Rym 9000 (PlayStation 4 - PC)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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Rym 9000 (PlayStation 4 - PC)

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

After dealing with the Ginga Force crash issues (thank Sony for that little present "For the players" on their 8.50 system update, douchebags), I think its time to make (once again) a dive in the "trash container", the world of low quality, awfully made, bad shooters.
For today's review, let's check Rym 9000 for PlayStation 4 and PC.



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Just another day in the bullet hell days of shooting.

The main structure of Rym 9000 is based on fast killing as the main objective is to kill enemies with a score multiplier of x3. In a game based on such structure you'll probably be given an indicator of some sorts like a gauge or a timer like in Thunder Force V. Instead, they don't give you anything. The only hint you're gonna get is the circular force fields surrounding the target. When its gray it is the x3 multiplier, yellow is x2 and red is x1. This applies to all the enemies in this game, from "Popcorn" enemies to the bosses, thus, you'll be in a hurry to rack high scores. Also, selecting the appropiate weapon will become a crucial choice 'cos you can change your regular rapid frontal shot for a 2 way shot or a stronger machine gun. But picking the power up is not as easy as in any other game. To get an item you have to shoot the icon and then pick it, otherwise it will damage your ship as if it was an enemy collision. Speaking of damages, your ship can take two hits before going down, but when you take the first hit, your ship will enter in a "Desperate Mode" of some sorts as it switches the weapon you're using with a fast and stronger frontal fire capable of inflict lethal damage. When you're in this mode, a "Cross" like item will appear on the screen, you can pick it to recover your hit point, but your weapon will return to the one you're using before. Also, this health item will not disappear until you pick it.



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Congratulations! You're the 999,999th shmupper who've got this message.
Click to claim your prize!


During your mission, you might get a message confirming that you've unlocked something. Well, don't be scared, it's because you've completed an objective. Stages have their own special objectives like destroying all "Popcorn" enemies, all the specific type of enemies and clearing the boss battle without getting hit once. Some of the most trickiest of all will be the getting all 8 weapon items in one run since they go down and once they're offscreen they're gone.



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Looks like you've unlock a lot of stuff today.

When you complete a stage, you'll be noticed of how many unlockables you've got from the stage.
These are more than just the Trophies of the game, they're the unlockables for the game's database.



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EJECT!, WATCH THE CANOP-*Explodes*

Dying in this game will be the most awful experience, 'cos unlike R-Type or Silver Surfer, this game doesn't have checkpoints, forcing you to start the stage all over again, not even for the boss fights, making this game an extreme exercise of memorization that unless you're a Top Gun-level R-Typer, you'll find this fun and challenging while the rest of shmuppers would give up after being brought to their knees thanks to this stupid move.
To put it simple, one mistake during the boss battle and you'll be kicked back to the beginning of the stage faster than you can say "Shizuka Sakai".

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Fine, I'll keep my mouth shut and pay more attention to what I write.
Just don't shout at me, OK?


As I said, this curve ball on difficulty only makes memorization a problem, as speed and remembering when to get hit to power up and calculate the time left for a Recovery item to pop up are essential elements to stay alive and survive the level.
I almost forgot, when you die, the score will reset to the total you had when you started the stage (example: Start stage 2 with the 5,321 points obtained in stage 1), so this justify the stage restarting. On the bright side, it's better to keep the previous score than resetting to nothing. There's no lives to lose or Game Over to be worried about. So, the only way to fail the mission is quitting the game by selecting the "Quit" option in the pause screen, but instead of pressing a button to confirm, you have to hold Down on the Analog Stick or D-Pad until the ship retreats, quite unorthodox for a confirmation.



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You need to know what's up here or else you wouldn't pass Stage 3.

This one will flummox shmuppers right off the bat. In a mistake that no one should EVER repeat, the third stage throws a curve ball that makes the second half of stage 3 cryptic. At first you'll be facing enemies that if you shoot at them, they will send your attacks back in the form of a quick laser strike, so you can't screw up too much and there's a fish underwater following your every move. At this rate, most players would already gave up on finishing the game. But guess what?, You need to know this to pass this predicament: You have to stop until you see a sight that indicates the fish will jump out to hit you, once you see that sight, move and try to shoot the fish. Repeat the process until its down, then two fishes will appear and you'll have to repeat the same technique twice.



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When the RGB Cable of your TV breaks.

As if the curve ball of Stage 3 wasn't enough, the game pulls the ultimate display of idiocy by adding a color corruption on the background in an attempt of dimensional/hyperspace flight, but this only works to hide enemies and most of the time bullets, resulting in cheap deaths that will send your ship to a Hyperdimensional death and you wouldn't notice until the ship explodes and the score appears before restarting the stage. Not to mention, the "Don't touch the screen borders" objective in this stage is technically impossible.



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Congratulations "Hero".
You've killed us all.


With the final enemy destroyed, you might expect a nice ending to celebrate your ultimate victory over your enemies, right? Instead, it jumps up with weirdness like the Rym 9000 was a robot in the moon and it causes the death of all humans on Earth, then an Ark called Saint Voyager appears and an empire takes over the planet.
After this ending, the game doesn't send you back to the title screen. Instead, it crashes sending you to the CE-34878-0 error screen. ¿It was also affected by Sony's update like Ginga Force or is just another testimony of Sonoshee's incompetence?, I think it's the second option. Not to mention, the game clear achievement won't unlock after the crash. Good Lord.



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No, your TV is not broken.

Graphically, its a mess. Like most indie shmups, it borrows inspiration from the "good ol' days" of gaming, mostly of the NES era, but in this game, it looks more like a failed Amstrad homage as some of the colors used have to be the worst of them, some scenes, like stage 2 are somewhat hard to recognize like "Is that a city or someone didn't made the background right?". A few enemies try to look well detailed but the bad choice of colors only makes things worse.
To finish this part of the review, please, PLEASE DON'T GET ME STARTED WITH STAGE 4, 'cos the damn thing looks like a bizarre color corrosion effect that looks like when the RGB cable of your TV breaks and screws up the screen, and like I said before, it only hides bullets and sometimes enemies, resulting on cheap deaths. Very lame and cheap deaths. To make the game an eye torture, it also have screen shaking effects that make things worse. Fortunately, you have the option of disable it.



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Boss fights can get intense sometimes due to the sudden speed change in the scenery.

If there's at least one positive aspect in favor of this game is the sometimes hyper-paced action in the game's scrolling. As if it was influenced by Zanac A.I. and action cartoons and animes from the 80's, the game scenery suddenly goes superfast and takes that in the boss battles, making them very adrenalinic.



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Releasing Infinitely gone wrong.

Like in most shmups, there's always elements "borrowed" from other games, just like Rangok Skies ripped off Cave's shooters and Anger Force Reloaded plagiarizes the F-117 bomb "Thunderbolt" from Strikers 1945 III. In Rym 9000's case, the second stage has a reminiscence of "Releasing Infinitely", the final area from RayForce.



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Take a look at Noob Saibot's waifu.

Something that adds an element of identity to the lore of any game is the characters like the ship pilots. In this case, it only shows a silhouette of a lady. Nothing more or less. Unless you're Noob Saibot from Mortal Kombat II, you'll like this. But for any human being, this is an F- in the book.


The sound department differs from the retro look as it omits the use of chiptunes for a more red book quality-like synth progressive soundtrack that feels like an early Daft Punk music score in the style of Homework.



CURIOSITIES 9000

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Lawsuit from Lockheed Martin: Imminent.

- The protagonist has the kanji "Sora" () which means "Sky" in japanese.
- The Saint Voyager Ark is an SR-71 Blackbird.
- According to the developer, the game borrows influences from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Akira.



Rym 9000 while it tries to be as fast paced as DonPachi, Cho Ren Sha and Thunder Force V, it fails on several aspects of the game that makes it unenjoyable, being the visual part the worst and those shaking effects were a horrible idea.

If you hate, but not just really hate, REALLY, TRULLY, HONESTLY, GOD DAMN HATE someone, this game is for that person.
Have any words to say about the game, Shizuka?

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Strong words for a trash game. Just as I expected.



*Sing "Trash Games? Oh, man!" to the tune of "Music and Me" by Michael Jackson*


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Agh, damn! A bad game.
So, here we go again.
Oh, Trash Games.
Trash Games? Oh, man!
Broken, screwed up.
Man, what a disgrace.
Ugh! Trash Games.
Trash Games? Oh, man!



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Oh my God!, These are the worst!
They are trash games.
Waiting to steal your cash.
We know there's letdowns.
But never such disasters
Like Trash Games
Trash Games? Oh, man!



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Grab your cash,
Get out of the store.
You will save time and money.
A good game you'll find
Instead of these atrocities!



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They are horrendous.
Throw'em to the dumpster.
Ugh!, Trash games.
Trash Games? Oh, man!
Trash Games? Oh, maaaaaaaan.
Fan of Transformers, Shmups and Anime-styled Girls. You're teamed up with the right pilot!
Bringing you shmup and video game reviews with humorous criticism.

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