Gunlord - Dreamcast review

[CMcK]

In the words of The Interceptor "I LIKE IT!". This is an unashamedly old school game putting you in mind of the MD and SNES era. It's bright, colourful and polished. Controls are proper old school responsive you know it's a 60fps game. The Gunlord is quite well animated but not to the extent that it interferes with the controls.
I haven't played deep into the game yet but I'm encouraged by what I've seen so far. The levels are large and spacious designed to encourage a pretty quick pace and lots of exploration.
The intro has the Gunlord escaping court and is utter cheese. I guess this is deliberate. The later intro with the games plot is largely static and looks like the art has remained untouched from the MVS version.
I suppose you have to bear in mind that this is ultimately a Neo?Geo game ported pretty much directly to a much more powerful system. Recommended you take a look if you like old school run and gun games.

[charlesr]

Is it D-pad? i.e. Arcade stick is good for this yeah? Or is there more than 8-way for the directional weapons?

[CMcK]

I've only tried this with the standard DC pad so far. The directional shots are the usual 8 way and the beam weapon swings with your pad.

[briareos_kerensky]

Is it D-pad? i.e. Arcade stick is good for this yeah? Or is there more than 8-way for the directional weapons?

http://gun-lord.com/index.html

It is.

[Strider]

Man this is very average. The controls are very clunky (left trigger to roll, up to stand up) you'll often start of on a spike or other dangerous area, power-ups don't always activate when you walk over them, while the hit box detection is all over the place. I really want to love this because it's a new game on my favourite system, but if it was released on Live Arcade it wouldn't be given the time of day. I love the homage to past games, but as with most of NG: DEV's it's just an average shooter. It's decent, but that's about it.

[charlesr]

I reset the poll to make votes public.

[dvdx2]

yeah, i think NG: DEV are tapping into the whole cult status of the DC to promote their average products

to be fair i havent played this, but it does look as if this type of game is best left in the past and it is such a rip of turrican its libel.

fast striker was average at best too

[mattyr64]

A 7 from me. Really enjoying playing this, though not too keen on the look of the main character (green?). Proper old school style, runs ace, love the music, great graphics overall for me. I also quite like how there are side scrolling shmup stages interspersed. It is very Turrican-like, but this is obviously intentional for Turrican fans. It's not as good as Super Turrican on the NES (my personal fave) but it is good all the same. Does at times feel a bit rough around the edges, as mentioned respawns and collision detection when walking to the edge of platforms can be a bit dodgy, but not a game breaker for me.

Loved Fast Striker here, got it on DC and iPod Touch, not so keen on their other games, DUX (loved it visually) or Last Hope - too much trial and error and learning enemy patterns, thus too damned hard for me.

[briareos_kerensky]

Started Gunlord today. From the comments above I was expecting something much worse, but it was a pleasant ride. Sure, some enemy placements are infuriating and lead to cheap deaths if you don't know where they are but at least it's not as Last Hope (first & last NG: Dev. Team game I played till now), which IMO was borderline unplayable.

Graphics are mixed bag: the scrolling is smooth, there are a lot of details; on the other hand there isn't much variety, sometimes there are too many details and the smallest enemies and/or projectiles tend to get lost. Big sprites are very well done but all enemies (including the Gunlord) could have used some more animation frames.

Controls are adeguate, but it's difficult to aim directly down during jumps and the hold position button doesn't work...but my arcade stick has seen better days and maybe the C button is just a bit too slow in receiving inputs. Directing the snake beam is unintuitive as is exiting ball mode.

The thing that really ticks me off is how bad the manual is: the game has what looks like a rather deep weapon system with multiple standard guns, some have ammo, some have rounds, some can't be swinged around...the manual doesn't make any mention on how it works or any of the indicators on the screen: they are not easy to figure out but it took me a minute or two to locate the health meter, which is tucked in the top right corner of the screen and takes up about 9x3 pixels.

OK, now that I wrote the bads I'm rethinking about it :P But so far there are no crippling flaws, hope it will be like this till the end.

[_SD_]

I really want to love this because it's a new game on my favourite system, but if it was released on Live Arcade it wouldn't be given the time of day. I love the homage to past games, but as with most of NG: DEV's it's just an average shooter. It's decent, but that's about it.

This just about sums up my feeling too. I don't think it helps that NGevTeam don't seem to have any real beta-testers for their games, the unfortunate souls that shell out for the MVS releases seem to be doing that job...

yeah, i think NG: DEV are tapping into the whole cult status of the DC to promote their average products

I'm just glad I didn't decide to go for the AES version.

[charlesr]

Mine still hasn't arrived from PA. It shipped on the 25th.

What's the level structure like. Does it have large caverns to explore or is it all tight and linear? Does it have vertical "mineshaft" sections?

[briareos_kerensky]

Levels are large and at the end of each there's a recap on how many diamonds, large diamonds and extends have been found; in most intersections there's a "go" arrow to quickly go to the level's end.

[briareos_kerensky]

Progressing slowly but steadly through the game.

The poll is right about placing Turrican at 10, because this game is not an homage to Turrican, it is Turrican.
Weapons are the same minus the power-up mechanic, screen-clearing bomb is the same, weapon icons are obtained in the same way, jump mechanics are very similar and a lot of enemies look like and behave in the same way as in Turrican.
Gunlord has a heavier exploration component to it, with Metroid-like Morph Ball abilities but in the end platforming is not good enough to promote exploring; enemy placement is sometimes frustrating and some against some bosses it's hard to estimate how big is their hitbox.

Large sprites look terrific, but they could have used more frames and a more creative design; the first boss has one, I'm on level 5 and I don't know how many times I've seen dragons and antlions as level bosses. Their patterns are incredibly repetitive and very easy to figure out: as the game feeds you an incredible number of bombs, most encounters tend to end up stationary, with minimum movement and bombing to clear most incoming threats.

Weapons tend to be one sided: keep the spreadshot and everything will be fine; the snake beam, an other weapon take directly from Turrican has an incredibly limited use: in Turrican (or better, Super Turrican, the one I've played) the beam supplements the inability to shoot in any direction but horizontally; in Gunlord there's no such restriction and most of the times the snake beam is used, is to shoot diagonally while standing still. Longer the snake beam is used, shorter the beam becomes and there have been a lot of times where I would have preferred the ability to lock the firing direction while moving, especially against bosses.

Getting back on the graphics, they are a bit unclear: not as bad as Last Hope, but the willingness to place as much detail as possible produced a mixed result, where the smaller enemies and shots are hard to discern from the background or other moving things; also, the palette is a bit dark and well behind the Neo Geo's capabilities...I think that even early titles like Magician Lord have better graphics, mechanics-wise.

Sound is well...I can't stand the dance/techno/whatever NG: Dev. Team uses as BGM when listened outside the game, but they fit into the game well. Sound samples are clear but very average.

Everything sums up to a very derivative game that lacks a lot of its sources. I can't deny it's fun but could have been a lot better.

Now, for whoever is playing it: with the arcade stick I've been unable to save the controller configuration. Anyone with the same problem?

[charlesr]

How did you get this to work with the Arcade Stick? I can only perform the laser and wheel moves with the pad, and my thumb is gretting really sore hitting that stupid bobble on the pad button. This is pretty much exactly how I remember Turrican, even as far as homage such as walking left at the start for 1UP and stuff. Hidden platforms to reach higher areas etc. too (shoot to reveal).

So far I can say I'm too impatient, so it's kicking my ass (haven't even got past the first boss yet after an hour or so of play. The stages seem pretty big though (based on the first one).

I like the skeletal monsters as part of the background and even as part of the platform. It's difficult to appreciate all the work that has gone into it whilst leaping about.

Graphics are very old school, with few colours defining the stage. Does the main sprite seem a bit large to you?

Controls seem over complex. I seem to remember the C64 version working with just 1 button and the space bar.

This has turned out pretty much as I expected. An average copy of an excellent old game.

[briareos_kerensky]

I...plugged in the arcade stick? I had few troubles in the beginning because my DC wasn't exactly cooperative in recognizing the arcade stick (had to firmy insert the plug to), the RGB cable broke (now running on composite ;__; ) and maybe the DC itself is knackered because it can't display the boot menu (but Gunlord is fine, still have to test with other games).

Controller configuration and hi-scores are the only things saved, and saving is automatic.

Stages are big, almost huge; the first level is tiny in comparison to some, though certain stages are small and very quick to complete.

I have completed the game few days back and while more detailed impressions will follow, I can say it's a fun game, with a lot of small problems everywhere; they aren't enough to make Gunlord an unplayable mess, but with more refinement it could have been much better.