Capcom reach the pinnacle of hardcore Dreamcast shooting action with the release
of this Takumi-designed blasting masterclass. Although other Dreamcast shooters
exist, and although it certainly can't be said that those other shooters don't
present a challenge, the sheer number of bullets that are thrown in the player's
direction during this game make this a challenge for only the most dedicated of
shoot 'em up fans.
Whatever story exists is told in a well executed intro sequence, which for most
gamers will be half watched then skipped past to get to the game proper. The menu
screen lists the extensive number of options available to the gamer - there are
more ways to play this game then there are most other Dreamcast shooters (Arcade
Mode, Arrange Mode A and B with entirely different enemies and attack patterns,
and three separate Score Attack Modes). Opting to start the game in whatever mode
will present the player with a choice of two craft with which to assault whoever
it is they're fighting against - one with high-powered forward lasers, one with
slightly lesser powered spread lasers. Upon selection, a (skippable) demo section
explains the use of the weapon types in the game. Your craft is equipped with
a standard laser, fired by continual taps of the firebutton - nothing new here.
The 'piercing cannon', a very powerful short-range attack, is fired with less
frequent taps of the firebutton, which will allow the cannon to charge. Finally,
your ship has a bullet-catching shield which doubles up as a handy smart bomb;
holding down the firebutton causes the shield to become effective and the counter
at the bottom of the screen to drop. Let go of the button before the shield counter
reaches zero and all the bullets you've caught will fly off and back towards the
enemies. Let the counter get right to the bottom, and the Gravity Hole Bomb will
be launched - a powerful strike which will destroy most bad guys, but will leave
you unable to use your shield again until the counter is fully charged - a period
of only five or six seconds which seems like years in the middle of a firefight.
Upon completion of this demo, the game starts. It starts gently enough, with a
few enemy craft circling the screen, the occasional one or two having a sly shot
at your ship, and for most of the first level, this pace continues. There are
lots of enemies, but not a great deal of firepower on display - although a couple
of the first level enemies will use a bullet spray technique, there's certainly
nothing like the screen-filling chaos of the Gigawing games. Until level two,
that is. The first boss gives a hint of the firepower to come, but is still relatively
easy to beat without the loss of a ship. Come the second level, the firepower
intensifies until the whole screen is full of deadly blue blobs, all going in
different directions and all going at different speeds. Fans of the genre will
be more than familiar with this kind of action, but those new to modern vertical
shooters will quickly be overwhelmed by the action onscreen and will lose life
after life after life in a vain attempt to shoot down the source of the bullets
rather than concentrate on avoiding them.
The subtleties of the weapons systems in the game are shown at their fullest
in these moments of extreme bullet dodging mayhem - the other Dreamcast Takumi
titles (Gigawing and Gigawing 2) were at their weakest at these moments, when
novice players would repeatedly activate their shield then use a smart bomb
and repeat the process until they ran out of bombs and lost a life. In this
game, the shield and bomb are combined, meaning that a fair bit of dodging is
forced upon the player to avoid multiple deaths. Even if the shield is only
used for a fraction of a second, there is still a recharge period to consider
before it's used again; this adds a depth to this game which is absent from
the Gigawing series, and while some players will give up on the game due to
the initial difficulty in learning attack patterns and how to dodge bullets,
a little perseverance will result in an immensely satisfying game, providing
the difficulty is set to an appropriate level for the gamer. This said, there
are still frustrating, nigh-on-impossible moments which betray the game's money-grabbing
arcade heritage - even taking into consideration the insanely generous collision
detect routines, much of this game is virtually impossible to fly through unscathed,
and the inexperienced gamer should expect to lose a lot of lives before seeing
the end screen.
Destroyed enemies leave behind tokens which fall down the screen, and it's
up to the player to collect as many of these as he can, as they are the only
way to power up your craft. Under the main score counter is a gauge which measures
experience points, RPG style, which is incremented every time one of these tokens
is collected. Once preset targets have been passed, the player's craft is powered
up by one level. Every time a player collects a token, a further gauge begins
a countdown - if another token is picked up before the countdown reaches zero,
then the values of the two tokens are combined, and the countdown begins again.
The player, therefore, is rewarded by taking risks in order to collect as many
tokens as possible before the timer runs down and the value of the tokens reverts
to one.
The graphics are as you would expect from a game like this; well drawn, fast
and with barely a hint of the slowdown which ruined Gigawing 2, the game chugs
along at a fair old rate, even with a screen full of enemy bullets and golden
tokens raining down all over the place. There are neat little effects here and
there - the shrapnel flying backward from bosses when attacked with the piercing
cannon looks great, for example. The sound effects are functional and vaguely
irritating, arcade style, but the soundtrack is excellent for a game of this
type - a nice mix of chilled out beats and faster tracks when necessary, but
in a pleasant electronica style rather than the horrible rock or cheesy pop
style which so often pervades games of this type.
As is normal for the genre, this game is not a particularly long one. There
are six stages, each of which should take no more than a few minutes to complete.
Replay value comes in the form of a shop, where point totals can be converted
into a variety of gameplay-boosting features, from extra lives and credits to
a quicker shield meter. It's likely that gamers will be tired of Mars Matrix
before they unlock all the pictures in the gallery, but it's still a nice touch.
This is certainly the best all-out classic style shooter available on Dreamcast
(although it's pipped to the 'best overall shooter' title by Treasure's superior
Bangai-O), and while it's certainly not a game for casual players or Sunday-gamers,
it will appeal immensely to established fans of the genre, or those wishing
to start out in the daunting world of the 2D shooter.
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