Xyanide Resurrection

[charlesr]

Rez meets Panzer Dragoon Orta.

Thumping soundtrack.
Swirly visuals.
On rails.
360° shooting.

This is really good. And £15. PS2 version.

Levels can be learnt successfully.
There's a branching difficulty path like Outrun.

A variety of weapons that I've not really got to grips with what works best on what enemies yet.

Cool stuff. Especially if you liked the first one on the Xbox.

[briareos_kerensky]

Is it the same Xyanide (or an enhaced version) that came out of the original X Box few years ago?

[charlesr]

No, it's a new game. Similar but more freedom.

[charlesr]

trailer here: http://www.playlogicgames.com/downlo...de_trailer.wmv

And the branching paths are litterally different levels rather than just tacked on rubbish.

[briareos_kerensky]

Thread bump!
Any other impression? Found Xyanide for less than 10 euros and I'm quite interested in much more deep impressions.

[charlesr]

Xyanide (xbox) or Xyanide Resurrection (ps2/psp)?
If the former, check my review (look in the xbox section).
If the latter, I'm writing a review at the moment, but if you need more comments now:
If you've got access to Panzer Dragoon Orta, then generally you'd be better off playing that. But taken in isolation, it's a good budget purchase. It's a huge game because it has branching paths so to see the whole game you'll have to play it multiple times.

Figuring out the best upgrade route is interesting too and probably depends entirely on how you play.

The actual game proper is a bit samey, but not quite as much as the original. The variation comes with each level rather than during the level, but the levels aren't so long as the original so it's better. Enemies fire at you in 3D and although you are essentially on rails, you can move around within the "tunnel" to dodge the bullets, over and below boss enemy plasma grid fire and left and right etc.

Not sure how they've pulled it off actually. It looks like the backgrounds are all streamed like a traditional shooter, but actually it all moves when you move. Quite advanced for the ps2, but it's all a bit grainy - perhaps this is on purpose - wouldn't like to say for sure though.

I started off thinking it was all a bit dull, but now I'm getting into it, it's actually taking a little of my time away from skate, so it must be doing something right. It definitely gets easier with practice and learning the enemy behaviour.

There's a bizarre moving comic which unlocks as you go too which has the storyline.

[briareos_kerensky]

Resurrection, right now I'm a PSP frenzy after buying a slim this Saturday. I saw the game in a bargain bin yesterday and remembered that you talked about it, but the (very) few reviews I've found around weren't exactly enthusiastic.

[charlesr]

The psp screens look similar to the ps2 version so I presume it's pretty much the same. Not sure how it'll control on the psp - the reviews I've seen slate it because of not being able to hit anything. Either they are completely useless at it or the psp controls don't work, because I can target and kill the stuff I'm trying to hit on the dualshock. The enemy swirl around on teh screen a lot so yes it's tough, but not impossible. Also, once you get the shotgun, even if your aim is rubbish, you can blast stuff out of the sky.

Moving the left stick on the ps2 moves both the ship and the cross hair. In fact it's just like Starfox64, except you can look behind you too and no one complains about how hard that is. I expect on the psp, it's the analogue nub that does the same movements.

Do you like 2D shooters? I guess it's a similar learning curve to those - no point in just playing it for half an hour. You won't have learnt anything or replayed the levels enough times to know what's coming. Same with Starfox though isn't it? You have to put the hours in to get anything out. It doesn't have the same variety and depth as starfox (and obstacle avoidance stuff), but it's cheap, it's very pretty and plays ok.

[charlesr]

reviews like this are just so full of misleading comments it's depressing. e.g. slating the 2 player mode for being coop rather than deathmatch...wtf?? how do shooters work in deathmatch? And the largest paragraph devoted to how the controls are broken because he can't hit anything.

It also sounds like he hasn't noticed the trigger buttons for strafing and quick turning. He also says the goal of the levels isn't clear i.e. is it "get to the end" or "kill all the bad guys".... erm??? It's a shooter - you play for highscores duh. Which means kill all the bad guys and get to the end without using continues.

There's a breakdown of scores with gameplay 5, gfx 7, sound 6, lifespan 3 leading to an overall score of...... 3. Well done. Highly consistent. Also, if anything, the lifespan is quite large because unlike most 2D shooters, the levels are quite long so you can't see the credits in 15 mins using continues and the branching paths mean it's even longer.

Possibly slanderous, but it sounds like he played it for 20 mins, realised he was rubbish and spent even less time writing the review.

However, it's his opinion and since there must be lots of people like him that will also give up after a few minutes without getting to know the controls or attack patterns, you have to ask if that's you? If you can't do 2D shooters and hate playing for highscores, then perhaps his review is spot on for you.

[charlesr]

http://www.playlogicinternational.com/games/?id=xyanide2

Official psp site, with downloadable trailer.

Watch the vid - it shows you the ship/cross hair linked movement. It shows you ducking away from enemy fire (a plane of bullets, a sprial laser and single direct bullets). It shows lock on. It shows boss battles. Pretty good flavour I think.

[briareos_kerensky]

Yeh Yeh, already downloaded the trailer. Thanks for the comments, for ten euros you've sold me. Will buy tomorrow, will post first impressions then (oooh I'll have to bring the PSP to work...with no carrying case...argh!).