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Trigger Heart Exelica - Dreamcast

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    Trigger Heart Exelica - Dreamcast

    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

    #2
    After the disappointment of Last Hope, playing this for the first time today was a breath of fresh air. It is a cracking little game, with five short sharp stages, adequate sound and graphics, and a stack of replay value, as my man in Japan states above. I started playing with a pad, but had to buss out my stick because of the extra buttons needed. Not too difficult this one, but plenty of modes, and an ideal shooter to dip in and out of if you are grabbing half an hour of gaming or summat. Proper nice.

    Comment


      #3
      Wow.

      I'm another one that can't see why people are complaining. Absolutely fantastic game!

      Also, you don't need to worry about spinning when you've captured. The way I do it, is as soon as i've captured, let go of the anchor button and it immediately detonates the ship, causing havoc to anything around it. Very handy in the boss fights.

      Also, I don't quite understand the boss system. I've been playing, and the first time I fought the second boss, it only had one form. However, when I got used to the system and took it out with a high bonus, it gained an additional 2 forms.

      I've also been playing the first boss on Story mode, and while this may be story specific, the first boss this time had 4 forms instead of 3.

      Do the bosses gain additional forms the better you do on them?!

      Edit: Pretty much confirmed it. First boss had 4 forms. The bosses are almost like levels in themselves.
      Last edited by Silvergun X; 25-02-2007, 11:20.

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        #4
        Sweet Jesus There Are Hidden Bosses Aswell.

        Just got 18 million at the end of the first level!

        Do well enough on the boss and not only do you get additional forms, but completely rinse it out and you get an ultimate boss for that level.
        Last edited by Silvergun X; 25-02-2007, 11:30.

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          #5
          Ok i'm getting used to the scoring system now and actually seeing that there's a purpose to just shooting instead of anchoring everything.

          When you throw with the anchor and cause explosions through it, it depletes your multiplier, however when you collect the coins that they drop, that raises it, so the trick is not to detonate everything, but just detonates the larger groups for Massive Damage™. If there are odd enemies flying about, just gun them down as that won't deplete the multiplier.

          Comment


            #6
            Looking forward to getting this next week sometime from PlayAsia. How much I enjoy it will dictate to me if I buy Karous next month or not, as I was not really a fan of the last 2 Milestone games (Chaos Field was awful, Radilgy was a bit better).

            Did'nt bother getting Last Hope as it was not an official release, and there was all that nosense of it not booting on some models because it was a CD-ROM and not a GD.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Silvergun X View Post
              I'm another one that can't see why people are complaining. Absolutely fantastic game!
              I'll explain this to you. Those who don't see why people are complaining about this game are not very much into the STG scene. Because of that, their expectations are much lower.

              Comment


                #8
                I don't see your logic in that. I'm very, very much into my scrolling shooters and I still think it's a fantastically playable game.

                Then again, I don't see the big deal in Cave shooters.

                Another edit: The main complaint about this game seems to be the spinning. I'm getting my high scores and getting the good bosses on each level by not even spinning the thing... The speed of the enemy spin does nothing to affect score. What affects it is getting it caught in large explosions.

                It's MUCH, MUCH easier to get large scores just by keeping the ship infront of you and detonating it infront of large crowds instead of trying to throw it into enemies.

                Completely forget throwing, and just try capturing and detonating by crowds.
                Last edited by Silvergun X; 25-02-2007, 14:27.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by icycalm View Post
                  I'll explain this to you. Those who don't see why people are complaining about this game are not very much into the STG scene. Because of that, their expectations are much lower.
                  That's a bit elitist...

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Silvergun X View Post
                    I don't see your logic in that.
                    Hmm... I don't know how to make it more plain. The same thing happens with food, for example. Everyone likes pizza, more or less, right? But the guys who absolutely love pizza and are always on the lookout for the finest pizza restaurants, and read the Daily Pizza News, and travel to Italy at least once a year in order to eat the best pizza on the planet, etc. will naturally have more esoteric tastes and will be more demanding than everyone else.


                    Originally posted by Strider View Post
                    That's a bit elitist...
                    Well, yeah. That's how it works, isn't it? All connoisseurs are what you'd call "elitist" to some degree. It comes with the territory.



                    Exelica is not a bad game, in any case. As long as you are enjoying it who cares what everyone else thinks?

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                      #11
                      Got my copy today, played a little with it...so far the biggest complain is unlimited continues...I would have preferred a progressive continue unlocking like Gradius V, Ikaruga and other shooters. It should be noted that I only played the story mode in normal, maybe arcade or arrange won't feature them.
                      Also, the vertical screen mode twists the image the other side my LCD is capable of...I can play vertically but with the image upside down! Aaaaarrrgh!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Arrange is 1cc only.

                        Also, score resets on continue, so unlimited or not, it matters not.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          It might sound strange, but I only go for the highest score when I have completed the game and feel I have enough experience for it and unfortunately I'm too weak to resist to the temptation of unlimited continues :P
                          I mean, you don't need to improve your skills or go for the practice mode if you just continue as much as you want right out of the box.
                          This doesn't make the game less enjoyable, it's just they way I feel.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Had a few quick goes of this without really knowing what I was doing but it seems pretty good. The grabbing, spinning & throwing of enemies definitely has me intrigued to suss out the scoring system properly.

                            Which character type is everyone using? The firepower seems quite weak with Exelica (spread shot).

                            Comment


                              #15
                              This is a neat little game, especially more so after playing Last Hope

                              Couple of hours play last night, got to stage 4, then had a go at some hi-scoring. Good gameplay, good graphics, good scoring mechanism, ideal shooter in my books.

                              Will sort out score leaderboard thread in a minute so whack your scores up people.

                              EDIT: I'm using Exelica John.
                              Last edited by VR46; 27-02-2007, 08:15.

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