Gradius V

[venom743]

A little to good? You have got me really excited about this now. I have always been a big fan of Gradius games and it seems that the partnership between Konami and Treasure has produced a AAA shooter that will go down as one of the best ever.

One other thing, is the music quality? I hope so, as Gradius has to have memorable haunting tunes.

The music is AWESOME! Seriously, it really is that good! And the bosse,

Just when you think theyve copped it they come back in a stronger form!

Great year for shooters!

[Leon Retro]

I just have to own this game, Treasure are the Gods of gaming!

[Treble]

Most of the music is, in all seriousness, very good. Be nice to have the option to turn it off, though, so you can understand what the alternate-reality Vic Viper is actually saying to you

[Saurian]

I switched the audio off my fronts during that cutscene and you can hear what they are saying, it's deep!

The bit afterwards where they dive through the atmosphere after that ship is jaw-dropping!

[Yoshimoto]

Damn

The posties just been and still no Gradius.

Its sounds sooooo good. You guys are getting me so revved up over this its untrue.

[venom743]

Damn

The posties just been and still no Gradius.

Its sounds sooooo good. You guys are getting me so revved up over this its untrue.

Keep going at ESPgaluda in the meantime mate.
The score challenge thread needs more scores.

[Saurian]

The heaviest thing about this game is that your hitbox is absolutely microscopic! That is the single thing that makes shoot em ups fun for me, I dont find the older shoot em ups like R-Type etc enjoyable anymore cos you cant get into that risk taking zone stay there like you can with the newer games.

On Gradius V you can fit the ship through tiny little gaps which makes it tactically very deep, like how you can actually fit the ship into the gap where the shielding used to be on a boss core! On stage 5 there's a massive meteor shower and being by Treasure dont expect any generous gaps! It's a screenfull of rocks that are being affected by gravity as well as the enemies smashing through them. Weaving through them meteors using them to shield you from shots while taking risks through tiny gaps is what gaming is all about.

[venom743]

The heaviest thing about this game is that your hitbox is absolutely microscopic! That is the single thing that makes shoot em ups fun, I dont find the older shoot em ups like R-Type etc enjoyable anymore cos you cant get into that risk taking zone stay there like you can with the newer games.

On Gradius V you can fit the ship through tiny little gaps which makes it tactically very deep, like how you can actually fit the ship into the gap where the shielding used to be on a boss core! On stage 5 there's a massive meteor shower and being by Treasure dont expect any generous gaps! It's a screenfull of rocks that are being affected by gravity as well as the enemies smashing through them. Weaving through them meteors using them to shield you from shots while taking risks through tiny gaps is what gaming is all about.

Agreed!!

[Yoshimoto]

Keep going at ESPgaluda in the meantime mate.
The score challenge thread needs more scores.

I am doing. Thats pretty much all i've played since it came out and i've not even seen past the 3rd level boss yet. I'm just concentrating on getting the maximum score on the 1st and 2nd levels so far. Any small mistakes or missed points and it gets an instant reset. Currently getting roughly 3 million on the first level.

[jide]

Yeah saur i noticed that about the first level boss too. Spacing type rocks you can simply just spread out the options enough on the stage 2 boss and let them ripp the boss apart. They way you can manipulate the options is just superb design. It's just a shame this game doesn't have a prog scan option .

[Kotatsu Neko]

Just got my copy this morning. Impressions...

1 - The graphics are indeed spectacular. Almost Ikaruga quality, less only due to the somewhat more generic design.

2 - Plays brilliantly, difficulty level seems spot on. Great fun!

3 - Music is pretty generic. A few old Gradius melodies but mostly bland. Nowhere near Ikaruga level.

4 - God the PS2 d-pad is crap. I remember it being bad on the PSX (Street Fighter Alpha days), and it's still truly, shockingly, astonishingly, tragically, breath-takingly awful. Painful, uncomfortable, too large, poorly designed, hard to use... HORRIBLE! I've been playing shooters for so long on a Saturn (JP Sega pad), and Dreamcast (JP ASCII Fighting pad), and so to come to this... urgh. I'm going to have to invest in a new pad. Shows how much I use the PS2! (almost never)


Too bad it wasn't on the GC where I could have used my Hori pad, or (dreaming) the DC... but love it all the same. Treasure does it again. It doesn't reach Ikaruga or Radiant Silvergun levels, but it's still truly great.

[Bydo]

Throw me off the forum now, but does anyone know when the PAL version is out - if at all?

I've read that the US version is out in September.

[Saurian]

4 - God the PS2 d-pad is crap. I remember it being bad on the PSX (Street Fighter Alpha days), and it's still truly, shockingly, astonishingly, tragically, breath-takingly awful. Painful, uncomfortable, too large, poorly designed, hard to use... HORRIBLE! I've been playing shooters for so long on a Saturn (JP Sega pad), and Dreamcast (JP ASCII Fighting pad), and so to come to this... urgh. I'm going to have to invest in a new pad. Shows how much I use the PS2! (almost never)

Hee hee - I'm holding top score here using a PS2 pad! XD

Dunno about that bit about the graphics and sound being generic - the only shoot em ups I've played that have pumping epic, movie score like soundtracks is Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. As for the visuals and level design - wait till you get further into it, there is nothing in any of Treasures or anyone elses past games that compare with Gradius V stage 5, that is by far the best piece of level design I have ever seen in the genre.

[jide]

Erm.. Kotasku are you reviewing DC vs Ps2 or something lol...

[rjpageuk]

Sidetracking to the controller issue somewhat (because I find it interesting) I also have to say I quite like the PS2 pad.

I never had any problems with Psyvariar, or any other game for that matter.

On the other hand I find the DC pad totally unusable, or indeed the GC analog stick for shmups.

However there are top shmup players that use all of these control methods and more, in fact one top Ikaruga player was using the GC dpad