This month has really been my month of shooters with a big helping of Assetto Corsa too. I'll share my impressions of four more. They are quite different from each other. From two militaristic commercial arcade games from known developer Psikyo (Strikers 1945 and Zero Gunner 2, to a free doujin game that is rough in some parts but has rock solid gameplay (Shooting Game KARI) to a modern day diamond (Drainus).
I'm still very much going through Drainus. It's amazing. I'm ashamed I've put it off for so long!
Shooting Game KARI (1997; 2022): This is a barebones verical doujin shooter, a commercial adaptation of the original from 1997. With this knowledge in mind you have to admire that the adaptation is well made. The menus are slick and it plays very well in 4K. There is a lack of screen and controller options but otherwise it's functional if a little barebones.
The gimmick here is the ability to choose a wide or straight shot at will (indexed to different buttons). And that's it: no powerups, no levels, no bombs. You have a health bar which is still a rarity and an interesting scoring system that values the risk taking behaviour of shooting closer to the enemy. While the health bar might make it seem like it's more forgiving, take care as there are no extra lives or continues: when it's over, it's over (but the shield refills after each stage).
Visually it's not great. The designs are very bland, the bullets are almost ridiculous and the explosions very fake-looking. However, if there's one thing you can count on doujin games is a lot of inventiveness. The game totally takes you by surprise. The first couple of stages are so disalarmingly simple that you get completely blown away by how incredible the next ones are. There's an element here of old Toaplan (apart from the spirit crushing it reminds me a lot of my favourite Slap Fight), as there's a lot of emphasis to keep moving and a lot of unpredictable and untelegraphed attacks that always keep you on your toes. Key to this is the small size of your craft, as well as the small size of bullets. This allows you to weave gracefully, confidently and fortuitously and keep avoiding and shooting without cluttering the screen with information you don't need.
While the boss designs, like the enemies, are very bland sprites, the attack patterns keep getting better and better. There are three difficulty levels and a practice mode. The presence of the health bar and no lives or continues ends up giving the game a special boost in the adrenaline department. Being close to death will have you grinding away to beat the stage so you can refill, giving more of a survival hue to the action. You're not dependent on the luck of a powerup or amassing lives. The fine line between game on and game over makes for an exhilarating experience especially in conjunction with the quick evasive controls and concentrated shooting. In the end, this is a very interesting, shoot and run, game. Very simple at heart, very visually unimpressive but the meat of the game is all there, in a well made addictive package full of play. What's even better? The game is completely free to download. Amazing.
Strikers 1945 (1995, 2020): This is an arcade game through and through. Short stages, lovely animations and impressive graphics. Gameplay is solid if unspectacular. You have a regular shot and bomb, which you can upgrade with a few options. Death gets you a running restart but downgrades you back to the pea shooter. This is equal to a game over situation sometimes as the base gun is close to useless during late stage.
This is another great edition by City Connection. Lots of controller, game and screen options. Unfortunately, no 4K mode is available. The setting is not a straight war game like 1942 but offers a more cybernetic take with lots of giant robots about too. I'm not much for jingoistic settings but I felt this was one of the more harmless ones. However, it's not terribly appealing either.
Due to the short stages there is a lot of variety. Compounded by this are a lot of different fighters to select, which play marginally different. The meat of the game is the score attack. While beating it by itself is a problem, doing so while maximizing score is quite another. The biggest issue really is with death leaving you helpless in the battlefield. This is not aided one bit by the relatively large size of your hitbox, which makes avoiding things, particularly with the festival of animations going around you and in the background a real challenge. Perhaps to aid to the impressive visuals bullets are often quite fast - faster than your aircraft, in fact. So it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the unfairness.
In all, I didn't find much to enjoy here that I couldn't enjoy in other shooters. But if you're into the setting, this is a really solid and well-made shooter, with impressive visuals and animations and quick gameplay, all in a very modern reissue package. Perhaps one of the least original of Psykio's games but at the same time one of the slickest arcade experiences they made.
Zero Gunner 2- (2001, 2020): Technically this is an identical re-release to Strikers from City Connection. Still no 4K, but plenty of other game, controller and screen configurations. This is a great looking, 3D, Naomi-era game. Thematically it's not too dissimilar to Strikers with its militaristic giant robot slant (now in 3D). The gimmick now is that you control one of three choppers. This means that this is one of the rare vertical shooters with a 16:9 screen. Why? Because you can rotate at will, like a chopper would, turning this into a multidirectional shooter stuck inside an arcade type vertical shooter.
Unfortunately this doesn't work with analog sticks. Rather, when you press the turn button, you turn instead of moving. While this must read as more complicated than it should, it actually makes sense mechanically in the context of the helicopter gimmick. So, this isn't like a simple free moving object, but a heavy object that goes in a direction, but needs to be operated to turn. It adds complexity, of course, but that complexity works in the game's favour (otherwise it would be too mindless).
Presentation is great. I have a soft spot for the bright, crisp Naomi board graphics and this looks as good as any. Gameplay is often interrupted by dramatic cutscenes that still look impressive and energetic. The rotation mechanic might feel weird at first but it actually controls pretty well. This means, of course, that enemies come from all sides. Avoiding stray bullets or even barging into enemies is a challenge in harder difficulties, of course. Gameplay is otherwise pretty simple with a shot and bomb, and the ability to upgrade them. Enemy and boss designs are not great at first but increasingly become more impressive. Like in Strikers the best is left for last, and the "King Kong" boss and stage, and especially the elevator stage are particulary impressive.
Like Strikers the game suffers from its uninteresting setting. Militarism is a dime a dozen and ditto giant robots. The gameplay is more compelling but one wonders if it wouldn't sit better in a different skin. As it is it's a fine game that is definitely memorable from its original mechanics and impressive arcade like bells and whistles and gameplay that clash highly with its rather forgettable setting. The high octane impressions will however live long.
Drainus (2022): This is a really interesting and impressive take on the horizontal shooter genre. While menu presentation is sparse, as soon as you begin you find the game is peppered with lots of visual detail. These are superbly animated sprites with 3D effects to boot. The action is very well set, very dynamic, with impressive enemy designs.There's quite an effort made with the story too. It's not terribly interesting of course, but offers a lot more than the average smattering we usually get.
Gameplay-wise this is nothing if not ambitious. Central to the gimmick is the ability to absorb energy shots and then release that energy into blasts. This means you have to manage when to expose yourself to enemy fire so you can use it to your advantage, without overloading your shield and take damage. Not only that but you can also upgrade your ship through a menu-based system between stages. This ends up being the most game-changing feature as it works unlike upgrades usually work in these games but more like an RPG: you collect power-up flasks and have lots of different ways to spend them on: shot variations, missiles (secondary weapon), options or even just upgrading your attack power or the strength of your shields. And, of course, a myriad of variations of these. This sort of depth is incredibly rare.
The setting is not terribly exciting by itself although the story adds a lot of drama. Characters are anime-types but otherwise fairly passable. This is something else regarding the melding of set pieces, gameplay and graphical effects. There's a sense of gravity to the set pieces that translates beautifully to the designs and amazing 3D effects as well as gameplay. A superb section with a free-rolling camera in a huge space station that ended with a physics based puzzle before another fantastic boss battle was a particular highlight. Apart from that there's a sense of hommage present as the developers pay their dues to the greats of the genre, in particular Gradius and R-Type but even Starfox as well. The dramatic action actually tires one out, and the menu between stages is actually a welcome chance for a breather. Taking their liberties and not actually making an arcade game, they've managed to create something something that hits differently from an arcade game, but still provide plenty of thrills.
Apart from the huge replayability added by the depth of the upgrade system the campaign itself is quite long and there are also secrets to find and hidden story snippets. In all, this is a success. A marvelous, modern game that respects its origins but builds to the future in a complete package. It's really that impressive. Hard not to recommend!
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