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Underground > Games & Gameplay >

Shoot 'em ups / Shmups

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14:01 / 08.01.08

I'd just like to profess my undying love of Jeff Minter's Tempest series. It's a cruel world that games of such mindtwistingly high calibre seem doomed to be on mainly incredibly obscure and hard to find hardware. (Tempest 2000 coming out on the ill-conceived Atari Jaguar, with below par ports to the PSX and Saturn and Tempest 3000 on the Nuon).

They're some of the finest and most intense experiences it's possible to have with a shooter in my opinion. The way the game begins as stark wireframes on a black background and as you play gradually builds into a frenzy of psychedelic liquids splashed on the screen and thudding trance plays.

The latest iteration of this series, 'Space Giraffe' has been released recently onto Xbox Live Arcade. Reception has been mixed; it's a lot to initally take in. You will be confused, and you will die. A lot. Then, marvellously your brain will adapt to process the sounds the enemy makes and inform your decisions, what seems like random flashes shows you EXACTLY how to act.

I've played my fair share of Japanese shooters, and quite frankly in terms of gameplay and aesthetics they seem a little too similar for my liking. What excites me about shooters isn't destroying the umpteenth grey laser spewing warplane at the top of the screen, or the complex formulae behind the scoring systems described above; it's the rush of adrenaline you feel when the graphics, music and gameplay are working in perfect synergy, it's mind-blowing on a level that no other game really reaches.

I just wish there was a convenient way for me to play Tempest 3000...

04:48 / 09.02.08

There is straight up Tempest (Classic and Evolved) on the 360 now as well as Space Giraffe, although I prefer the latter.

I must say the 360 is a great haven for old school games. It's too bad we have to pay 5 bucks each for them, but still.

16:17 / 11.02.08

Rez HD just got released on Live. Playing that game late at night in surround sound is like taking a hit of particularly powerful chemicals straight to the brainstem.

If you've got spare 360 controllers, you can set them all to vibrate in time to the music. I only hope I don't have to explain to anyone why my crotch is glowing green and buzzing.

10:40 / 13.02.08

Funny I should find this thread. Yesterday, a game I bought from Play-Asia, Söldner-X: Himmelsstürmer arrived. I had ordered the Limited Edition of an independent shoot 'em up title a few weeks ago, after hearing a lot of praise. Soldner-X boasts amazing graphics and 8 levels, spread across 4 worlds.

So far, I'm really enjoying it. I've gotten up to the boss on World 2 (one boss per world), and it's proving to be a challenge for me. The graphics are just incredible. I've never seen a shoot 'em up look this good before, nor have I heard such beautiful music.

Although when it comes down to it, it doesn't offer a lot that other shoot 'em ups don't. The most notable unique feature (as far as I'm aware), being that each copy of the game comes with a serial key used to upload your scores on the Soldner-X website, where it is ranked against every other player. Each player has his own profile, with details such as country of origin, their overall rank, the highest score, most kills, most boss kills and most chains (a technique to earn power-ups) achieved in a single game, the highest level reached, and an image for use in forum signatures (shown below). So far ~150 accounts have been registered on the site, which doesn't seem like a lot given the 3,000 Limited Edition copies available.

Auguste's Gamer Tag

Right now, only the Limited Edition is available. There's going to be a downloadable PS3 release come out some time this year, but I'm unsure of a particular release date. Only 3,000 Limited Editions will ever be made, and they include the game, the serial key for online ranking, the official sountrack with two bonus tracks, a printed manual, a "tactical reference book", which includes the stats of every enemy and some fancy art, a certificate stating which copy you own out of the 3,000 made and a nice case to keep the latter in.

The only real complaint I have is that the quality of the tactical reference book and case seem to be pretty cheap compared to the quality of the game itself, but it's not really worth noting.

Screenshots, videos, etc are located here, and the official website is www.soldner-x.com.

Although it seems to be selling slowly, I'd want to buy a copy of the Limited Edition while they're available if you're interested. It's roughly $50 USD, which isn't too bad considering what you get. It'd definitely worth checking out.

23:37 / 27.02.08

Laziness in this here post, but, well, y'know.

Two really smart shmups have been released over the Xbox 360's Live Arcade service in the last few weeks. First up was Omega Five, which is a bit clunky, but a good laugh and possibly something that'd appeal to people who've not played a huge amount of shmups over the years.

Today, though, Triggerheart Exelica came out, and I love it. There have been some fantastic reasons to take the 360 online in recent months - Space Giraffe, N+, Mutant Storm Empire, Metal Slug 3, Rez, hell, even the chess game is good - but I'm currently thinking that this tops them all.

And Ikaruga at some point later in the year.

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