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Wednesday 31 January, 2007
So I got a chance to play some more Gradius and get a bit further. Here are my findings:
I love the seamless level design of the game. In the way that it is completely continuous, it makes the game far more immersive and the sense of space much more real. How the game alternates between the space scene and then the "level" scene gives the player the feeling that they are traveling alone through the depths and quirky segments of space, and really adds to the "lone samurai" element that is natural to the genre.
Each level has its own theme to it. Part of the charm of Gradius that differentiated itself from other shmups was its extremely obscure level environments. From easter-island to lava, the player travels through many progressively weirder environments with progressively weirder bosses and by the end, they've seen all of it.
Who thought of these bosses? Gradius has arguably the most confusing enemy designs, and this is in a good sense. I was only able to make it through the first three segments of the game, but I remember over a decade ago when I first played the game, I nearly pissed my pants when the scrolling stopped and volcanoes started randomly shooting out rocks. Genius! Using inanimate objects as bosses is something I still have not seen outside of the Gradius series.
In the end, what makes Gradius, and further more the Gradius series so distinct in the shmup genre is its level of polish. Every level, every sprite is so solid and defined with proportions that work so well with everything else... the original Gradius still amazes me in the realm of 2D shoot em ups.
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