RayCrisis (Arcade, PlayStation, PC)

[Sturmvogel Prime]

DANGER ZONE (PART XLV)
MESSED UP NETWORK

Alright people, this is cyber-war. An AI has gone rogue and it has to be stopped.
¿What would you choose to fight this war?




If they can fight Hexadecimal and Megabyte, they might be an option.

The Heroes of Mainframe. I was expecting that answer from you guys. The plot of the following game sounds like something out of ReBoot alright. But Bob and company are so retro Dis-Human would laugh at them.
Well, let me tell ya what we're gonna need for the upcoming battle.




Ready to surf the 'net and engage the enemies within it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what you're gonna use in this war: The Wave Rider, A mean machine capable of targeting multiple enemies and using devastating weapons in order to delete them from Cyberspace.

After reviewing RayStorm and RayForce, it is time to close the "Ray" trilogy with the prequel of RayForce: RayCrisis.




Isn't too soon to ask my initials?

To begin with, you have to input your initials. This looks like IREM's Cosmic Cop, but actually it has a reason beyond Name Entry which I'll explain later, but now, let's say it saves your high score if you die and continue the game.
After this, you'll be able to select one of the two Wave Riders, these are the replacement of the R-Grays from RayStorm. If you're familiarized with the previous game, then you'll be automatically familiarized with the weaponry, especially the shots and Multi-Lock limits of each ship.




Breaking the edges of reality on each mission.

At first, the gameplay of RayCrisis seems to be identical to RayStorm's up to the weapons of your Wave Riders and the lock-on system which multiplies the enemies score based on how many of them were locked-on before firing, along with the Hyper Laser when all Lock-On Lasers were targeted to a single enemy, but that's only the beginning of the differences. One of the main changes on the weaponry was the Round Divider which replaces the SP Attack from RayStorm, making it more useful as the blast covers the entire screen rather than being on a portion of the screen. The Lock-on Sight was also improved. ¿Remember those times in RayForce and RayStorm where after being on the botton of the screen the sight won't move to lock on an escaping enemy? This is addressed on RayCrisis, making the sight "retract" so you can lock enemies on a lower range when the Wave Rider is on the bottom of the screen. The Hyper Laser was improved to be even more useful than it was on RayStorm as it unleashes a much more stronger attack and the blast radius of each Hyper Laser beam can also hit other enemies, adding bonus points as part of a Hyper combo. This is more notorious on the WR-01 than the WR-02. Another new feature is the Encroachment gauge. As the game progresses it will start running until it reaches the dreaded 100.0000%, while the regular game progression running is unstoppable, letting enemies escape will increase it further, so you've must destroy all the enemies on screen or at least most of them in order to drop the gauge. This also applies for boss battles. Killing the boss faster will drop it even further based on how long you take to defeat them, for instance, a real quick kill could reduce the Encroachment to 20.0000% and taking your time just 5.0000% or even nothing. So the best strategy to make quick kills is to master the "All sights on the main weakness" to use the Hyper Laser more frequently and use the Round Divider on the boss if you have it.
Encroachment is also a key part of the mechanics to obtain the Bad, Good and True ending of this game.




Shoving the final battle on the player's face.

There's a good reason for avoiding the 100.0000% of Encroachment. This will automatically send you to battle Dis-Human, interrupting the gameplay. This boss fight is the bad ending of the game.




Looks like "Destroy The Core" will be a little more difficult than usual.

Fortunately, 99% of all your playthroughs will end on the Good Ending as a beginner since you start with a considerably low Encroachment level and taking down enemies will keep the levels between 40 to 28.0000%. ¿Is there a way to reach the True Ending? The answer is yes and is having a really low Encroachment level of less than 25.0000%. To put it simple, you have to be below 24.9999% to reach the battle with Dis-Human's true form called "Infinity" and you'll get the true ending.




You can give a new level shuffle a try or play the previous one.

Wanted to know why the game asked your initials at the very beginning?
Well, here's the answer. The game used Taito's G-Net System, a hardware that combined the PlayStation-based Sony ZN-2 motherboard with PC card-like cartridge system which saved the player data and updated its contents on each gameplay. That's the reason why the game asks your initials before starting the game. Since the game sends you through different stage combinations called "Maps", each play will be different, 42 times different to be exact. Once you unlock all of them you can freely select any map you want. Another unlockable feature is the WR-03, a Homing Missile firing type ship which fires up to 23 missiles and increases its fire rate by tapping the shot button but with less missiles. You can unlock it normally by playing the game with your user "account" in an accumulated amount of time or with a cheat code. The game has not one but three cheat codes for this game. Before pressing start after inserting the coin, you have to input the code you want to use, but keep in mind, some of the codes will require you to do them again since the game doesn't save the cheat-unlocked ones like the WR-03.

Spoiler

To unlock the WR-03, press Up, Right, Up, Right, Down, Up, Left, Shot, Laser
To unlock all the maps, press Up, Right, Down, Left, Shot x3, Laser, Round Divider x4
To start with the maximum Game Rank (Hardest difficulty), press Up, Up, Down, Down, Shot x3, Laser x4

Spoiler

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU CAN NOW CHOOSE ANY MAP FOR THE NEXT GAME.
- Message at the "post-game" results screen

After unlocking all the 41 maps, you can now choose any of them rather than letting the game choose it for you. All maps start with the Self Field, only differing in the stages chosen for the Emotion, Consideration and Consciousness Parts.
But choose fast and wisely since you're given 15 seconds to decide.

SELECT MAP WITH THE JOYSTICK AND CONFIRM BY PRESSING BUTTON.

MAP No.00 - City-Base (Day) > Stormclouds-Mountains > Desert-Lava
MAP No.01 - City-Base (Day) > Stormclouds-Mountains > Space-Underwater
MAP No.02 - City-Base (Day) > Desert-Lava > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.03 - City-Base (Day) > Desert-Lava > Space-Underwater
MAP No.04 - City-Base (Day) > Space-Underwater > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.05 - City-Base (Day) > Space-Underwater > Desert-Lava
MAP No.06 - Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Day) > Desert-Lava
MAP No.07 - Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Day) > Space-Underwater
MAP No.08 - Stormclouds-Mountains > Desert-Lava > City-Base (Day)
MAP No.09 - Stormclouds-Mountains > Desert-Lava > Space-Underwater
MAP No.10 - Stormclouds-Mountains > Desert-Lava > City-Base (Night)
MAP No.11 - Stormclouds-Mountains > Space-Underwater > City-Base (Day)
MAP No.12 - Stormclouds-Mountains > Space-Underwater > Desert-Lava
MAP No.13 - Stormclouds-Mountains > Space-Underwater > City-Base (Night)
MAP No.14 - Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Night) > Desert-Lava
MAP No.15 - Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Night) > Space-Underwater
MAP No.16 - Desert-Lava > City-Base (Day) > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.17 - Desert-Lava > City-Base (Day) > Space-Underwater
MAP No.18 - Desert-Lava > Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Day)
MAP No.19 - Desert-Lava > Stormclouds-Mountains > Space-Underwater
MAP No.20 - Desert-Lava > Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Night)
MAP No.21 - Desert-Lava > Space-Underwater > City-Base (Day)
MAP No.22 - Desert-Lava > Space-Underwater > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.23 - Desert-Lava > Space-Underwater > City-Base (Night)
MAP No.24 - Desert-Lava > City-Base (Night) > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.25 - Desert-Lava > City-Base (Night) > Space-Underwater
MAP No.26 - Space-Underwater > City-Base (Day) > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.27 - Space-Underwater > City-Base (Day) > Desert-Lava
MAP No.28 - Space-Underwater > Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Day)
MAP No.29 - Space-Underwater > Stormclouds-Mountains > Desert-Lava
MAP No.30 - Space-Underwater > Stormclouds-Mountains > City-Base (Night)
MAP No.31 - Space-Underwater > Desert-Lava > City-Base (Day)
MAP No.32 - Space-Underwater > Desert-Lava > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.33 - Space-Underwater > Desert-Lava > City-Base (Night)
MAP No.34 - Space-Underwater > City-Base (Night) > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.35 - Space-Underwater > City-Base (Night) > Desert-Lava
MAP No.36 - City-Base (Night) > Stormclouds-Mountains > Desert-Lava
MAP No.37 - City-Base (Night) > Stormclouds-Mountains > Space-Underwater
MAP No.38 - City-Base (Night) > Desert-Lava > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.39 - City-Base (Night) > Desert-Lava > Space-Underwater
MAP No.40 - City-Base (Night) > Space-Underwater > Stormclouds-Mountains
MAP No.41 - City-Base (Night) > Space-Underwater > Desert-Lava

With so much interesting features, it was clear that not all the consoles were able to carry that out (thank God it wasn't rebranded as Layer Section III or something like that), leaving the PlayStation as the only console where the game was ported by Working Designs under the SPAZ label (RayStorm and Thunder Force V: Perfect System) where it was renamed as RayCrisis: Series Termination. The port made a few changes compared with the original game, starting off with the interface and the graphics which were slightly inferior than the original arcade. The same deal as Tecno Soft's Thunder Force V Perfect System and Warashi/Alchemist's Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced, but in return, they gave the game a great amount of features. Starting off with the ability of playing with the WR-03 right out of the first game bootup but adding as unlockables the R-Grays from RayStorm with their respective weapons. You can also change the colors of your ship from red to blue, yellow and black. Rather than letting the game choose the "Map", you are given the freedom to choose three of the levels, and even pick the same level twice. The ending conditions are also different from the Arcade. To unlock the battle with Infinity, you only have to clear the level with any level of Encroachment, but without using less than five continues. Since this is a PlayStation game, it is prone to loading screens between levels. This is somewhat addressed by an "In-betweener" screen saying "CONNECT LOADING FUNCTION DATA FOR NEXT SENTIENCE LEVEL" and not only that, the boss fights are preceeded with a Darius-esque screen saying "ALERT GENERATING HUGE ANTIBODY".

To complete the improvements, the game features a Special Mode and an Image Gallery with a great amount of illustrations. Special Mode is a score attack of some sorts, as it sends you to the game with only one continue, but you will always have your ship at full power as the Power Up items are replaced with spheres that reduce your Encroachment level and give you bonus points. On this mode, the Encroachment gauge will run faster and it is much more of a top priority to keep it low since getting 100.0000% will drastically reduce your score. Unlike the regular game where you played a few random levels, you'll play ALL the levels that comprise the maps along with a new one called "Judgement" which is the final trial before fighting Dis-Human/Infinity. Like in RayStorm's Extra Mode, the game levels and enemies feature alternate colors to make the game differ from the original arcade game. As a little bonus, it carried an additional minigame for the PocketStation peripheral called Pocket-Ray where the player controls a sight to lock and destroy enemies before they escape. If an enemy leaves the screen you lose health, and losing your 8HP will result in Game Over. While the graphics were very limited it had a great opening animation. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the rest of the game, as the game was interrupted with the message "ENEMY DESTROYED 1 PTS" each time a single enemy is destroyed.




I didn't know there was a Transformer in the game! It's Blaster!

Graphically, it makes good use of the G-NET hardware as it features massive layers of "information" and text due to the cyberspace theme of the game. Even with the use of cyberspace, there's too much "real world" blended on it as if the in-game universe blurrs the thin borderline between reality and the virtual world as it one moment it feels like if you're connected to a network and all of a sudden you're on a city, a volcanic landscape or a city or even on a water tunnel without going to the surrealism levels of Metal Black. Speed is also a key factor in the game as the stages scroll with multiple backgrounds and fast movement, making things look faster than they should be, resulting in a dynamic and fast paced world that shows no signs of slowing down. While most of the enemies are ships and vessels, there's more transforming machinery in the game, as we have more bosses that transform from aircraft to robot mode.




Proof that the Ray-verse is "Anime styled".

While the intro of RayForce showed F-04 (the X-LAY pilot) in a realistic style, the intro of RayCrisis includes anime-styled artwork, which suits better on the game and looks much better than the somewhat disturbing CGI characters from the intro sequence of Layer Section II. The sound department moves a little bit off from the combination of energy, intense beats and fast rhythms of RayStorm in favor or a more relaxed, yet mid-paced beats in the style of a 90's techno-thriller/sci-fi soundtrack mixed with organ keys and even "jungle" styled drumming (I think it's called "Tribal", correct me if I'm wrong). Infinity's theme is based on gothic-horror as we have church organs in the style of a Castlevania game (¿Taitovania?) giving the game an "Experimental" feeling that broke with the traditional styles of the Ray series and not to mention, it followed Tamayo on Thunder Force VI (Bio Flame can easily pass as a "Her Purpose-D").



TRIVIACRISIS


Into these worlds of unknown danger they ride.
They're the Galaxy Rangers, Heroes in the Sky!

- Third and last entry in the Ray series.
- Second and last Ray game released by Working Designs/SPAZ.
- This is the only game that wasn't released on the Saturn as part of its Layer Section series.
- Unlike RayStorm, RayCrisis wasn't ported as part of a Taito Legends compilation.
- The city-like level is a reference to the first stage of RayStorm.
- The mini-game "Swan Shooter" from Nintendo Wii's Furu Furu Park is a reference to RayCrisis.




Someone has to pull the plug on Con-Human.

RayCrisis closes the Ray trilogy as the opener of the saga with vast improvements on the weapon mechanics and implementing new rules that some fans will like and others don't since they might find the Encroachment ending conditions quite demanding. Newcomers should give the PS1 port a try in order to get used to the game's mechanics before going to the arcade version.


To evaluate this game, let me introduce the Eda Scale.


If Eda likes it, then it's a great game.