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.
Score: 6/10
A review by Stephen Pringle