The gameplay is pretty much
identical to Raystorm. You can
pick from 3 different ships ( the new ship in
this game is called the 'Waverider').
Two of these are basically variants of the R-Gray
1 and R-Gray 2, but
with different names. The last one's different,
with homing missiles as a standard weapon. One
nice change is that your lock-ons now have a much
more mobile targeting reticle, so you can hit
enemies at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately, you will be
going solo this time around.. the 2 Player
feature didn't make it in. When the
game starts, you get to choose 3 stages to play,
much like the Thunderforce
games. This seemed like a cool idea at first, but
then I reached the end of the 3rd stage, where I
was faced by two gigantic bosses. After beating
them, I really felt the game was starting up, but
the credits began! It seems that the game is only
three stages long! Quite astonishing, really (Must
be longer than that surely?! - Mike). I
managed to clear it on the first try using 9
credits, which says quite a bit considering I
died an aweful lot. Boss fights are OK, but a bit
boring. None of them are very challenging, and
they have very little personality. However, the
music for some of the bosses is incredible, and
you end up wanting the bosses to last even longer
so you can hear more of it...
Fortunately,
the game is fun enough to be somewhat replayable.
After beating the game with only 5 credits, you
unlock 'secret players' in the options menu,
which means you can use the R-Gray and R-Gray 2.
The game REALLY feels like Raystorm using the old
ships. I hope there's a lot more secret stuff to
unlock, since I'll feel more like I've gotten my
money's worth :) There's also a 'Special
Mode', which should be longer (I hope!),
since you don't pick any stages at the start.
Graphics are very good for a PSX - a little above
the level of R-Type Delta.
Everything's very smooth, with little polygon
warping and lots of lighting effects. Tons of
transparencies and cool special effects make the
game look very sharp! The music is fantastic -
easily the best Zuntata stuff
I've ever heard. I'd waste no time in buying the
soudntrack - it's that good. I've spent almost as
much time letting the BGM-test run as I
have in the game itself!
Basically, you've got a nice, playable game with
flashy graphics and awesome music,
but there's not much else. Raystorm was much
better. It's worth buying, but try and get it
cheap, if you can. Better yet, buy the soundtrack
CD! Zuntata really deserves support for their
amazing effort this time, but I'm not sure that
Taito does. It's a cool game, but rather
disappointing eventually.
Matthew
Ross
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So
here it is.. the eagerly awaited third game in
Taito's Layer Section/'Ray'-shooter series.
Matthew Ross gives his first impressions.
Lock-on-lasers away..!!  The Neuro-Computer
Con-Human, which was created for the good of
mankind, has gone rogue. Commence Operation
Raycrisis and dive into the Neuron Network. Start
up the Wave Rider Cybernetics Link to join in the
battle against the machine. Raycrisis is
the prequel to the Rayforce
series, based on the recent Taito G-Net arcade
game.
Everything takes a cyberpunk theme
this time; the story is set before Rayforce/Galactic
Attack, and you're trying to stop
the Con-Human computer in
virtual reality. This makes for some trippy
graphical effects, but it's not nearly so
exciting as dodging
huge spaceships and laser beams! The levels are
consequently rather dull, with different areas
morphing in and out at will.
(Above) Before starting a game, you
choose a path
that you wish to take (as in Thunder Force V).
Areas
are called "Parts" and have names like
Memory,
Consciousness, Emotion, Intelligence,
Consideration,
and Self. You can choose the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
stages.
The
Wave Rider is essentially your
ship and you can choose from three types. WR-01 is like the original
Rayforce ship (8 lock-on max) found in
Galactic Attack. WR-02 is like R-Gray 2 from
Raystorm (up to 16 lock-ons with a thunder
snake laser that lets you lock-on other
targets while it's zapping others). WR-03 is a bit different-
you use the photon chain weapon instead of a
lock-on laser. The Hyper
Laser and Super
Attack
weapons are brought over from Raystorm. The
Hyper Laser is used by getting ALL of your
available lock-ons on one certain major
target like a larger aircraft. Wait for this
target to fly near a group of smaller
enemies, and they will go down as well so you
can rake in a bonus. The Super Attack called Round
Divider is
basically your smartbomb which will clear out
bullets and leave you invincible for a few
seconds. Taito did not tamper much with the
game play of Raystorm. The powerups will be
familiar to Raystorm players- there are the
red pyramids (shot level up), green diamonds
(for additional lock-on capabilities), and
the blue star-pickup which gives you Maximum
power.
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