Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute (X - PS - SW - PC)

[Sturmvogel Prime]

DANGER ZONE (PART XXXI)
HAVING THE EARTH IN MY SIGHTS

The "Danger Zone" series of reviews so far
DANGER ZONE VOL. I

Spoiler

I: REVVIN' UP YOUR ENGINE, LISTENIN' TO HER HOWLIN' ROARING - (E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force)
II: IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF FUN, MAV? - (Binarystar Infinity)
III: PLAYING WITH THE (ARCADE ARCHIVES) BOYS - (Arcade Archives: Thunder Dragon 2)
IV: THAT'S RIGHT! ICE...MAN. I AM DANGEROUS (SEED) - (Arcade Archives: Dangerous Seed)
V: THE ELITE. BEST OF THE BEST. WE'LL MAKE YOU BETTER. - (Super E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force)
VI: GONNA TAKE YOU RIGHT INTO THE DANGER ZONE - (Star Hunter DX)
VII: IT TAKES MORE THAN JUST FANCY FLYING - (Earth Defense Force 4.1: Wing Diver The Shooter)
VIII: INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION - (Devastator by Radiangames)
IX: ¿WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD TUBES? - (Arcade Archives: Tube Panic)
X: SWIMMIN' IN THE FLOODS, DANCIN' ON THE CLOUDS BELOW. I AIN'T WORRIED 'BOUT IT - (Arcade Archives: Fighting Hawk)
XI: PULLING A RABBIT OUT OF THE HAT - (Arcade Archives: Rabio Lepus)
XII: WINGS OF SILVER, NERVES OF STEEL - (Arcade Archives: Darius)
XIII: FULL SCALE ASSAULT - (Arcade Archives: Assault)
XIV: WE'RE GONNA NEED A DIFFERENT KIND OF BUGSPRAY - (Arcade Archives: Gaplus)
XV: DOWN THE ALIEN SECTOR - (Arcade Archives: Baraduke)
XVI: WHEN YOU'RE DRAWN TO THE GROUND BY THE DRAGONS - (Arcade Archives: Dragon Spirit)
XVII: SOME RETICENT GODDESS PUT THE CHILDREN TO SLEEP - (Arcade Archives: Metal Black)
XVIII: I SHOT THE WILD LIZARDS - (Arcade Archives: Gun Frontier)
XIX: HOW WE GONNA GET THIS MUSEUM PIECE IN THE AIR? - (Arcade Archives: Galaxian)
XX: SHATTERED KAWAII SKIES - (Arcade Archives: Ordyne)
XXI: ENTER THE DRAGON (SABER) - (Arcade Archives: Dragon Saber)
XXII: SEEMS LIKE WE'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES HOLDING ON TO OLD RELICS - (Arcade Archives: Galaga)
XXIII: OLD WARBIRDS, RETRO ARCADE ACTION - (Arcade Archives: USAAF Mustang)
XXIV: ARCADE STYLED HELICOPTER BATTLEFIELD - (Arcade Archives: Metal Hawk)
XXV: CLASH OF THE GODS - (Arcade Archives: Phelios)
XXVI: BACK IN (METAL) BLACK - (Metal Black S-Tribute)
XXVII: NAMCO'S TAKE ON THE NBA - (Arcade Archives: Grobda)
XXVIII: DOUJIN SHMUPPING "GM" STYLE - (Graze Counter GM)
XXIX: MIXED AND REMIXED - (Raiden IV x Mikado Remix)
XXX: EXPLICIT DIFFICULTY - (Arcade Archives: Gradius III)

Time for another S-Tribute review, and how 'bout if we check the first entry of this series of Saturn-based re-releases.
That means Layer Section & Galactic Attack: S-Tribute. Yeah! Planetary destruction at the reach of your hand.

For a more "In-depth" analysis of gameplay, check the original review of RayForce / Gunlock.




It's the "You against Con-Human/Ex-Earth" battle you've fought at the arcade.

In-depth, 3D multi-layered action. Seemed to be something exclusive of the arcades since RayForce / Gunlock never had home porting on the 16-bit era. Even when both Genesis and Super Nintendo already did three-dimensional, into-the-screen-like shooting like After Burner II, Galaxy Force II, G-LOC Air Battle, StarFox, Vortex, Terminator 2: The Arcade Game and Wild Guns. I could understand graphic and even sound limitations as the reasons, but I'm sure there was a room for that since we're talking 1994-1995, when the 16 Bit consoles were on their highest on display of arcade faithfulness (Super Street Fighter II, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Primal Rage and Killer Instinct). But believe it or not, the 64-bit Atari Jaguar, who claimed to be "The most powerful home video game system ever invented" and stated they were "Chewing the competition bit by bit" wasn't able to port it either, even when they had a solid, yet not-so-accurate port of Raiden as testimony of their arcade potential. Not even when they decided to "Do the Math" with the "790Meg Tune-Up" add-on known as the Jaguar CD. Same thing could be said for Panasonic and its R-E-A-L 3DO who claimed to "Get Real" and they weren't able to port it, even when they had a first success on the concept of arcade conversions by porting Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Seems like Panasonic, the company that was "just slightly ahead of our time" wasn't ahead enough to port RayForce. Yeah, it was just like Taito was even more ahead of their time, a reality that hitted the 16, 32 and 64 consoles of that time (add-ons or not), and it wasn't just RayForce. Metal Black, Puzzle Bobble, Bust-A-Move, Cleopatra's Fortune and Elevator Action Returns. Ironically, it was a 32 bit console who took the challenge and ported all the mentioned Taito games, and that was the Sega Saturn. RayForce was released on both Japan and American markets. Since Taito had trademark issues with the names RayForce and GunLock, they released the home ports as Layer Section in Japan, and both American and European release, the game was called Galactic Attack, which was published by Acclaim (NES Double Dragon, SNES Mortal Kombat ports, Darius Gaiden on the Saturn). While the arcade game was released on PlayStation 2 as part of the Taito Legends series, the home ports didn't saw another release until 2022 as part of the S-Tribute series, and Layer Section/Galactic Attack opened the line-up.




Who got drunk and played with the camera zoom?

Before starting playing after picking one of the two verisons we can select if we want to play the Consumer Mode or the Arcade Mode for our predilect way to play the game. Consumer Mode zooms the default game screen to make it "fit" on the TV, but this hides things, while picking Arcade retains the thin, lighter screen like in the arcade. Before videogame wallpapers were invented, that was the solution to the space-filling issue of home ports. While the game has already a default button configuration, you can customize it the way it suits you better. The screen mode is the classical horizontal or vertical (Yoko or Tate) configuration. In my opinion, I could say "Pick Arcade" but you have to play on both modes in order to get the achievements/trophies this game has prepared for you.
In gameplay and graphics, this port pulls the job perfectly with fast, fluid action with no input lag issues or frame rate drops. Maybe it is because of the game being updated all this time since its release, and that's the most important aspect here; being able to play and react fast without any delay since this is one of those games where delaying a fraction of a second could be the difference between life or death. Speaking of death, this re-release allows you to rewind through "Save States" kept by the game throughout your gameplay, but for a limited time-span. While you can also have a Save game function when you want to leave the game and resume it later. But if RayForce is a bullet hell for you, the game has one more tool: Slow Mode, which makes the game go slower, making things a little more easier if you want to practice. As added features the game includes the option of cancelling the credits default restriction of four to fully functional free play. Yeah, what's an home port of an arcade game without playing with "No quarters required"? or should we say "No card swipe required"?, You can enable the option of keeping your power ups after losing a life on pure Darius Twin style and a Stage Select option, but I've recommend you to play the regular game first, otherwise, it won't unlock any achievements. That's right, you can get achievements for clearing all stages, playing on both Consumer and Arcade modes, and playing the game 20 times.



TRIVIA SECTION AND CURIOSITY ATTACK - SP-REVIEW



High velocity Air-to-Ground action!

- First entry on City Connection-Taito S-Tribute series.
- The description from City Connection's website calls RayForce as "LayForce".
- For a 2-in-1 compilation that features the Japanese release and the American/European releases, the Galactic Attack version removes all references to Acclaim, even on the staff roll. So this means David Fowler, Gregg Giles, Mark Mermelstein, Steffan Levine and the Acclaim Quality Assurance Staff are the "Unsung Heroes" of Galactic Attack.




The war with Con-Human is over...But at what cost?

Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute brings RayForce at home one more time, but certainly not the last. With Ray'z Arcade Chronology on the way its up to the gamers if they want to pick this one up or give it a miss in favor of the compilation. For XBOX, PC owners and Nintendo/PlayStation haters is (like I've said on the Metal Black S-Tribute review) the closest thing to the arcade on the XBOX and PCs.
I'm sure that even with Ray'z Arcade Chronology out there, Taito will surely bring this planet-smashing game to the Arcade Archives series just like they did with their Silver Hawks.





You: I wish you all could've seen that.
Nina: You damn fool! What's your position?
You: Watching the Earth explode. I guess it's my fate to watch from down below.
Nina: We're sending help. Give us your coordinates.
You: Directly on the Earth's cosmic debris. Probably in the remains of Seychelles.