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$2.69 for US PSN Plus + My thoughts on this game


spoonman

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I actually bought the retail box version of this back in December, but never got around to playing it. I had spent $19.99 during a Black Friday sale on Amazon (down from $29.99). It also came with an audio CD.

 

So anyway, I figured I might as well just buy this and play the more convenient digital version.

 

What I like:

 

Graphics! They are beautiful. Especially if you play it in TATE mode. I love to play shooters like this, with a rotated screen.

 

If you don't feel like rotating your display, no worries, because the "New Order Mode" also looks excellent in 16x9 landscape mode. This fills out the screen with a slight zooming in to help eliminate the black bars on either side. Whichever screen orientation you choose, you will have it displayed in full 1080p goodness.

 

Music! The new arranged soundtrack is incredible. Easily some of the best shooter music I've heard in recent memory. I recommend turning down the sound effects by around 50% so you can hear the music better. I also recommend headphones for this game.

 

What I don't like:

 

Controls

I can't understand why they would remaster this game, but not include the option to control it using the Dual Shock's dual analog joysticks.

 

This game is just crying out to be a superior Twin Stick Shooter. It's just a bit awkward without it, and it would feel so much more natural to control the direction of the bullets, all while being in complete control of your chopper.

 

EDIT (09/03/14):

It turns out there is an option to use the Dual Analog sticks after all. Thanks goes to Zongorillacska for letting me know! :)

 

It controls much better this way IMO.

 

Sloooooow Down!

I haven't been able to try the original arcade game by G.Rev or the Japanese Dreamcast port so I don't know if this is a port issue or them being faithful to the original. Either way they should have at least addressed it in the "New Order Mode".

 

It brings back memories of epic slowdown from games like Metal Slug 2 on the Neo-Geo and Gradius III on the SNES. It really becomes noticeable later in the game. At least companies like M2 give you the options to "Overclock 24Hz" Metal Slug 2 on the Neo-Geo Station release and it removes all slowdown.

 

It's not a deal breaker, but it just seems odd to have so much slowdown on a PS3 port of a 10 year old game is all.

 

Bugs:

In the 2 full games I've played of this, I've come across some strange bugs. Most of the are audio related. A couple times I had the background music just vanish. Then when the music came back away went the sound effects. Very strange.

It's not too bad, but probably an easy bug fix which they ignored.

 

So, I do feel this is still an awesome shooter despite its few shortcomings.

If there's one genre the PlayStation 3 can use it's shooters.

 

Enjoy! :)

Edited by spoonman
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I actually bought the retail box version of this back in December, but never got around to playing it. I had spent $19.99 during a Black Friday sale on Amazon (down from $29.99). It also came with an audio CD.

 

So anyway, I figured I might as well just buy this and play the more convenient digital version.

 

What I like:

 

Graphics! They are beautiful. Especially if you play it in TATE mode. I love to play shooters like this, with a rotated screen.

 

If you don't feel like rotating your display, no worries, because the "New Order Mode" also looks excellent in 16x9 landscape mode. This fills out the sides and zooms it in a bit to eliminate the black bars on the sides.

 

Either way it's running at 1080p.

 

Music! The new arranged soundtrack is incredible. Easily some of the best shooter music I've heard in a long while. I recommend turning down the sound effects by around 50% so you can hear the music better. I also recommend headphones for this game.

 

What I don't like:

 

Controls

I can't understand why they would remaster this game, but not include the option to control it with dual joysticks.

 

This game is just crying out to be a Twin Stick Shooter. It's just a bit awkward without it, and it would feel so much more natural to control the direction of the bullets, all while being in complete control of your chopper.

 

Sloooooow Down!

I haven't been able to try the original arcade game by G.Rev or the Japanese Dreamcast port so I don't know if this is a port issue or them being faithful to the original. Either way they should have at least addressed it in the "New Order Mode".

 

It brings back memories of epic slowdown from games like Metal Slug 2 on the Neo-Geo and Gradius III on the SNES. It really becomes noticeable later in the game. At least companies like M2 give you the options to "Overclock 24Hz" Metal Slug 2 on the Neo-Geo Station release and it removes all slowdown.

 

It's not a deal breaker, but it just seems odd to have so much slowdown on a PS3 port of a 10 year old game is all.

 

Bugs:

In the 2 full games I've played of this, I've come across some strange bugs. Most of the are audio related. A couple times I had the background music just vanish. Then when the music came back away went the sound effects. Very strange.

It's not too bad, but probably an easy bug fix which they ignored.

 

So, I do feel this is still an awesome shooter despite its few shortcomings.

If there's one genre the PlayStation 3 can use it's shooters.

 

Enjoy! :)

 

Yeah its a fun game. Bolded, its a shmup, not typical shooter :)

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I can't understand why they would remaster this game, but not include the option to control it using the Dual Shock's dua analog joysticks.

 

This game is just crying out to be a superior Twin Stick Shooter. It's just a bit awkward without it, and it would feel so much more natural to control the direction of the bullets, all while being in complete control of your chopper.

 

This is there. Go to options and change controls to dual stick enabled. :p

 

And yeah, this is a great shmup. Could be a bit lengthier and the trophies should have been made harder, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless.

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If there's one genre the PlayStation 3 can use it's shooters.

 

Personally, I always thought you go with the 360 if you want great shooters, but PS3 if you want great everything else. :p

 

Good review, though. I noticed this was $2.69 and looked into based solely on its price, plus I DO enjoy a good shmup every now and again. This reminds me very much of Raiden, or Aerofighters from back in the day, so I might just nab it.

 

Anyone know if it has online co-op, too?

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This is there. Go to options and change controls to dual stick enabled. :p

 

And yeah, this is a great shmup. Could be a bit lengthier and the trophies should have been made harder, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless.

 

Ahh yes! I somehow missed this. Thanks for letting me know. I'll adjust the above review.

 

Yeah its a fun game. Bolded, its a shmup, not typical shooter :)

 

Sorry, but I don't like the term SHMUP. They've always just been shooters to me. Sometimes broken up in categories such as "side scrolling shooter", "vertical shooter", "top down shooter", "twin stick shooter".

Even going back to classics such as Scramble, Cosmic Advenger, and Vanguard, we always called 'em SHOOTERS. ;)

 

 

 

Personally, I always thought you go with the 360 if you want great shooters, but PS3 if you want great everything else. :p

 

Good review, though. I noticed this was $2.69 and looked into based solely on its price, plus I DO enjoy a good shmup every now and again. This reminds me very much of Raiden, or Aerofighters from back in the day, so I might just nab it.

 

Anyone know if it has online co-op, too?

 

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

 

Unfortunately it's "couch co-op only". Online co-op would have been a nice addition.

 

I thought the same about the 360, but after my second 360 RRODth I decided to just stick with the PS3, which of course also crapped out on Me! :( , but luckily Sony saw fit to let me exchange it for a brand new Slim even 2 years out of warranty.

 

I've found some very nice shooters (or SHUMPS if you prefer) on the PS3. You just have to search a bit for some of them.

 

Here's my list of PS3 shooters.. there are probably others I've missed:

 

PlayStation 3 Shooters [uSA Only]

 

PS3:

1942: Joint Strike, Astro Tripper, Big Sky Infinity, Choplifter HD, Gravity Crash, Gundemonium Recollection, Gundeadligne, Hitogata Happa, Mamorukun Curse!, Novastrike, PixelJunk SideScroller, PixelJunk Shooter, PixelJunk Shooter 2, R-Type Dimensions, Raiden IV: Overkill, Retro/Grade, Sine Mora, Sky Fighter, Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer, Soldner-X: Final Prototype, Thexter Neo, Under Defeat Deluxe Edition HD, Velocity Ultra.

Static screen shooters: Beat Hazard Ultra, Blast Factor, Everyday Shooter, Galaga Legions DX, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Super StarDust HD

 

PS1 Classics:

Cho Aniki (PS1), Dezamon Kids (PS1), Dezamon 2 (PS1), GaiaSeed (PS1), Jungle Strike (PS1), Mobile Light Force (PS1), Nuclear Strike (PS1), Shienryu (PS), Sonic Wings Special (PS1), Soviet Strike (PS1), Zanac X Zanac (PS1) PS2 Classics: Castle Shikigami 2 (PS2), Raiden III (PS2).

Minis :Ace Armstrong and the Alien Scumbags, A Space Shooter for $2, Alpha Mission, Bermuda Triangle, Chopper I, Flying Hamster, Floating God Saves The pilgrims, Prehistoric Isle, Psycho Soldier, Vanguard, Vanguard II, Velocity, Who's That Flying.

 

Neo•Geo Station:

Alpha Mission II, (want: Pulstar, Blazing Star, Viewpoint, Last Resort, Ironclad, Andro Dunos, Prehistoric Isle 2, Captain Tomoday, Strikers 1945 Plus, Zed Blade, Ghost Pilots, Aero Fighters 1 & 2).

 

Capcom Arcade Cabinet:

1942, 1943, 1943 Kai, Exed Exes, Legendary Wings, Section Z, Side Arms, Vulgus.

 

Midway Origins:

Defender, Defender II, Satan's Hollow (static), Sinistar.

 

Namco Essentials:

Dragon Spirit, Galaga (static), Xevious, Xevious Resurrection.

 

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection:

Fantasy Zone, Zaxxon (arcade versions).

Edited by spoonman
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Here's my list of PS3 shooters.. there are probably others I've missed:

 

PlayStation 3 Shooters

 

PS3:

1942: Joint Strike, Astro Tripper, Choplifter HD, Gravity Crash, Gundemonium Recollection, Gundeadligne, Hitogata Happa, Mamorukun Curse!, PixelJunk SideScroller, PixelJunk Shooter, PixelJunk Shooter 2, R-Type Dimensions, Raiden IV: Overkill, Retro/Grade, Sine Mora, Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer, Soldner-X: Final Prototype, Thexter Neo, Under Defeat Deluxe Edition HD, Velocity Ultra.

Static screen shooters: Beat Hazard Ultra, Everyday Shooter, Galaga Legions DX, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Super StarDust HD

 

*snip*

 

Yeah, there is a few you missed in the PS3 games. Big Sky Infinity, Blast Factor, Caladrius Blaze (this just came out, JP exclusive though), Ketsui: Kizona Jigoku Tachi Extra (probably the best one on PS3), Novastrike, Raystorm HD, Sky Fighter.

 

Also, I wouldn't classify Gravity Crash and the Pixeljunk Shooter games as shmups. Although they have shooting elements and even the name of PJ *Shooter* suggests it is one, I don't think so. Most of it consists of navigating around and picking up stuff/rescuing people, hardly any shooting in facts.

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Yeah, there is a few you missed in the PS3 games. Big Sky Infinity, Blast Factor, Caladrius Blaze (this just came out, JP exclusive though), Ketsui: Kizona Jigoku Tachi Extra (probably the best one on PS3), Novastrike, Raystorm HD, Sky Fighter.

 

Also, I wouldn't classify Gravity Crash and the Pixeljunk Shooter games as shmups. Although they have shooting elements and even the name of PJ *Shooter* suggests it is one, I don't think so. Most of it consists of navigating around and picking up stuff/rescuing people, hardly any shooting in facts.

 

Thanks, I'll add Big Sky, Blast Factor, Novastrike, and Sky Fighter to the PS3 Shooters List.

 

I left out the others (Raystorm, Caladrius, Ketsui) because I have a US PSN account .

 

I definitely consider PJ Shooter and Gravity Crash to be shooters. Sure there are other goals, and saving components, but Defender, Omega Race, Choplifter, among others have that as well and they are classified as shooters too.

Gravity Crash has quite a lot of shooting, especially on the later planets/levels.

 

There are a lot of non-traditional PS3 games that could also be classified as shooters if you were to change the player vehicle to a spaceship/plane/helicopter.

One example I can think of; Gatling Gears. It's an awesome game too. It might as well be classified as a top down twin stick shooter. Same with Renegade Ops. Another awesome game too. There are quite a few levels where you at as a helicopter.

 

I hope some day they realize we want more shooters on PSN. Cave shooters and classics... Maybe some day.

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Thanks, I'll add Big Sky, Blast Factor, Novastrike, and Sky Fighter to the PS3 Shooters List.

 

I left out the others (Raystorm, Caladrius, Ketsui) because I have a US PSN account .

 

I definitely consider PJ Shooter and Gravity Crash to be shooters. Sure there are other goals, and saving components, but Defender, Omega Race, Choplifter, among others have that as well and they are classified as shooters too.

Gravity Crash has quite a lot of shooting, especially on the later planets/levels.

 

There are a lot of non-traditional PS3 games that could also be classified as shooters if you were to change the player vehicle to a spaceship/plane/helicopter.

One example I can think of; Gatling Gears. It's an awesome game too. It might as well be classified as a top down twin stick shooter. Same with Renegade Ops. Another awesome game too. There are quite a few levels where you at as a helicopter.

 

I hope some day they realize we want more shooters on PSN. Cave shooters and classics... Maybe some day.

 

Yep you're probably right about Gravity Crash and PJ Shooters. I just watched some more vids of them and I guess they have enough shooting to be shmups xD

 

There's 2 more small "shmups" (they're somewhat orthodox shmups), Qlione and Qlione 2 (packed as Qlione Evolve on PS Store). They're pretty cheap too, like 4-5$, but look quite crap lol. But I guess it's worth it for that small money for 2 games.

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