SIMPLE2000 SERIES Vol. 81: THE Chikyuu Boueigun 2

[jetfuel]

http://www.d3p.co.jp/s_20/s20_081.html

You might have heard about the first The Chikyuu Boueigun; it was a surprisingly fun and replayable third-person alien-killing-fest, for a title in D3's budget SIMPLE2000 series. 100 weapons, 3 vehicles, ridiculous swarms of enemies to destroy, and plenty of city blocks to level in the process, made for hours of fun.

Three years later, the developer, Sandlot, has come out with this sequel. I preordered the game at Seattle's Pink Godzilla shop, and the night it came in a friend and I played through the first 14 stages or so on Normal.

Like the first, there are five levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardest, and Inferno. If it's anything like the first game, the higher difficulties are truly insane until you get some of the more powerful weapons and you have collected many, many armor power-ups.

The first obvious difference is how much nicer the levels look. Night-time urban areas, residential zones with detailed renderings of Japanese homes, even historical London where you can blow up Big Ben as you shoot your Gorias at climbing ants. There's plenty of fancy effects to make the environments look realistic, and the framerate can get even crappier than in the original game. I think that's part of the charm, though.

So far we have seen one new type of enemy: in addition to the classic giant ants, flying saucers, walking tanks, and Godzillas, there are nasty giant jumping spiders. They shoot overwhelming amounts of web that can tangle you up. There are two characters to choose from, now: the generic EDF guy, who uses conventional weapons like from the first game, or a female EDF trooper who can fly around with a jetpack and use exciting new alien weapons. The female trooper has seemed rather more powerful than the guy, but perhaps that will change as we move into later levels and harder difficulties.

I'll post more as we get further into the game; the amount of fun we've had in just a few hours already justifies the 2000 yen cost. though.

[Bassman]

I bought a Simple 2000 game recently. Volume 80. Instead of aliens you get Zombies and like a number of Japanese games the lead character is a simpily clad female. Not played that much. Having got maps now I may find it a little easier.

http://www.d3p.co.jp/s_20/s20_080.html

As for your Volume 81, those screenshots from the Web site look very good. Does it really look that impressive in game? Does it come on a CD (like Vol. 80)?

[TreeFrog]

I bought a Simple 2000 game recently. Volume 80. Instead of aliens you get Zombies and like a number of Japanese games the lead character is a simpily clad female. Not played that much. Having got maps now I may find it a little easier.

Volume 80 (the Onee-chanploo) is basically an update of volume 61 (the Onee-chanbara) - stick with it and you'll eventually get used to the level layout
My impressions on it are here, but are mainly based on the differences from the original: http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=43700 (Go on, add your opinions to that thread - more people need to appreciate the joy of the budget game )

Does it come on a CD (like Vol. 80)?

As with most (if not all) the simple 2000 games, it's on CD (it is a budget label after all )
Unfortunately, I've been busy playing Gigantic Drive (by the same developers, Sandlot), so I haven't got around to playing this yet, but I loved the original

And, on a related note, taken from http://www.totalvideogames.com/news/..._8090_0_16.htm

List of Xbox 360 games currently in development released...
<snip>
D3 - Earth Defence Force, The Oane-Chapara X

So it looks like there may be next-gen versions of both the above games - Yay!
("Earth Defence Force" is a fairly literal translation of "Chikyuu Boueigun" and "Oane-Chapara" is a horribly messed up romanisation of "Onee-chanbara" - it's what play-asia calls it )

[jetfuel]

Yeah, I tried to e-mail PlayAsia about their awful romanizations of the oneechan games but they told me "well, that's what Sony told us it was called, so we trust it". Whatevs.

We played some more EDF2 tonight, and we have decided it is *definitely* at least as good as the original. The insane situations you get into, the feeling of being almost completely overwhelmed, and the necessity of teamwork, good strategery, and persistence, are all still there.

I've gotten the impression that The EDF and The Oneechan games are the only Simple2000 games really worth getting. I've got The Gekai (The Surgeon) and The Daibijin (The Giant Pretty Girl). The Gekai is pretty monotonous, and The Daibijin would have been a ripoff if I'd paid more than 10 ameribucks for it.

[Bassman]

Got a couple more of the series. One, "The Catfight" is mildly entertaining (cost less than $10 so I am not complaining). Basically a basic "Beat 'em up". Complete the story mode for new costumes. You get waepons in some rounds which includes a chair, club, sword and machine gun. No blood though as it rates a 12 certificate! One fault (useful from the point of view of unlocks) is that if you stand in the right place you can defeat the other character as they get up. Gamefaqs review by someone:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/review/R84271.html

I have no idea how to play the second title (didn't spend a lot of time trying, but I though I hit every key). It is Vol. 63 The Suieitaikai. I'll have to give it another try to see if I can figure out what to do. It appears to consist of a number of mini games (for some reason it gets an 18 certificate)

[jetfuel]

We are most of the way through Easy and part of the way through Normal now; there is a lot more new material in this game than I expected. Plenty of terrifying new enemies, new areas, and new weapons are in store.

They just announced THE Oneechanbara 2, which finally supports 2 players simultaneously.

[Kaladron]

Where is everyone getting CB2 from? Play Asia and Lik_sang don't appear to have it in their catalogue.

[ElAlcesDiablo]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-15-simple%2B2000%2B81-70-mbw.html

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=27&products_id=6847&

Can't find it on yesasia though, who I would've prefered to order it from.

[Abhisara]

http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/pid-1004015674/code-j/section-games/

Out of stock though.

[peeveen]

Just spent an hour or so with this game. I have The CB1, but for some reason, this one is just SOOO much better. Can't quite put my finger on why. Got a massive grin from laying down a carpet of grenades just in time for a dozen jumping spiders to leap off the rooftops right on top of 'em ... KABOOM. Even at 5fps, toasted arachnids spiralling through the air are beautiful.

The controls need a bit of work, but this is one of the best games I've played this year ... I've left Killer7, Mushi and SuperMonkeyBallDeluxe waiting while I blast through this.

I just love how this series of games have zero finesse but tons of fun ... the developers have obviously sat down and said "Well, we could invent some fancy new alien race to fight against, but let's face it ... they ain't gonna be as cool as GIANT CREEPY-CRAWLIES!"

5 monsters at 60fps, or 60 monsters at 5fps ... you know it makes sense. If they really are making a sequel for the next generation of consoles, it's a must-have title.

[Bassman]

I want to get this game, but I will wait for Yes-Asia as they seem the cheapest. The Lik-Sang price is ridiculous. Play-Asia seems a little high when the shipping is taken into account. I was contemplating this the other week and decided not to at the time (mistake).

[TreeFrog]

The controls need a bit of work, but this is one of the best games I've played this year ...

Just to check - have you switched the controls over to 'technical' mode? It's loads better IMO

(For anyone who doesn't know, technical/normal mode is switchable on the options menu:
- Choose the bottom but one option to go to player settings,
- then the top option is technical/normal
- look up/down invert is the 3rd option.
Technical mode is more like FPS style: left stick moves; right stick aims)

[mid]

Another game with FPS-style controls where you can't switch the sticks over?

AAAAAARGH!!! I really liked the sound of this thing, but I want to be able to play it.

[TreeFrog]

Another game with FPS-style controls where you can't switch the sticks over?

AAAAAARGH!!! I really liked the sound of this thing, but I want to be able to play it.

Well, normal mode works more like a normal 3rd person game - left stick moves & turns, shoulder buttons strafe, right stick does nothing much. Aiming up/down is handled automatically. I guess it's a little like the original Doom...
However, it is quite a lot less precise than techinical mode, and the auto-aim up/down isn't really very reliable (and it makes the sniper weapon's zoom pretty much useless, as you can't really aim up/down manually).
It's usable enough, but put it this way: if you play technical mode, you don't want to go back to normal mode

[Ostrog]

Aye, the technical mode's where it's at as far as I'm concerned. Love running ahead of the ants, then rolling underneath one of them and blasting it in the face with the shotgun. "smile, you son of a bitch!"
Absolutely brilliant game - much better than the first, and that one was the gaming highlight of last year for me. It's just completely insane! There were moments that felt almost like survival horror when I was caught between hordes of enemies and my weapons hadn't fully reloaded. It's even more tense with the jetpack since it powers your weapons as well. You can't fire off a shot, nor can you fly to safety.
I've come to dread that noise the spiders make as I know I'm in for a tough time when they appear - all those webs! There was one bit in an ants' nest where I cleared the place of all the ants, then I saw all these little blips on the radar converging on my position, and I heard that spitting sound, then the first of the big arachnids came into view...then another...and another....
The cities really do look more polished this time 'round. I thought London looked very nice, and I kept expecting to hear 'Eve of the War' (along with some Richard Burton narration) when those big stilt-legged robots marched through the city. Nice to see some new locales besides Tokyo this time. Are there any other foreign cities later on in the game? I remember the offical site had a map showing different parts of the globe, so I hope you get to run around in other locations as well.
I love the new weapons, particularly that heat-seeking laser thing. I plastered an ant with a few shots, sending him flying into the air - one shot sent him up, then another few catapulted him into the stratosphere! It's great, but you can't beat the shotgun - it's so satisfying knocking saucers out of the sky with it.