I have a very lets say broad question. As someone who wants to have a good understanding of the genre as a whole and the different types of gameplay philosophies and kind of subgenres some titles started, I gues one SHOULD clear at least a Gradius title as well for obvious reasons.
But my problem is ....I dont get it. I dont get whats the appeal of the games and every time I give one of them a quick look, I will roll with my eyes shortly after. My problems are (not ordered in any way):
1. Even if I like the kinda (or very) random Moai theme, the series dont seem to have a real idea of its world. You too often have levels which arent able to create a world or at least an atmosphere.
2. The levels are not really good designed. I heard the opinion that its not a bug because Gradius is not meant to be that memorization heavy (which sometimes comes hand in hand with a very detailed level design) , so that the player can clear some parts of it at leat sometimes without knowing exactly what will come next. But the levels look often just lazy and boring for me. There is nothing that makes me think: "oh this is just so cool, I whant to see what the game will show me next".
3. After dying, getting through the power up ladder is just pure stress. You are so slow and so weak (even compared to other old horis with speed ups like R-Type) and you have of course no bomb and enemies are often very numerous. I cannot say it myself but its often written before, that Gradius games are indeed often very hard to recover (or impossible). It feels for me sometimes, like the developers just spread the enemies above the screen and thought: the player could have a shield and very good weapons; in some way it will be possible to get through this part, hopefully
(but its just my first feeling because I havent played a Gradius very long)
4. I dont feel the motivation behind the difficulty style. Sometimes its just dealing with the combination of the high speeded ship which is hard to control with the little space on screen and fast approaching enemies which can flood the sceen with bullets very fast. Or in Salamander: I thought the first seconds: yeah, this feels good, fast and explosive and then comes the part were you have to shoot through the walls with very fast button presses but if you dont know its coming, you loose a life here in this for my taste very cheap way. And in some stages its like: Oh, you have been flying there? Then you have to die.
And then you have to say, that the games are just too similar. Its a bit like Irem just made R-Type II again and again forever. (I know this doesnt count for V but its not the typically Gradius I aim for (and I know not much about Gaiden so I cannot say something about the hype)) So if you hate one of them, you likely hate all. There are some Parodius games which play axtremely alike as well. Its so obscure how few innovation and creativity is going on in this series....
(
But yeah, I want to clear at least one of them. At the moment I think about the GBA title Galaxy/Generation/Advance because it has at least a bit graphically progression above the at best bediocre 16-Bit graphics titles II and III and is categorized as more of the easier side but as an absolutely typically Gradius game. What do you think? (dont own Gaiden)
)
Can someone nail down whats the thing to like about the Gradius games nowadays? Possibly it can help me see, adjust to the games philosophy and learn to like it ^^;
(atm I feel, its just nostalgia and that its at least different to other horis)
'tude
