemies hess enough to fly into it.
Finally, and most satisfying, is the ability to transform the
enemy into a huge column of energy to slay your nents en
masse. This introduces the all-important concept of
counterattacks. When fighting bosses, all of which are equipped
with similar beams, firing a blast into another will result in a
tap fest for superiority, the winner of which will absorb the
other's energy and cause his beam to swell to twice its former
size. Once mastered, filling half the screen with pulsing blue
energy is entirely feasible, obviously resulting in a massive,
graphically satisfying dose of damage.
All G Darius' bosses are grand in design, function, and size.
Some span many screens, only letting you attack a portion of the
beasts at a time. As with all Darius games, you choose your path
through the game's 15 levels. In addition, each level has two
subpaths. At the end of each subpath is a variation on the
stage's boss, sporting a different color palette and a slightly
altered array of attacks. As a result, you could say that G
Darius has 30 unique bosses. With so many paths and bosses, nine
difficulty levels, and a boss-only mode, G Darius offers more
value than the typical shooter.
An old-school 2D shooter at heart, G Darius has been given a
visual makeover in the vein of Square's Einhander. Each beautiful
level is rendered in unique real-time 3D, each locale offering
lots of background eye candy. A number of the game's projectiles
opt for 2D sprites over 3D, resulting in a bizarre dimensional
contrast. This doesn't hurt the game's visual appeal too much and
is actually helpful, making the bullets easier to see and dodge.
Musically, G Darius sports the tunes of famed Taito music team,
Zuntata. Skillfully blending operatic choruses and power tools
with a techno/new age flair, G Darius' tunes are anywhere from
soothing to nerve-wracking, but always appropriate and catchy. G
Darius' sound effects are just there and nothing more.
G Darius does have a few flaws, but most are overshadowed by the
rest of the game. While the laser counterattacks were difficult
to pull off in the Japanese arcade version, the PlayStation
version sports a rapid-fire button that makes these a snap - a
curse or a blessing, depending on how quickly you would like to
beat the game. G Darius also features a Darius-trademarked
variable frame rate - not exactly a feature; slowdown plagues
parts of G Darius and is annoyingly absent in others. Finally, in
a few areas, it can be difficult to tell obstacles from
background art, usually resulting in an untimely death. Not that
it makes them any less annoying when they happen, but these
instances are rare.
It's good to see the shooter genre making a comeback. G Darius is
a frenetic shooter with a surprising a of depth, bound to
please anyone who enjoyed Einhander and can get over the whole
fish thing. THQ has once again outdone its former self and done
stateside shooter fans a service by releasing G Darius completely
intact, adding only its logo to the beginning of the game.
--Peter Bartholow
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
- Over 13 levels with 5 different endings.
