Games

PlayStation 2 プレイステーション２

Gradius V - グラディウスＶ

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Gradius V
グラディウスＶ（ＰＳ２）ソニープレイステーション２
Guradiusu V (PS2) Purei Sute-shon 2
(PS2) Sony PlayStation 2
CD-ROM -- Ver 1 -- Horizontal Shoot'em-up
22-07-2004 -- VW176-J1 (SLMP 62462) -- ¥7329.00
Treasure Corporation
2/2

Main

Release dates

Japan	¥7,329	OUT NOW (22nd July 2004)
United Kingdom	£34.99	24th September 2004
USA	$29.99	OUT NOW (14th September 2004)
Australia	$AU 109.95	30th September 2004

Story

Bacterion was destroyed and his body was broken into pieces in the past quest of Fukkatsu, time has past peacefully on Gradius Home World, but as time past portions of the Bacterion cell that were scattered into outer space have started slowly multiplying, little by little in a deep dark nook the scattered cells have started forming into a new Bacterion Empire.

The date is now 8010 of the Gradian calendar one day one of the Gradius space station which floats in the satellite tracked sky of the Gradian Home World is suddenly attacked by a Zero Force. The super spatial-temporal fighter plane Vic Viper and the Gradius army starts a counterattack manoeuvre a more wide-ranging attack support unit also fly's to strike.

Review UPDATED

Well the imported Japanese version of Gradius V arrived this morning, I ripped open the parcel at looked in awe at the most anticipated game release of 2004, switched on my Japanese Sony PlayStation 2 and slipped in the CDROM (it's not a DVD by the way), waited with bated breath as the intro played (the same video that was shown at the E3 2004 show but with some inside Vic Viper shots and a lot high quality), the title screen appeared and I thought this is not a bad start.

Well I've now played Gradius V for a few days and I must say I am was initially quite disappointed with it, the CG cut scenes between two of the stages (which uses the game engine) cannot be skip but at least they are short.

The game is missing so much it feels like a prerelease beta version.

No Lord British as the second player, just a red Vic Viper
No Auto/Semi Auto Weapon select, even Gradius Generations had that
No Moai Easter Island stage, it's not quite Gradius without one
Difficulty level is set way to high, even on Very Easy its quite a challenge but nothing a veteran cannot handle
No use of the rumble feature (R Type Final used it all the time to great effect)

Comparing it to other games, this is hard because there have not been many games like this for years except the excellent game that was release in 2003 by Irem - 'R Type Final'.

Well lets start at the top:-

R Type Final is on a DVD with lots of extras like Art Work, Enemy information, Two Player head to head, 100 player ships to choose from and stage variations, also it was fun to play. Gradius V has none of these extras unless you buy (as in spend more cash!!) the DVD 'The Perfect' which includes game information, behind the scenes, enemy information and background story.

Gradius V does have some redeeming feature like the Option Control and Two Players simultaneously but with only four Options/Multiples to fight over, in Gradius Gaiden and Gokujou Parodius (both two players at once) you could have four each, can't the PS2 run that many sprites at once?

At the rate Konami are releasing sequels we have another five years until the next one which I would call 'Gradius - The Final Challenge' lets just hope they get that one right and use the Gradius Gaiden team.

Don't get me wrong the game is fun to play but it should have been called Salamander 3, Life Force 3 or possibly even Thunder Cross III.

Graphics 95%

All the sprites move smoothly and are very detailed, level layouts are excellent if a bit too colourful, in fact it's so colourful with all the explosions in some places it's hard to see what you are doing and you hit the side, bullets, enemies which is quite frustrating.

Sound FX 80%

Explosions sound great with echo effects, spot effects are also fine but the sound FX while being good are just not quite Gradius, ever since Gradius II GOFER no Yabou in 1988 the weapon pod pickup and laser sounds have been the same in every game but not now, it's a bit like Sega changing the sound 'Sonic the Hedgehog' makes when he jumps, it's become such a trade mark they wouldn't so why has Konami?

Also there is no Volume control for Sound FX and Music, this is poor because the music can be so loud that the speech and sound FX can be hard to hear, the only thing you can do is select between Mono and Stereo.

Speech 60%

All the speech is there like Speed Up, Option, etc... but it sounds like a bloke reading off a card and is not up to scratch with other games in the series, also it only has the one set of speech for 'Missile' ie.. it still says 'Missile' and not 'Two Way Missile', Gradius II GOFER no Yabou & Gradius IV Fukkatsu had speech for every type of weapon. With all the space available these days they could have used a DVD instead of a CD and put all the extra speech, behind the scenes, extra music, more intros, the list goes on. 'You need some practice' never sounded so bad.

Also there is no boss speech like Destroy the Core, Shoot the Core etc...

Music 75%

While this is not on par with Gradius Gaiden there are some good tunes. There are only a few tunes that are inspired by the series like the third stage which is like a stage from Salamander and the standard Boss Rush music.

There isn't even a music player on the Option screen.

Playability 85%

Lots of weapon combinations, Two Players simultaneously, Seven Difficulty Levels, Stage Select, Weapon Editing, Option Control, there is plenty to keep you going with this game apart from the fact that it's way too short at only Seven Stages. You have got an online Score Attack mode which does make you want to play it more and get your name to the top of the list.

Also even on Very Easy the game is actually quite difficult, so much for helping novice players, well at least the next ship flies on and you can pick your Options back up.

Overall Conclusion 79%

While its fun to play with some stages inspired from the previous games its not as fun or easy to pick up as Gradius Gaiden, if you haven't played Gaiden (buy it on import or get Gradius Collection for the PSP) or any of the others games in the series you will probably say it's excellent anyway because of all the eye candy but if you have played the others you will notice some of the flaws and inconsistencies with the legend that is Gradius. While it's fun to play I don't think you will be coming back in a few weeks time which is quite a shame as its a great opportunity lost. Maybe they will patch all/some of the problems I've listed for the US/UK releases of the game.

Information

Also the Speed Up icon has been updated, when you select all five Speed Up's (Maximum Speed) the icon turns to "Init Speed" which resets Vic Vipers speed back to the default of no Speed Up's, this could be useful as some stages require you to move faster.

The 'Respawn (like Salamander)' or 'Go back a bit (Gradius etc...)' when you die has been changed in this game, you now get a choice of both, this will make it easier for newbies but can be turned off for the advance players, obviously 'Respawn' will be used in the two players on screen at once game.