Capcom bring another top-down shooter to Dreamcast with this publication of Psiyko's
Gunbird 2, and while it's not as all-out inventive or impressive to look at as
their other shooter on the system (the wonderful Zero Gunner 2), this is still
a solid little blast in its own right, and its style is a refreshing change from
the ultra-serious stance taken by the majority of other shooters available to
Dreamcast owners.
The unlikely tale of a search for some kind of magic medicine, the game focuses
on a variety of characters, all of whom have different attributes, and some of
whom (such as Morrigan) will be familiar to seasoned gaming fans. The differences
in the playability and the handling of the characters is pronounced - these are
not merely aesthetic changes, and those who select Morrigan purely because of
her good looks will be forced to come to terms with her relatively weedy standard
attack power and jumpy, twitchy handling. Each character is possessed of a number
of different methods of attack; the standard shot which can be powered up from
downed enemies, the smart bomb, a 'close attack' which is very powerful but forces
players dangerously close to the enemy, and a charge shot. All the attacks - even
the standard shot - differ for all the characters, which means that for the completists,
there is a lot of gaming to be had here. Those with only a passing interest in
this type of game will likely pick one character and stick to him/her, which is
a shame - the dynamics of the gameplay are radically affected by character choice,
and while the levels always remain the same, different characters are often forced
to tackle them in different ways.
The presentation of this title is adequate for the genre, but certainly doesn't
push the hardware. The backgrounds and characters are nicely drawn and well animated
(on occasion, they're extremely well animated), and everything flies smoothly
by without a hint of slowdown - which is as it should be. Towns, villages and
castles are rendered in a cartoon style not seen before on Dreamcast shooters,
and are populated by little sprites running around as the action takes place above
them. The bullet sprays in this game are impressive, but by and large are nowhere
near as complex as those found in other games on Dreamcast (such as Gigawing or
Mars Matrix). While the graphics are functional, the sounds are great - upbeat
and gloriously cheesy music is punctuated by all manner of screams, shouts and
explosions which have been well acted and well used. The game itself works on
a number of levels thanks to the extremely well-handled difficulty settings, something
which the game shares with its stable-mate Zero Gunner 2 - the shooting novice
can have a great time on 'baby' and 'child' mode and start to be stretched by
'very easy', while even seasoned shooting fans will struggle to make it though
the higher difficulty levels in once piece.
The difference the game level makes to enemies, speed, and most importantly
to the number of bullets you will find racing towards you, is staggering. This
is a good thing, especially for the novice gamer, as someone new to the genre
will not be nearly so put off by the amount of gunfire on screen here as they
would be by, for example, Mars Matrix on its easiest setting, which still fills
the screen with hundreds, maybe thousands of bullets. This is encouraging, helping
to make a new gamer feel that maybe he or she could complete this game on one
credit, as such games should be completed - a feeling which certainly would
not be engendered once a cautious gamer reaches level two of Mars Matrix. With
no 'shield' feature to speak of other than smart bombs, dodging skills are essential,
and this game is a fine place to cultivate them - shielding until you can shield
no more and then losing a life is not an option, a problem which plagues newcomers
trying to come to terms with Takumi's shooting games.
The main problem with the game is its shortness. Vertical shooters have never
been noted for their size, but some of the seven levels of this game offer fewer
than 60 seconds of gaming before the boss encounter takes place. This won't
be perceived as a problem by those who are already sold on this kind of game,
but a newcomer may well feel short-changed by how little is on offer. Further
to the shortness issue, the game offers free play (infinite credits) from the
outset, and while it's not as much of a spoiler as it was on the Gigawing games
(from stage 5 onwards in this game, losing a credit means restarting the stage),
those with no willpower and no real talent can see all the game has to offer
on their first play.
In common with other top-down shooters, the original aspect ratio of the arcade
version of this game is hard to replicate on a 4:3 television. Psyiko offer
gamers three ways around this. "Original Mode 1" is a standard conversion
job whereby the screen is shrunk and vertical borders are imposed on the left
and right of the screen. "Original Mode 2" allows gamers the chance
to experience fullsize graphics and the option to manually scroll the screen
up and down to see the bits which they're missing. The interesting "Arcade
Mode" displays the game on its side, effectively turning the television
screen from a horizontal 4:3 display to a vertical 3:4 display which is closer
to the original arcade cabinet. This is a nice idea, and it's good to see it
implemented; the actual number of gamers who would go to the lengths of setting
their TV on its side in order to play this game properly, however, is probably
not too high.
Importers should also note that the game, similarly to certain other Capcom
produced titles, is RGB locked; whether this is representative of the relative
rareness of RGB connections in Japan or an attempt by Capcom to control the
import market is unclear - what is certain, however, is that UK gamers will
need to connect their Dreamcasts via composite or (ideally) S-Video before they
can play this game. This is irritating, and while it's a shame to have to give
up an RGB connection, there won't be a lot of gamers who intend to buy this
game because of its graphics, and so the compromise doesn't take the edge off
the game too much.
All things considered, this game is easy to recommend to all fans of old-skool
video games. It doesn't take itself too seriously and is certainly not as hardcore
as the likes of Mars Matrix (although as the difficulty level increases, it's
certainly no pushover), which will be seen as a definite bonus for those who
are not interested in more-hardcore-than-thou gameplay as a motivating factor
for their purchasing.
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