Prismatic Solid (XBOX360 - PlayStation 4)

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Sturmvogel Prime
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Prismatic Solid (XBOX360 - PlayStation 4)

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Time to review a good shmup. This one is an instant classic of the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 4.
I'm talking about Prismatic Solid.



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Dogfight in the ball pit.

Prismatic Solid is an interesting experiment of shooting, as it breaks with traditional aspects of the genre such as picking power ups to obtain weapons or having one bomb to clear the screen, this game grants you up to 6 selectable weapons, 3 Options with their own formations and 3 different bombs.
But first let's make a quick check run of your weapons.

HOMING: The lock on target bullet that chases your enemies. Combining a very considerable fire rate with an efficient frontal "Upside-down V" Blue-Red-Purple formation, makes it an excellent weapon option for beginners.

SPLIT: A bullet shot that divides in two (1>2>4>8>16) as it flies across the screen. It also has the ability of pushing some enemies back. Its Option formation places the Blue and Purple in diagonal-frontal positions and the red gets behind the ship.

3 WAY: This is a fast three way machine gun that shoots with an extraordinary rate of fire and it swings to the sides as your ship moves. Think of this as the predecessor of the Swing Vulcan from Raiden V. Its Option formation puts all three of them behind the ship, a bad idea if you're planning to use this weapon for full frontal offensives.

RAINBOW: This is another full frontal Vulcan which fires bullets moving in a spiral very reminiscent of the Air-to-Air Laser from R-Type. It's Option formation is the same as the Split.

SHOWER: Fires a spray of blue bullets in a wide spread shot-like curtain. It's Option formation is also frontal based (Purple-Blue-Red) with the Purple and Red on the sides and the Blue in front of the ship, but more closer than the Homing's formation, making it another option for starters.

SNOW: The "Defensive" weapon. Fires a 360° short ranged bullet spray useful to attack enemies behind you, its Option formation puts the Blue and Purple options on the a left-front, front-right position and the Red is located behind the ship, acting like a enclosed barrier.

SQUARE LASER: Unleashes a square shaped laser ring that expands across the screen. To use it you have to press the Square button.
CROSS LASER: Fires spinning lasers in random directions. To use this one you have to press the X button.
CIRCULAR LASER: Fires a red ring laser that also expands across the screen like the Square Laser. This one is fired with the Circle button.

Now that you're familiarized with the weaponry, we can finally talk about the game. This is a basic isometric shmup in the style of Axelay and RayStorm. Despite of its apparent simplicity, the game has a dose of challenge that can best be described as fun and fair. The objective rather than reaching the end is more of how far you can get without getting a game over (I'll explain this later), and that involves a strategic use of the bomb attacks and know which Weapon-Option Formation helps you the most and when I said "Strategic" is just because what it is, the power bar is also linked with the length of the Options tentacles which act as an extension for your shields. Picking red/blue/purple stars increases their power gauge making the tentacles longer and more effective as shields for your ship, and you're gonna need some really good shielding 'cos this game will throw you some very, very, very, very intense bullet hells and massive sprays that put any of the Touhou Project games to shame. In extreme cases like this one, the best defense is the memorization of the enemy formations and using the right weapon on the right moment, for instance the Split to push panels and avoid a collision.



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Dancin' in the Laser Light.

At the end of the stage, you'll be facing the boss. However, they will require a different tactic since they will be using very unique attack patterns like the worm in Stage 1 which moves on any direction, forcing you to switch between weapons and option formations, the octopus that re-arranges its tentacles in a symmetric position each time one is down, or the orb protected by large thin cylinders. These patterns add originality to the overall concept of the boss battle, making each boss an interesting fight where you're required to use all of your weapons rather than sticking to one of them.



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A simple secret which can pass unadverted.

One of the questions in TrueTrophies was "¿How I can unlock the Extra Stage?" Well, here's how. In the end of Stage 5 you'll find two turnstiles that need to be shot to make them spin, in the right side there's a green star waiting to be picked by your ship.
The only thing left is to defeat Polyhedron and finish the stage to unlock the Extra Stage.



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The rectangular clay block factory of Gumbasia.
Gumby and Pokey were born there.


Welcome to the Extra Stage! While the game was focused on shooting and that small exercise of spinning turnstiles, the stage focuses a little more on a quick thinking-obstacle navigation combination as the first half of the stage is to pass through fast conveyor belts without crashing with the rectangular prisms they're carrying. Not to mention, if the first 5 levels were fun and challenging, the Extra Stage will climb up the overall difficulty, mostly with the bullet hell segments. So make sure you're using the Homing for most of the level so you're well shielded and able to counterattack at the same time.



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Congratulation!! You broke through every area.
It's perfect play and game is over.
Thank you!!


Whether you've find the Extra Stage or not, after the last level, the Round will end.
The only thing left is to see how your remaining ships and bomb energy bars will give you what appears to be the final bonus rewards.
Looks like you're done with your mission. Or at least that's what it looks like...



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Finished the 6 levels? There's two or more Rounds out there, flyboy.

Being congratulated and getting a final bonus doesn't mean the end. Like the movie Panic in Year Zero said "There must be no end – only a new beginning", this game sends you to an alternate color variation of the stages you've cleared. Welcome to Round 2, Your extra lives you've got are removed and your bomb gauges depleted, and the enemy patterns will differ here and even the boss battles. For instance the 1st stage will pit you against two worms at the same time. Now, on each Round, the amount of simultaneous bosses increases like in stages 1 and 4, stage 3 boss will have more stacked up parts taking you more time to defeat him, and you'll fight one more Polyhedron after destroying the first one in stage 5. Only the pair numbered rounds will have these alternate color levels, while the prime numbered are the default Round 1 colors.
In the new rounds, the stars now will change their colors. Keep that in mind when you're filling a specific bomb.



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This is all the level select options available, Good Luck, Good Trophy Hunt.

As we already know, each "Round" is a 5 stages loop (6 if you unlock the Extra stage). When you clear a level in the 1st loop, you can start from there every time you want to start a new game, but for Rounds 2 and 3, you can only start from stage 1. Also, selecting a specific stage will give you a starting bonus kinda like in Pac-Mania. While you can keep the stage starting bonus in the levels comprising the first round if you die and continue the game, it will be resetted to zero in the second and third rounds, making more convenient to reach a high score by starting from Round 1.



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It's you against Ramiel. ¿Need a Positron Rifle?

After completing three loops, you'll unlock the Endless Polyhedra mode which is the Boss Rush-Survival mix where you're pitted against Polyhedron. At first you start with zero lives, but you can rack some with your score. Each killed Polyhedron will be marked above your score with a blue star, once you've defeat 10 of them, you'll get a larger star that marks the dozen down.



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The Hyper Speed Shoot-out in space.

The graphic aspect ditches the concept of relying on high detailing in favor of a more minimalist setting without bordering in the exaggerated simplicity like Polychromatic as the game still remains in the three dimensional aspect utilizing polygons and random shapes for the "asteroids". But being minimalistic doesn't mean it has to be boring, as we have intense, fast paced scenes like the Space stage which fulfills the impression of hyperspace flight as well as the ascending tunnel during the Polyhedron fight.



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*"Maximum Power" plays in the background*

Visual art displays aren't just for the gameplay, in the Attract Mode and Menu screens you'll see polygons and shapes making intrincated spinning tower patterns, colored hexagonal prisms or cubes forming a ceiling and even patterns of spheres making figures in the purest style of After Burner II (remember the "II" floating off the square, the cylinder and the spinning ball?) as if someone decided to take that concept and evolve it into more intrincated and complex patterns, making it look like visual art.


PRISMATIC CURIOSITIES
- The boss name Polyhedron comes from the term used on geometry to refer a three-dimensional shape with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices.
- Polyhedron means "Multiple Bases"
- YO1 KOMORI is Hayashi Yoichi, a former Squaresoft programmer who worked on Bushido Blade.
- Yoichi also worked on the Playstation Japanese import title of Squaresoft's iS: Internal Section as well. Squaresoft USA was thinking about releasing in North America back in 1999-2000 timeline but did not do so. The official iS OST music cd has two "unused" music tracks that aren't included in the actual PSX game disc of iS
(Thanks for the info, PC Engine Fan X!).
- Shinji Hosoe and Ayako Saso returned to the shmup scene as two of the SuperSweep co. employees who worked with Yousuke Yasui and Qute on Ginga Force.



TROPHY HUNT: HOW TO GET SOME OF THE TROPHIES


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If you can get the Prism Master trophy, then you're the best shmupper around.

Being a Prism Master is not gonna be easy. There's some trophies that require difficult tricks and long playthroughs. I'll guide you with a few of them, but the rest are up to you.


1.- IT IS POSSIBLE TO HACK POLYHEDRON 256 TIMES?

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Slicing Geometry class, one bullet at a time.

The "Polyhedron Eviscerator" trophy: Chipping off 256 bits out of Polyhedron without killing him sounds complicated, but it only needs to use the Homing bullets and keep the tentacle-shields of your ship from touch him, 'cos that will hack a large chunk of the boss out.


2.- WHERE'S THE BARRAGE ON THE WATER STAGE?

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Found the enemy, but in a different stage.

The "Barrager Extermination" trophy: Looks like someone screwed up with the stage where the Barragers are located. To get this achievement you have to unlock the Extra Stage, there you'll face several orbs with 5 small spheres. Those are the barragers, and you've better have all three bombs at full gauge, 'cos you're gonna be using them a lot when the stage throws you 2 of them at a time. Don't worry, this 2 Barrages will happen once.


3.- IS THERE ANY WAY TO GET 2 MILLION POINTS?

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A great challenge that requires the best skills.

Both "Score Maniac" and "Score Junkie" trophies: It's hard, but not impossible. You'll have to complete at least 4 loops without losing all of your lives. It might take you more if you don't get the Loop clear bonuses, so the best chance to get this one is by trial and error, along with practice since the loops adds more enemies and even more bosses.


4.- HOW I CAN DEFEAT OCTOPUS WITHOUT DESTROYING ITS TENTACLES?

The "Octopus Appendage Collector": This one is tricky and requires time and patience. The key is to use the tentacle/shields of your ship, the Split puts the red tentacle/shield right behind your ship with some distance away, so you can use that to try to damage the boss without touching the tentacles.

Hope these hints come in handy during your "Trophy Hunt"


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Visually impressive, that pics doesn't do justice to the game.

Prismatic Solid is basically "RayStorm meets Rez" as we have this rhythm-abstract-minimalism mix-up with a perspective shooter that breaks with the common themes we've all know all the time, bringing an unique audiovisual experience that can be considered as interactive art more than a game.
This game is definitely a must buy for your PS4 shmup collection.



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If Lea is happy with this, then you'll be too.
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