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Ginkeifighter4's Gradius (NES)
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| [January 30, 2007 03:17:18 PM]
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Another hour and an entire Queens of the Stone Age CD and I have discovered that I have gotten better at Gradius. In fact, I almost made it to the third level twice!
It seems that though this game has a steep learning curve, once you get used to it and understand the various naunces of the game, it becomes more manageable.
What did I discover during my second session? Well, it seems that one of the main reasons that I was having problems was because I was getting too many speed upgrades at the very beginning of the game. I thought these upgrades just made your ship move faster but in fact, the entire game world moves faster with these upgrades. So after I got less of these upgrades, the game didn't necessarily become easier, it was just more at a human level. I also found that the second level is quite nice and since I believe I got to the boss on my first try, it definitely seems more manageable then the first. The level consists of little dots that are throughout the stage and they need to be shot to get past. Also, there are a lot of mounted turrets and barracks that they can't shoot through. I was surprised at how unique this level is in comparison to the first and I hope that the rest of the levels are as unique and fun as these two.
I noticed that in my first entry, I didn't mention the sound of th game in any way. I found that not listening to the music which consists of mostly bleeps and bloops and a kind of generic space shooter music didn't give much to the game. It's truly the gameplay and level design that really shines here.
Confused?? On my second entry to the second level and after beating the first I was all of a sudden warped into this weird world where I had to dodge the statue from Easter Island. It was very confusing and after getting hit by one I was transported into the second level. Maybe this is some kind of equalizer to make sure that the player does not get too many upgrades. Regardless, it was really weird but still an awesome game!
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| [January 30, 2007 01:53:38 PM]
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Wow, I suck at this game. After about an hour of play, I have yet to make it past the first level. After playing Gradius, I realize why I love and hate schmups so much.
So I recently acquired Gradius and it was very exciting. I had never played the game before and I was looking forward to playing a horizontal shooter which is something that I have less experience with then vertical shooters. I personally like vertical shooters more but this could be because the main horizontal shooter that I played was R-type which was just so insanely hard that I pretty much gave up on it. Gradius is a horizontal shooter that implements the use of power-ups very well and gives the player a sense of great control and intricate level design.
I have seen the entire first level of Gradius (unfortunately the one time I did make it to the boss, I died :( <== thats a sad face). But I still came away from the game impressed and also yearning to continue the game experience. I found that the primary aspect of Gradius are the power-ups. At the very beginning of the game, power-ups are thrown at you in the form of four blue "wave" enemies that need to all be destroyed to get a power-up/upgrade. These upgrades can be used on speed, missiles, double, laser, and option. As you get an upgrade, the pointer moves one over to the right so if you get two upgrades you can get missiles, or three gets you a double laser and so on. I found that it is near impossible to finish the first level without these upgrades and in truth, it is probably impossible to finish the game without upgrades because your ship just moves so incredibly so. However, it is impressive how fast the game moves when you have many upgrades as well as how the graphics of all of the upgrades work. I particularly like options (little orange balls that mimic your movement and attacks and are also invisible and good to use as shields). These upgrades complement the game very nicely.
The controls and level design of Gradius also seem top notch. All of the controls are responsive and though I got killed a lot it seems like the less angry I get and the more calm and focused I become, the game is a lot more manageable. Schmups are hard after all and theres no reason to throw my controller into the T.V. The level design as well as the enemies are wide and impressive. Enemies include flying blobs, walking lasers, secret bases that spew enemies at you evil volcanoes of doom that explode a ton of lava into your face. All in all I came away impressed as well as a little frustrated by Gradius and look forward to spending more time with this classic game.
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Ginkeifighter4's Gradius (NES)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Tuesday 30 January, 2007
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