Gradius V (PS2 Review)

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Treasure and Konami worked together for the latest adventure of the Vic Viper, but the ultimate question is: "This will be a good game?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EORiVYfbiDw


Gameplay: 10/10
The first thing that i really admired is the option of turn on/off the revival start, when it's off you'll reappear immediately when you die (kinda like Salamander) and when you die your options will split off from the ship so you can take them again. You can adjust the Extra life settings and scoring, but the main feature is the Weapon Arrays, it's kinda lame that there's no Weapon Edit, but the Arrays main feature is the Option special abilities.
Type 1 - Freezing: Your options are locked in a formation, giving you a lot of "Posability" for your options, using this Array in an expert way will help you with the bosses. This Weapon Array includes the normal Missile, the normal Double.
Type 2 - Direction: Allows you to aim your options in any direction, only problem: it locks the Vic Viper when you're aiming the options. This Weapon Array includes the 2 Way Missile and the Tailgun.
Type 3 - Spacing: Two options up, two down, it gives you some support but you can do this formation with the Type 1 Array. This one includes the Eagle Wind Missile and the Tailgun.
Type 4 - Rotate: Like the R. Option in Gradius III, the options rotate around the ship, you can make them roll clockwise or counter-clockwise. This set includes the 2-Way Back Missile and the normal Double.

NOTE: All the Weapon Arrays have the standard Laser and the Force Field.

Once you're done, let's go with the game, the first thing that you'll see is our default weapon, you can fire more bullets rather than the 2 shots like the rest of the series, also the hit box of the ship was reduced to the cockpit so you this will help much. The game added new stage hazards like green slime, a bunch of asteroids and moving stages (think the Zone C in Super Nova / Darius Force, but more improved), and everytime you die the game says things like "We're just getting started" or "Brush up your skills" trying to insult you (remember "Hey Poor Player!" in Blazing Star?), when you continue, you can select your weapon array and keeps the score you got when you die in the first continue, but your score is reseted, not to zeros but to 1 point per continue like a Capcom game (19XX for example).
When you enter your name, the game will remember your ranking name, sex and zodiac sign, so the next time you rank in again you only have to press buttons for confirm, making it a "Smart" ranking system.

The game also includes a simultaneous 2 player co-op gameplay in the style of Salamander / Life Force, i thing that was a good improvement for this game.


Graphics: 10/10
The graphics and the visual effects of this game are just astounding, the lasers can give you a visual spectacle if you are using the Types 2 or 4, because the laser streams got a sine wave effect kinda like the Proton Laser in Raiden II (The purple laser), about the character design, it's nice to see a redesigned Vic Viper, and player 2 is a red Vic Viper, so no Lord British or any other ship from the previous games, the enemies and bosses in this game will be familiar for all the fans: The Zelos Force, Big Cores, the Core with 4 tentacles from Salamander two of the bosses from Gradius III, and the annoying "Option Thief", as well as new bosses and enemies. It was kinda disappointing that the Moais didn't appeared in this game. Some of the classic bosses have new attack patterns so if you think "I know how simple this boss is", then think again.


Music: 10/10
The music is another good one, Hitoshi Sakimoto (Radiant Silvergun, Final Fantasy Tactics) did a good work here, there's some nice remakes of Gradius songs like the Core themes from Gradius and Gradius III, and a lot of new songs that maybe doesn't sound like Gradius, but it has that Konami feeling that makes it fit in the game, it seems like Konami is very careful in the music department, and that's what it counts when we're talking about soundtracks, "Handle with care, not do what you feel", that's the lesson here, the only letdown is you can't hear the music when you pause the game, instead you'll hear Konami's trademark "Pause Sound", i think hearing the music when you pause it would be a good idea, or at least have a Sound Test.


Replay Value: 10/10
There's unlockable stuff in the game, everytime you get an hour of gameplay you'll get one more credit (like the "3-hours, one credit" in Thunder Force V: Perfect System), but when you get a total of 17 hours you'll unlock the Free Play option.
Remember the lack of a Weapon Edit in the Array?, well, you have to beat the first loop of the game and then you'll unlock the Weapon Edit, giving you new weapons and a lot of combinations to try!
Also you can unlock stage segments as far as you progress in the game and the loops according of how many times you have beaten the game.


Pro's
- 2 Player Co-op gameplay
- 1 Hour, 1 Extra Credit, 17 hours, Free Play
- Remakes of old bosses with new attacks (Old dogs learned new tricks)
- Original music, not very Gradius-esque, but keeps the "Konami Feeling".
- Remakes of old Gradius themes
- Unlockable Weapon Edit
- Unlockable Stage Select

Con's
- The stage hazards in stages 5 and 6
- No Moais, kinda lame
- No Sound Test


Curiosities
- Planet Gradius is actually the Earth.
- The Vic Viper is an unlockable jet in the game Airforce Delta Strike.
- Vic Viper is also a Machine-type monster card in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but it's called Gradius instead of Vic Viper.


Conclusions
Perhaps this Treasure-Konami combination turned out to be the most perfect Gradius game that i ever played, removing the sadistic hard difficulty, adding homages of the previous games and new stuff as well, Gradius V has to be the best shmup in existence, and it's definitely a must have for any shmupper.


Gradius V Final Score: 10/10