On the 23rd March 2006 we were told by Sega themselves that Under Defeat would be the LAST EVER officially produced Dreamcast game yet here we are on the 22nd February 2007 with another great new release for our beloved Dreamcast and this isn't the last either with Karasu from Milestone coming on the 8th March.
Trigger Heart Exelica wasn't received that well in the Japanese arcade scene which is very surprising since it's actually a very good game. Personally I think the Japanese arcade shooting fans are becoming snooty these days. Anyway, thankfully Warashi ported their Naomi based arcade game to the Dreamcast with a load of extras. Extras include 4 gameplay modes, Arcade, Story, Arranged and Training. Not only that but each mode apart from Arranged Mode is fully customable. Add the standard options of pad and screen set up complete with wallpaper for the yoko setting and you'll find yourself with a very well put together arcade to console game conversion.
Let's take a look at the game modes. Arcade mode is what you'd expect, a perfect conversion of the arcade game. Story mode on the other hand adds full vocal introductions to each level and a new ending for each character as well as a few extra appearances from the end of game boss through out certain levels. This mode really goes to show that Warashi wanted to produce something more than just a standard arcade conversion for Dreamcast fans. The Arranged mode is basically a mix of the arcade and story modes (Minus the speech) that you must 1 credit complete !! No easy task might I add since in this mode it's not possible to adjust the difficulty or extended play settings. Finally the training mode allows you to play on levels that you have previously completed in order to fine tune your gaming skills.
So we've looked at the game modes but how does it play? Mustn't be very good if the Japanese arcade shooting fans didn't like it. Well, as I said, they are becoming far to snooty recently or they are pure Cave shooting fans. So I wouldn't take any notice of what you've read about the arcade version.
As far as looks go, Trigger Heart Exelica isn't anything special unlike Under Defeat, however it's a hell of a lot better looking that Radirgy and the forthcoming Karasu from Milestone. In fact I'd say the graphics serve their purpose quite well. Bright and colourful is the main focus as you could have guessed from the game cover. Polygon models are also pretty nice with a wide range of enemies to attack. Add the pretty particle explosions and you have yourself a decent looking shooter. Think somewhere between Trizeal and Zero Gunner and you'll get some idea of what Trigger Heart Exelica looks like.
The real twist in the playability of Trigger Heart is the ability to capture enemies (yeah I know, this isn't new but read on!) then either use them as a shield or my personal favorite, spin them around then fling them in to the oncoming fleets of enemy craft. It sort of reminds me of an athlete spinning as he's about to release that ball on a chain (no idea what it's called but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about). In doing this you'll be rewarded with 100's of gold pieces. The more enemy craft and bullets you smash the captured enemy in to the more gold pieces will appear on the screen. The speed of the spin also increases the chances of some big points ! However as you may have guessed, this spinning of enemies isn't that easy and even harder using the Dreamcast's controller. In the arcade it isn't much of an issue since the stick allows you greater control over movement and spinning than what a control pad does. Warashi have noticed this and given the Dreamcast version the option of automatic spin on or off. This sure makes life a lot easier for those of us without a joystick. However it also makes it pretty hard to use the captured craft as a shield since you start to spin it as soon as it's captured. Still, it's not the end of the world and it does make the game easier to play.
With only 5 stages, Trigger Heart Exelica isn't exactly the largest shooter out there for the Dreamcast however thanks to it's many modes of play and fantastic score system you'll be coming back to this one for a long time to come.
All text taken from my site, segagagadomain.com There you can also see cover scans of everything that comes with the Special edition version.
Yakumo
Trigger Heart Exelica wasn't received that well in the Japanese arcade scene which is very surprising since it's actually a very good game. Personally I think the Japanese arcade shooting fans are becoming snooty these days. Anyway, thankfully Warashi ported their Naomi based arcade game to the Dreamcast with a load of extras. Extras include 4 gameplay modes, Arcade, Story, Arranged and Training. Not only that but each mode apart from Arranged Mode is fully customable. Add the standard options of pad and screen set up complete with wallpaper for the yoko setting and you'll find yourself with a very well put together arcade to console game conversion.
Let's take a look at the game modes. Arcade mode is what you'd expect, a perfect conversion of the arcade game. Story mode on the other hand adds full vocal introductions to each level and a new ending for each character as well as a few extra appearances from the end of game boss through out certain levels. This mode really goes to show that Warashi wanted to produce something more than just a standard arcade conversion for Dreamcast fans. The Arranged mode is basically a mix of the arcade and story modes (Minus the speech) that you must 1 credit complete !! No easy task might I add since in this mode it's not possible to adjust the difficulty or extended play settings. Finally the training mode allows you to play on levels that you have previously completed in order to fine tune your gaming skills.
So we've looked at the game modes but how does it play? Mustn't be very good if the Japanese arcade shooting fans didn't like it. Well, as I said, they are becoming far to snooty recently or they are pure Cave shooting fans. So I wouldn't take any notice of what you've read about the arcade version.
As far as looks go, Trigger Heart Exelica isn't anything special unlike Under Defeat, however it's a hell of a lot better looking that Radirgy and the forthcoming Karasu from Milestone. In fact I'd say the graphics serve their purpose quite well. Bright and colourful is the main focus as you could have guessed from the game cover. Polygon models are also pretty nice with a wide range of enemies to attack. Add the pretty particle explosions and you have yourself a decent looking shooter. Think somewhere between Trizeal and Zero Gunner and you'll get some idea of what Trigger Heart Exelica looks like.
The real twist in the playability of Trigger Heart is the ability to capture enemies (yeah I know, this isn't new but read on!) then either use them as a shield or my personal favorite, spin them around then fling them in to the oncoming fleets of enemy craft. It sort of reminds me of an athlete spinning as he's about to release that ball on a chain (no idea what it's called but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about). In doing this you'll be rewarded with 100's of gold pieces. The more enemy craft and bullets you smash the captured enemy in to the more gold pieces will appear on the screen. The speed of the spin also increases the chances of some big points ! However as you may have guessed, this spinning of enemies isn't that easy and even harder using the Dreamcast's controller. In the arcade it isn't much of an issue since the stick allows you greater control over movement and spinning than what a control pad does. Warashi have noticed this and given the Dreamcast version the option of automatic spin on or off. This sure makes life a lot easier for those of us without a joystick. However it also makes it pretty hard to use the captured craft as a shield since you start to spin it as soon as it's captured. Still, it's not the end of the world and it does make the game easier to play.
With only 5 stages, Trigger Heart Exelica isn't exactly the largest shooter out there for the Dreamcast however thanks to it's many modes of play and fantastic score system you'll be coming back to this one for a long time to come.
All text taken from my site, segagagadomain.com There you can also see cover scans of everything that comes with the Special edition version.
Yakumo
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