The
classic shooter seems to be somewhat of a lost art form, it seemed to have
peaked sometime in the early 90's and has been in decline ever since.
Modern examples and remakes seem to be few and far between these days,
with gamers more likely to find them included in compilations than in
their own releases. As esoteric as these types of games have become, they
still offer plenty of excitement and challenge for players up to the task.
The most recent release in this type of genre has finally come out
domestically courtesy of UFO Interactive in the form of Raiden III.
Originally developed for the arcades by Taito, this is a continuation of a
long-running franchise that stays true to its roots while adding new
power-ups and enhanced graphics. Obviously, a lot of Raiden III's
appeal lies in nostalgia and players who are familiar with the original
series will feel right at home playing Raiden III. It stays faithful to
the original game's power-up system and layout. As you pilot your ship,
enemies will explode and release several types of power-ups which increase
the power and range of your shots.
You have both land-based and air-borne
enemies to defeat, and can collect other items as well. During your
missions, you begin with a set number of mega cluster bombs that unleash a
screen filling wave of destruction that wipes out every opponent on the
screen. These are quite powerful, but also limited and you'll need to save
them for the boss battles. There are three basic types of weapons: Vulcan
shots which spray fire across the screen, standard lasers which shoot
straight and proton lasers that you can aim in certain sections. Players
can also come across other power-ups which increase your score, gain extra
life and more. As in the original Raiden games, a fairy sometimes appears
that releases extra power-up icons when it's hit. When you complete a
level, any remaining bombs are credited to your score and increase the
bonus points you receive. While the original shots are included in the
game, there are also several new weapons, such as powerful lasers that
allow you to focus an energy beam on a specific area of the screen.
Raiden
III allows players to set various levels of difficulty ranging from very
easy, to arcade and much harder modes. The game's earlier zones shouldn't
cause players too much trouble since the enemy patterns and shots are
fairly predictable and easy to avoid. As you progress through later areas,
the number of power-ups decreases while the enemies become more numerous
and harder to avoid. At the end of each stage, you'll face a massive
screen-filling boss that you'll need to destroy with multiple shots. These
usually throw out waves of bullets at you at incredibly intense speeds,
requiring a great deal of skill and dexterity to defeat. While most
shooter fans should be able to get through the game's earlier stages with
little effort, Raiden III's designers have come up with some fairly
difficult later areas that should challenge even the best players. The
game offers both single and two player modes where you and a friend can
control two ships on screen simultaneously, though only with a single
controller, which is odd and doesn't really seem to work in practice. The
overall pacing, look and feel of Raiden III feels very familiar and
faithfully echoes the style of the original games, though with a more
polished look with quasi-3D backgrounds and enemies. However, the action
still takes place on a strictly 2D plane, meaning the simple, pure
pleasures of its original games have gone largely unchanged in this
updated version of the game. Raiden III is probably one of the most
'classically' styled of the recent shooter remakes and this should please
the hardcore shooter devotees out there.
From a visual standpoint, the game looks
fairly decent with some nice backgrounds and special lighting effects that
makes for some impressive explosions. Raiden III's objects are all
rendered in 3D which adds a little bit of depth to the experience.
Surprisingly, the game doesn't feel that different that the original games
in terms of look and approach, which is somewhat surprising, though it
definitely seems a little bit unimaginative in its execution. Likewise,
the game's sound effects and soundtrack are decent but offer nothing that
spectacular, but the presentation with its elaborate opening cinematics is
good enough to get you pumped and into the game. Once you get onto the
gameplay itself, much of this doesn't really seem to matter all that much
and what you have is a solidly entertaining and highly playable single
player experience that recalls what made this genre so appealing in the
first place. While Raiden III isn't the deepest or most complex game ever
made, its twitch factor and reflex-intensive gameplay offers many hours of
relatively mindless yet enjoyable gameplay that should bring nostalgic
gamers back to the classic days.
In
addition to its standard modes of play, Raiden III also includes several
modes including a Score Attack mode where you can compete against yourself
for a high score, a Boss Rush mode where you can practice against the
bosses you have already defeated and a replay mode that allows you to
relive your greatest runs on each level. Additional bonus features allow
you to view artwork from the game, or take a closer look at a 3D model of
your ship. Players can set a variety of options as well including stage
difficulty, number of bombs at each level and number of ships per
continue. The game also allows you to play either vertically in standard
or expanded modes or horizontally in full arcade mode with the screen
tilted on its side. No matter which presentation you find, the game
maintains its rectangular playfield which makes Raiden III feel
arcade-authentic. One odd aspect of the game that comes in the translation
is that the button commands from the Japanese release haven't been changed
for this edition, which means navigating the menus is a little tricky
until you figure out what's going on. While it's slightly annoying, this
doesn't change the fact that Raiden III is a fairly solid, if conventional
and predictable, port of the arcade game. While it's not the most
elaborate remake of a classic shooter ever made, and falls short of the
standards set by other recent remakes like Konami's brilliant Gradius V,
Raiden III is still an enjoyable title that should appeal to gamers
looking for a quick jolt of classic shooting action.
- Michael Palisano
