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Review: We review Gradius Collection see how it fairs on the PSP. Full review inside.
June 18, 2006 | 10:19 PM PSTby: Matt Furtado
Written By: Lucas DeWoody
What was the first horizontal space shooter you ever played? Defender gave birth to the genre in a loose way, but Gradius is the game that blew it wide open. To this day, all horizontal shooters (and many shooters of other genres) strive to meet the absurd level of action that the Gradius series has put forth since its inception. In this collection, five Gradius games, starting with the original Gradius from 1985 are presented here in all their glory. Let’s dig into the guts of this collection and see just why it is such a big deal. Fire up the engines of the legendary Vic Viper, and let’s get going.
Irem has retired R-Type, and games such as Darius, Scramble, and Thunderforce are all but a memory. Gradius was the first of its kind, and now it is just about the last of its kind. The arcade environment that scrolling shooters thrived in are gone, but this collection shows that the simple to learn, but nearly impossible to master gameplay of shooters still has a place in gaming society. Although the games on this collection are terrific, that doesn’t mean the collection is perfect, but it excels where it matters.
For those who are unfamiliar with the gameplay of Gradius, here’s a quick rundown. You control the legendary Vic Viper, a trans-dimensional spaceship that is rather slow and clunky when the game begins. Each stage begins with a power-up phase where you blast a relatively simple squad of enemies to collect as many powerups as you can before you enter the next stage. The Vic Viper can be powered-up to the extreme levels. The Gradius series provides some pretty strong levels of gratification when you have literally filled the entire screen with lasers, torpedoes, force fields, and explosions. The price for this kind of firepower is that the games are notoriously and outlandishly difficult. The home ports of the past were sometimes toned down to be more accessible, but this collection features only the arcade originals in their original (insanely) difficult format. At the end of each stage, you have to conquer a boss, and many of these bosses will fill the entire screen.
Gradius Collection provides you all of the original games in their original formats, but you also have other options to enjoy them. You can retain the original arcade aspect ratio, or play them in widescreen mode to give you more time to make your move. You can also play the games with the original slowdown that the primitive arcade hardware caused, or you can play the games without this limitation. Some saw the slowdown as an annoyance, while others saw it as a blessing as it gave you a sometimes necessary break from the unrelenting action. It cannot be stressed enough that these games are insanely difficult by nature of design. They were made to inhale quarters, but you can also set your number of continues, lives, length of the power-up stages, and far more.
Classic gaming on the go.
The first game on the collection is the original Gradius from 1985; the game that started it all. The game still stands up in terms of gameplay and difficulty, but it looks dated visually compared to the others on the collection. Nevertheless, it is still fun. Gradius II is the most often overlooked game in the series, but it is the game that took the series to new heights. Many of the power-ups from future games became standard in this game, and the ability to select custom power-ups for your ship was introduced. The music switched to FM Synthesis for increased quality, and the level design was top notch.
Gradius III is considered to universally one of the hardest shooters ever made, and is sometimes looked down upon as such. Many fans consider the music to be the best of the series, and the level design was absolutely top notch, but the difficulty was out outlandishly evil. Sometimes you love it, and other time you’ll be cursing its name, but either way, Gradius III is an excellent game, albeit a frustrating one. Also making an appearance is the once Playstation exclusive title Gradius Gaiden where you were give your choice of three playable ships. The other two ships have their own weapon selections. This is the first time that Gaiden has been available to North American players, as this was originally a Japanese exclusive release. Finally, we have Gradius IV, which shares much with Gradius III rather than Gaiden in terms of gameplay. This game introduced some rather heavy (and good looking) polygonal effects to the visuals, and ranks second in terms of difficulty on the set, only being surpassed by III. All of the games on this set are presented in a completely flawless form and are absolutely true to their original versions, unless you wish to utilize some of the extra features the PSP can provide, but that does not mean this collection is perfect by any means.
What was the first horizontal space shooter you ever played? Defender gave birth to the genre in a loose way, but Gradius is the game that blew it wide open. To this day, all horizontal shooters (and many shooters of other genres) strive to meet the absurd level of action that the Gradius series has put forth since its inception. In this collection, five Gradius games, starting with the original Gradius from 1985 are presented here in all their glory. Let’s dig into the guts of this collection and see just why it is such a big deal. Fire up the engines of the legendary Vic Viper, and let’s get going.
Irem has retired R-Type, and games such as Darius, Scramble, and Thunderforce are all but a memory. Gradius was the first of its kind, and now it is just about the last of its kind. The arcade environment that scrolling shooters thrived in are gone, but this collection shows that the simple to learn, but nearly impossible to master gameplay of shooters still has a place in gaming society. Although the games on this collection are terrific, that doesn’t mean the collection is perfect, but it excels where it matters.
For those who are unfamiliar with the gameplay of Gradius, here’s a quick rundown. You control the legendary Vic Viper, a trans-dimensional spaceship that is rather slow and clunky when the game begins. Each stage begins with a power-up phase where you blast a relatively simple squad of enemies to collect as many powerups as you can before you enter the next stage. The Vic Viper can be powered-up to the extreme levels. The Gradius series provides some pretty strong levels of gratification when you have literally filled the entire screen with lasers, torpedoes, force fields, and explosions. The price for this kind of firepower is that the games are notoriously and outlandishly difficult. The home ports of the past were sometimes toned down to be more accessible, but this collection features only the arcade originals in their original (insanely) difficult format. At the end of each stage, you have to conquer a boss, and many of these bosses will fill the entire screen.
Gradius Collection provides you all of the original games in their original formats, but you also have other options to enjoy them. You can retain the original arcade aspect ratio, or play them in widescreen mode to give you more time to make your move. You can also play the games with the original slowdown that the primitive arcade hardware caused, or you can play the games without this limitation. Some saw the slowdown as an annoyance, while others saw it as a blessing as it gave you a sometimes necessary break from the unrelenting action. It cannot be stressed enough that these games are insanely difficult by nature of design. They were made to inhale quarters, but you can also set your number of continues, lives, length of the power-up stages, and far more.
The first game on the collection is the original Gradius from 1985; the game that started it all. The game still stands up in terms of gameplay and difficulty, but it looks dated visually compared to the others on the collection. Nevertheless, it is still fun. Gradius II is the most often overlooked game in the series, but it is the game that took the series to new heights. Many of the power-ups from future games became standard in this game, and the ability to select custom power-ups for your ship was introduced. The music switched to FM Synthesis for increased quality, and the level design was top notch.
Gradius III is considered to universally one of the hardest shooters ever made, and is sometimes looked down upon as such. Many fans consider the music to be the best of the series, and the level design was absolutely top notch, but the difficulty was out outlandishly evil. Sometimes you love it, and other time you’ll be cursing its name, but either way, Gradius III is an excellent game, albeit a frustrating one. Also making an appearance is the once Playstation exclusive title Gradius Gaiden where you were give your choice of three playable ships. The other two ships have their own weapon selections. This is the first time that Gaiden has been available to North American players, as this was originally a Japanese exclusive release. Finally, we have Gradius IV, which shares much with Gradius III rather than Gaiden in terms of gameplay. This game introduced some rather heavy (and good looking) polygonal effects to the visuals, and ranks second in terms of difficulty on the set, only being surpassed by III. All of the games on this set are presented in a completely flawless form and are absolutely true to their original versions, unless you wish to utilize some of the extra features the PSP can provide, but that does not mean this collection is perfect by any means.
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