(Above)
The yellow shots can be fired in any direction
you like.
(Below) What can only be described as a 'very big
laser'
There are
three weapon placements on the
Guardian Force ship - the fixed
forward-firing cannon, the rotating
turret, and two missile bays. It's
possible to have all three weapons fitted
at once, which makes for some pretty
hectic action when you're firing forward
shots, flipping lasers around 360 degrees
and dispatching little homing missiles to
finish the job! A press of the B button
fires one of the five special weaopns,
which vary from homing fire lasers to
weird plasma balls which sit in the
middle of the enemy delivering damage. It
all looks quite decent in a retro kind of
way, but it's hardly cutting-edge laser
action.
|
 The
ball on a string weapon is very strange indeed!
And
another reason why the J-2 won the 'Best New
Innovation' at the 2353 Marsbase New-Tech Expose
is its upgradability. Throughout the levels,
players are able to collect power-ups left by
destroyed enemies - as you'd expect. (..but
of course!) Guardian Force
allows players to collect an excellent eight
different weapons, with several specific guns for
the spinning turret, meaning players usually
control two totally different weapons throughout
the game. There are also five seperate special
weapons just for upgrading the turret. These are
powered by collecting icons which fill the
special guage, and unleashed by pressing a second
button. These specials fire in the direction the
rotating turret is facing, so it's possible to
fire your super-attack in any direction you
choose, making alien toast of anything that
offends
you, no matter where it's hiding...
The graphics have that 'retro'
look about them in places,
but some of the backgrounds are superbly
detailed.
UPDATE:
Having recently got the chance to play
Guardian Force I can report that it's a
cracking little shooter indeed! The
turret rotation system adds a lot of
interest and fun to the game, the
graphics are colourful and detailed, and
there's not a hint of slowdown even with
masses of onscreen sprites, and the
super-weapons are great fun - I'm
especiallly fond of the ball-on-a-string
weapon. ;). Lastly it's an absolute blast
to play especially with two players.
Definitely in my top 5 or 6 Saturn
shooters, if you see it cheap grab it!
Mike B
|
|
Coming from Succes, the guys who brought
us the cute Cotton shooter series, comes a
traditional-style top-down shooter with a few
neat touches.. This review, from the sadly
now defunct official UK Sega Saturn Magazine,
captures the Destroy all Monsters 'feel' so well
I had to put it in! Although I've yet to play
Guardian Force myself, coming from top producer
Success hopefully means a that the title should
be a fairly hot Saturn shootie, which I really
ought to get hold of at some point.. well after I
can tear myself away from Radiant Silvergun and Soukyugerentai perhaps.. ;) Mike
 o there I
was, just about to sit down in front of Emmerdale
(awfully dull UK rural TV soap.. Mike) with
a cup of tea and half a packet of chocolate Hob
Nobs (awfully nice UK biscuits ;).. Mike) when
the damn phone rings. And guess who it is? Only
the bloody Transglobal Defence Department! Turns
out the whole world was invaded by blood-crazed aliens
from the planet Teeflux while I was at work, and
do you know what they've done? Only gone and
destroyed everything in their all-conquering
wake! Luckily, they left one untested and
experimental fighter unscathed (Now there's a
shock!) so I've barely got time to wolf down
my tea and switch off the telly, before pulling
on my combat leathers and running out to save the
world!
Fortunately, the TDD has been developing a
blinding
little one-seater for this kind of situation, and
the J-2-Multiblaster (TM) sure is the ship for
the job. You see, it's got these two guns fitted
onto it - one which fires forward all the time,
and another which is fitted to a spinning turret.
This may be rotated by pressing a couple of
buttons on the VR-Comlink (TM) head-up display
(this craft may also be controlled by plugging a
Sega Saturn joypad into the Retro-Jack Unicom
(TM) adapter.) This is the best feature of the
ol' J-2, allowing pilots to simultaneously attack
forwards while also sweeping around to cover
enemy attacks from the back
and sides.
Aha! A boss! Kill it with your
diagonal blasters..
The bosses are all 2D, although a few still have
some
pretty impressive attacks. It may be too easy for
some.
 
The
levels themselves are a mixture of horizontal and
vertical action, with the Saturn even switching
directions mid-level to make Guardian Force a
very technical blaster, especially as players
often need to rotate weapons to compensate for
the changes in direction and sometimes end up
fighting down the screen.. (whoaah!) The
graphics sit in the well-worn 2D seat, with not
even the slightest sniff of a polygon wafting
through the levels. The bosses are okay, but not
the largest or most varied we've ever seen,
although the devious way the game changes the
scroll direction gives the normal levels a bit of
extra variety to make amends. It's fairly easy to
zip through the game on the generous ten
continues the default setting allows, although
each level does feature its own unique look and
style - albeit with some pretty uninspiring and
dangerously bland-in-places visuals.
All in all, Guardian Force is a cool - if
unspectacular - little shooter, with enough
clever ideas and innovations to raise it above
the level of most predictable blasters. We're
certainly fans of old-skool shooters and this
title makes the grade in most areas. However it
does lack the kind of quality features that push
players (and the Saturn) to any new levels. It's
a worthy purchase for shoot 'em up fanatics...
but definitely put
it below Radiant Silvergun on
your import shopping list.
For
another good, in-depth Guardian Force review and
much more visit Alan Kwan's Videogame Page.
|
