Einhander

Description

Brand: Sony

Edition: Standard

Features:

• Squresoft Shooter

Format: NTSC

Details: Review There’s no denying that the space shooter isn’t what it used to be. The once-thriving genre, championed by such classics as Gradius and Raiden, has boiled down to more of a nostalgic pastime. People just aren’t as jazzed about blowing away hordes of alien space ships and racking up billions of points like before. While the occasional shooter still shows up every now and then, it seems like it’d take a miracle for a company to produce one that would rejuvenate the genre and renew public interest. Leave it to Squaresoft to accept the challenge. And while the fruit of its efforts may not be the miracle this genre needs for a complete revival, it’s just about as good as shooters get. Einhander isn’t particularly long, but shooters almost never are. The half dozen or so stages are seamlessly interconnected and demand just over an hour to plow through in total. Each stage – in fact, each part of each stage – grows progressively more difficult, such that you’ll constantly face new challenges in the form of smarter, meaner enemies and more of them. Likewise, the mid and end-level bosses will constantly keep you guessing, as they tend to be both unpredictable and versatile in their attack styles. Even shooter veterans will have their hands full with Einhander, though multiple difficulty settings make the game accessible and enjoyable even for those whose hand-eye coordination isn’t what it used to be. You star as an enigma who hails from the moon and swoops down upon Earth’s powerful defenses, seeking to eliminate them single-handedly. You have a choice of three different superpowered spacecraft to fly, with two more hidden ships waiting to be discovered. Any of these handles beautifully, and you can adjust its velocity at a whim. All come standard with a typical peashooter that doesn’t do much damage but gets the job done when you’re dealing with lots of weak enemies. Some of the bigger flying vehicles and robots that’ll come gunning for you will demand considerably more attention, but as reward for your effort, you can snatch their weapons from them as they convulse in explosive death throes. Over a dozen special weapons are available for your destructive whim. These include a vicious bullet-spewing Vulcan machine gun and its bigger, much nastier brother the Juno; the massive Cannon, capable of tearing through multiple opponents with a single slug; and the Wasp missile launcher that fires swarms of seeking rockets. Less typical weapons in the arsenal include the Blade, a short-range but powerful laser sword that can swirl around the hull of your ship to vaporize anything in your vicinity; and the Riot, a lightning gun that grows more powerful the longer you charge up its energy. Each of these weapons can be swiveled between two positions, both having equivalent strategic importance. Further complicating the situation, these special weapons pack limited ammunition, meaning you need to make your shots count. Unfortunately, outside of all these great weapons, there are no power-ups or bonuses to be found anywhere. And you’ll need all the help you can get out there, since one direct hit to your ship spells destruction and a trip back to the last continue point. Finely tuned play mechanics aside, it must be said that a shooter doesn’t add up to much if it doesn’t look good. Ideally, you want to see as much detailed destruction crammed onto one screen as possible, without any irritating slowdown. Einhander delivers all that and more in full polygonal glory. The game flies by at a furious, consistently smooth frame rate, and everything onscreen down to the dinkiest enemy fighter is a carefully crafted polygon with moving parts, flickering lights, and plenty of style and attitude. Meanwhile, the background scenery is simply gorgeous. Countless levels of scrolling, complete with colored lighting and other impressive effects, make such settings as a futuristic downtown and a watery robotics facility really look alive. There’s atten

UPC: 711719424321