Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting [PSP]

[Sketcz]

I strongly doubt anything will ever topple DariusBurst from the top of the PSP shmup tree.

Actually, I thought Darius Burst sucked. As in it was really pretty damn awful, like 4/10. And that's coming from a hardcore shmup fan. It's probably the worst in the Darius series. I spent a few hours with it, and found the whole thing repetitive and over-recycled. They re-used bosses for goodness sake!

Also, there's not much replay. I clocked it, got another ship, and thought bugger this. Never went back.

I've been playing Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting for a few hours, and it's bloody ace! I reckon I'll be putting some serious time into this one.

Lots of characters to choose from, each wildly different in play style (I like the big titted priestess, since she can rebound enemy projectiles, is fast to move and has a decent main attack). About the same number of levels as Darius Burst. But it's cool, since once you've played a level, you unlock it forever.

Plus it comes with Sky Stage as an extra mode. Admittedly this sucks, but it shows that you shouldn't judge the main game based on negative impressions of this.

Also, it has a really meaty bonus "target" mode, where you replay levels with specific objectives in mind. So once you've clocked the main game, there's a reason to come back and replay it, since this mixes things up nicely. Bit of a pain if you can't read Japanese though, since you won't know what the objectives are. Still, the dev team certainly tried to add longevity.

The visuals are no worse than Darius Burst's, and the music... well, Darius did have the better soundtrack, but I could buy the OST if I wanted it that badly.

There's tons to unlock in this, which is great if you like gallery extras. This whole package is so jam-packed with extra features, modes and real gameplay meat, that it pisses all over the skeletal Darius Burst and leaves it crying and bruised in the corner. DB felt half-finished, whereas this feels like a game-and-a-half.

Honestly I don't know what the **** Taito was thinking when it made Darius Burst. Ran out of budget? Bleurgh!

[KusoGaki]

Also, there's not much replay. I clocked it, got another ship, and thought bugger this. Never went back.

Did you unlock burst mode, i think it's supposed to actually be the 'main game' and is actually a bit better though i thought Darius Burst in general was quite average.
---

Still waiting for my PSN cards to be emailed to me to get this...Judging by the recent reviews of the site, that i only looked at after i ordered, they've gotten really slow at emailing cards now urghhh =_=

[J0e Musashi]

Also, there's not much replay. I clocked it, got another ship, and thought bugger this. Never went back.

Well that's just it. The idea is to play it multiple times to unlock all the extra ships and gameplay modes.

[Sketcz]

Did you unlock burst mode, i think it's supposed to actually be the 'main game' and is actually a bit better though i thought Darius Burst in general was quite average.

No, I didn't unlock any modes. Just the one ship, after a fair amount of effort and practice. I much prefer NGHUS because it provides a whole lot more to play with, and the reward/practice ratio is much more indulgent. It's instantly gratifying for a newcomer, and continues to gratify as your skills improve. Stage 1 now offers no challenge, and I'm working my way through the others. In Darius, I felt no need to improve my skill, it just wasn't in any way rewarding.

Maybe I'm lazy, maybe it's because I seldom put more than 10-20 hours on any game these days. But after a couple of hours it felt like I'd seen everything Darius had to offer. With this, I'm still experimenting with the characters and I've not even gotten past stages 2A and 3B yet. It's like a gaming buffet table.

I've not even tried the other modes, but they're there, waiting for me, should I tire of the main mode.

Maybe Darius Burst had some good stuff after unlocking, but that's a poor way to design a game. It's like a book that's absolutely crap until half way through. If I'm not hooked by the end of chapter 1 I put it down and read another.