This is a port of Masaya's Assault Suit Leynos (Target Earth in the west) by Dracue Software of Gunhound EX fame; Gunhound EX was more than inspired by the Assault Suit series and I absolutely loved it.
I would have pretty much preferred a new game or a port of Assault Suit Valken (Cybernator), but maybe starting from the first game in the series means that Dracue will do all three of them...and I really hope they'll step up their technical proficiency.
Right from the introduction ASL shows some pixellated assets, with the scrolling text seemingly captured from a Megadrive, badly cut from its background, blurred to high jaggies, and upscaled to 1080p. Some of the larger sprites and background images show some horrible jaggies, as they were drawn with a lower resolution in mind and never redone to have them look decent on a large screen in Full HD. It's a pity because Leynos has a lot of small details, like the barrel on your Suit's gun despinning after firing; your Suit is delightfully animated, and the selected weapon is shown on its sprite; unfortunately the sprite is mirrored for left and right, no unique sprites ? l? Super Metroid. Large enemies and bosses are amazing as well, though their faked perspective does stride a bit with the rest of the presentation. Unfortunately anythign that is not your Suit didn't receive has much attention; their sprites are less defined than yours, and just like Gunhound EX, scaling and rotation pixellates everything. My guess is that Dracue used a modified version of Gunhound EX's engine, which was done with the help of G.Rev and thought for the PSP; Leynos seems entirely an effort by Dracue, and the lack of technical expertise/funds weights down the game's presentation.
However, the game plays good. I've never played the original Leynos, and control-wise, this port feels exactly like Cybernator, maybe with a slighty more agile mecha.
There are various game modes, though Classic, Practice, Stage Select, and Tutorial modes are buried in the Options menu for some reason, while "Game Start" on the splash screen will bring you to the enhaced port, with voice acting, new soundtrack, revised weapon selection screen (before a mission, rather than show right after starting one), and (if rumors are true) different endings.
Right from the start the game has a huge gallery available with sketches for this version, the MD original, full script, and even the manual of the MegaDrive version.
Points are automatically exchanged to increase your rank, that in turn opens up new game options, like laser pointers for your gun, improved weapons, and so on; that list is quite long, and at rank 16 I think I'm less than half done.
Game modes can be faced in Easy, Normal, and Hard modes; in Normal mode the enhaced version is relatively easy, while Classic mode is relentless, with more enemies that continuously respawn, and your health taking longer to recharge. In Classic mode the soundtrack is the original one from the MD.
Right now I think it's a well done port, though it shows than the underlying engine needs an overhaul to iron out the various technical problems.
I would have pretty much preferred a new game or a port of Assault Suit Valken (Cybernator), but maybe starting from the first game in the series means that Dracue will do all three of them...and I really hope they'll step up their technical proficiency.
Right from the introduction ASL shows some pixellated assets, with the scrolling text seemingly captured from a Megadrive, badly cut from its background, blurred to high jaggies, and upscaled to 1080p. Some of the larger sprites and background images show some horrible jaggies, as they were drawn with a lower resolution in mind and never redone to have them look decent on a large screen in Full HD. It's a pity because Leynos has a lot of small details, like the barrel on your Suit's gun despinning after firing; your Suit is delightfully animated, and the selected weapon is shown on its sprite; unfortunately the sprite is mirrored for left and right, no unique sprites ? l? Super Metroid. Large enemies and bosses are amazing as well, though their faked perspective does stride a bit with the rest of the presentation. Unfortunately anythign that is not your Suit didn't receive has much attention; their sprites are less defined than yours, and just like Gunhound EX, scaling and rotation pixellates everything. My guess is that Dracue used a modified version of Gunhound EX's engine, which was done with the help of G.Rev and thought for the PSP; Leynos seems entirely an effort by Dracue, and the lack of technical expertise/funds weights down the game's presentation.
However, the game plays good. I've never played the original Leynos, and control-wise, this port feels exactly like Cybernator, maybe with a slighty more agile mecha.
There are various game modes, though Classic, Practice, Stage Select, and Tutorial modes are buried in the Options menu for some reason, while "Game Start" on the splash screen will bring you to the enhaced port, with voice acting, new soundtrack, revised weapon selection screen (before a mission, rather than show right after starting one), and (if rumors are true) different endings.
Right from the start the game has a huge gallery available with sketches for this version, the MD original, full script, and even the manual of the MegaDrive version.
Points are automatically exchanged to increase your rank, that in turn opens up new game options, like laser pointers for your gun, improved weapons, and so on; that list is quite long, and at rank 16 I think I'm less than half done.
Game modes can be faced in Easy, Normal, and Hard modes; in Normal mode the enhaced version is relatively easy, while Classic mode is relentless, with more enemies that continuously respawn, and your health taking longer to recharge. In Classic mode the soundtrack is the original one from the MD.
Right now I think it's a well done port, though it shows than the underlying engine needs an overhaul to iron out the various technical problems.
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