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SOUKYU |
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Soukyugurentai has no trouble
outperforming any of the other shooters on the Saturn,
however. It takes the lock on targeting
system first pioneered by Taito's Galactic Attack to a
whole new level. Your laser sight's range is greatly
improved, allowing you to lock onto nearly any onscreen
enemy. It doesn't matter if they're above you, below
you, or even staring you right in the face... there's no place
they can hide from your wrath. Simply hold down the fire
button and a targeting laser sweeps across the screen,
locking onto all threats within its range. Let go and
the targeted foes are chased down and obliterated by
everything from swift homing lasers to explosive
fireballs. Every one of the game's three
pilots are armed with two targetting systems. None of
them are ideal for every situation, so you may want to switch
between the two depending on the current situation. Find
yourself swarmed by tiny, bullet-spitting fighters?
Switch to the All-Range mode to increase your targetting
range, and blast every last one of them to bits before they
start causing you grief. Need extra firepower for a
single, heavily armored target? Switch back to Pinpoint
mode to concentrate your firepower on its weak
point. The targetting system even
affects the way bombs are used. You can always use a
bomb as a panic button, clearing the screen of weaker
enemies and their bullets, but if you're feeling more
confident and need to focus the bomb's strength on one of
Soukyugurentai's powerful bosses, lock onto them with the
targetting laser, then let 'er rip with the bomb. You'll
send out nearly a dozen homing grenades, which streak toward
your hapless victim and explode on contact, turning guns and
thrusters into charred debris. But enough about the targetting
system... how are the graphics and sound? I'm happy to
say that they're both spectacular. The graphics are a
fantastic combination of hand-drawn, polygonal, and computer
rendered artwork. Normally, I don't get too enthused
about computer rendering in video games, but Raizing really
made this style of presentation work, with some of the most
state of the art character models you'll see on the
Saturn. They're a quantum leap ahead of the plain,
sparsely detailed vehicles in Data East's lackluster Skull
Fang, that's for sure. Great special effects, fiery
explosions, and clever camera work make Soukyugurentai even
more appealing, but the designers were very careful to make
sure that the sizzle didn't take precedence over the
meaty gameplay. The game's constant assault of
bullets, bombs, and beams are rarely obscured behind loud,
flashy text messages, so you never have to worry about low
visibility robbing you of your lives. And speaking of
bullets, bombs, and beams, there's enough enemy weaponry to
keep your thumbs dancing on the controller, but never enough
to choke the screen or restrict your movement. Unlike
many of the recent shooters on the Dreamcast, Soukyugurentai
is pure bullet heaven, not bullet hell. Finally, there's the
soundtrack. Would you believe that it's even better than
Radiant Silvergun's? Well, believe it. The two
games actually sound a lot alike, but Soukyugurentai's
background music is less pretentious and noticably more
urgent. It's just more fitting that the music in a
shooter leaves you sweating bullets as you're frantically
dodging them. Despite Soukyugurentai's
many strengths, Radiant Silvergun ultimately comes out on
top. It's got brighter, cleaner graphics than Souky, and
there's more variety thanks to the six basic weapon types
available. Furthermore, the Silversword system which
forces players to earn their screen-clearing super attacks is
preferable to Souky's bomb stocks, which are more easily
abused by less skilled players. |
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