X2 on PSX

tmcw · Post by **tmcw** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:54 am

Hello everyone, first post, new to the site. Have been a shmup fan since Galaxons on the Dragon 32, and have playing them for several years on the DC (big Gunbird 2, Psyvariar 2 and Zero Gunner 2 fan).

I've never owned a PSX though, but am looking at what I might be able to get on it (I've found the list thread, and am going through it), and came across X2 for it. I'm looking at a few pages found through google, and the graphics look decent, but the reviews seem generic at best. Just wondering what the the opinion is on it here, any good, worth a couple of quid? I tried searching the site, but suprisingly "X2" didn't throw up any hits.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:27 am

Don't bother. X2 is awful.

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:35 am

Herr Schatten wrote:Don't bother. X2 is awful.

Seconded. The graphics are really quite awful, terribly generic and/or ugly. The gameplay is boring and uninspired. A good candidate for the "Worst shmup ever"-thread we have going on, really.

All that said, I do have the PAL game which I might be willing to sell.

Oh, and welcome to the forums.

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:29 pm

Please note that the first two responses are from Europeans. They're playing the incredibly slow PAL version. The rebalanced NTSC version (Japan-only) is almost a different game. If you want to see the Japanese version in action, I did an SCC of it some time ago:

http://www.archive.org/details/Project_X2-Kiken

Is it an absolute must-have title? I don't think so... but it does manage to throw quite a lot of stuff around on-screen with little slowdown (it gets really hectic in 2-player mode).

Post by **Ghegs** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:03 pm

Well, after viewing few of Kiken's vids I'd have to correct my statement a bit, but it still stands. I do imagine the added speed will alleviate the monotony to some degree, but the fact still is that you fight against only one enemy time at any time, with very few exceptions (few turrets here and there on some levels). Only after those enemies leave the screen or are destroyed will the next batch come in.

Look at the first stage. A formation consisting of enemy A comes on screen and follows its firing/movement pattern. This is repeated a few times. Then a formation of enemy B. Then C. And so forth. Only one type at any one time.

Also, notice the 20-second lull in action after Kiken bombs the four big enemies at 1:56 mark in Stage 1. Exciting!

It's been a while since I played the PAL version, but aside from the speed I didn't spot any visual differences...so I guess the rebalancing Kiken mentioned was about enemies' health or weapons' efficiency and such.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:05 pm

It's a bad game, don't bother with it.

It's ridiculous hard in the beginning (Mainly because your weapons cant destroy anything), but as you power up your ship (and it never powers down, not even when you die), the game gets ridiculous easy near the end (Tell me about unbalanced gameplay).

Ghegs also nailed the other main problem with the game design: most of the time you only face one type of enemy at any time, and also that it doesn't matter if you kill all of them, they just keep on coming up until a certain time runs out, then another kind of enemy shows up.

The game isn't HORRIBLE or something, you may have some fun with 2 players and the ridiculous amount of firepower you can get (Batsugun ain't got nothing on this

), it has a few inspired moments inspired (Like the asteroids belt level, where you "change layers"), and the graphics are awesome (Well, for me at least), but I would only bother with it if you could get it for free. (Though worst shmup ever is a little too much.. it's not THAT bad

)

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:43 pm

I agree with anything that was said above about gameplay, which is tedious and dull. But personally I found the game a work of pixel art like few there have been. In the end the graphic artist told us to blame him because he took most of the develpment time, but seeing the results I somehow can't. I'd go as far as saying that enjoying the visual show is worth the price of admission - hey, after all PAL copies should be cheap out there. The keyword here is "couple of quid"

P.S. yeah, the first stage looks dull indeed, but there's a crescendo.

mice · Post by **mice** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:16 pm

Personally, I love the gfx.
The missus and I had some fun with it, so at least in two-player mode it's quite fun. Didn't give it much time in single player though.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:18 pm

tmcw wrote:Hello everyone, first post, new to the site. Have been a shmup fan since Galaxons on the Dragon 32, and have playing them for several years on the DC (big Gunbird 2, Psyvariar 2 and Zero Gunner 2 fan).

I've never owned a PSX though, but am looking at what I might be able to get on it (I've found the list thread, and am going through it), and came across X2 for it. I'm looking at a few pages found through google, and the graphics look decent, but the reviews seem generic at best. Just wondering what the the opinion is on it here, any good, worth a couple of quid? I tried searching the site, but suprisingly "X2" didn't throw up any hits.

The full name is X2: No Relief, and it's one of the best shmups that I've ever played, and an absolute must-own for the PSX.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:47 pm

Ops, I didn't even comment on the soundtrack - which though it's not exactly my fav genre, it's still very well done! The "Stronghold" stage music comes to mind - awesome track.

Check out Bjørn Lynne's site:

http://www.lynnemusic.com/

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:57 pm

Another interesting note is that, unless I am wrong, this game was completely developed by 3 guys: Coding by Andreas Tadic, GFX by Rico Holmes and Sound by Bjorn Lynne.

and AFAIK it's also marked as the last game made by the legendary duo Tadic/Holmes.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 7:47 pm

An American video game developer/publsiher by the name of Acclaim was seriously considering doing a USA port of the Japanese PSX game of X2: No Relief but decided at the last minute not to. So the USA PSX port of X2 never came to be even thought a lot of USA video game magazines showed a bunch of screenshots of the Japanese PSX version of X@: No Relief in action. I was hoping that it would appear on USA video game store shelves...but alas, it never did. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Post by **system11** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:12 pm

Terrible rubbish. Typical worst-of-breed Euroshmup. Shiny rendered looking graphics, gameplay like a rock. It's a shame because we /did/ make some good games.

Post by **Icarus** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:22 pm

Which is a bit of a mystery since a lot of people consider Project X on the Amiga to be quite decent.

neoalphazero · Post by **neoalphazero** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 8:35 pm

Turrican wrote:Ops, I didn't even comment on the soundtrack - which though it's not exactly my fav genre, it's still very well done! The "Stronghold" stage music comes to mind - awesome track.

Check out Bjørn Lynne's site:

http://www.lynnemusic.com/

I've never played the game but have the soundtrack to it, some good shooter techno. If anyone is interested throw me a offer

. *-neo

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:41 am

Icarus wrote:Which is a bit of a mystery since a lot of people consider Project X on the Amiga to be quite decent.

Those are either graphic whores or full of nostalgia. Despite being a bit better than X2, Project X is nothing more than fancy looking rubbish, too.

There are a few excellent european-made games, but Projekt X is not one of them.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:39 am

Isn't Bjorn Lynne Dr. Awesome? Good stuff.

Good Euroshmups-- someone say Battle Squadron (ami ver) or Iridion 2?

Stardust is really cool, and Disposable Hero seemed really promising though I only played a little bit. Anyone else got some favorites? (hijacking the thread here, heh heh)

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:20 am

Herr Schatten wrote:
Icarus wrote:Which is a bit of a mystery since a lot of people consider Project X on the Amiga to be quite decent.
Those are either graphic whores or full of nostalgia. Despite being a bit better than X2, Project X is nothing more than fancy looking rubbish, too.

There are a few excellent european-made games, but Projekt X is not one of them.

Project X revised edition '93 almost got it right, though.

It's rare for an european developer to make three shmups one after another - perhaps this is just what they lack, experience in game design. In the case of Project X, it was evident that the real effort was to fill the disks with graphics and make the program run smoothly. They didn't even get to the next step of accurately choosing enemy waves, design pattern or such, calibrate difficulty.
In this sense, it's a good thing that Project X was successful so that they could revise it for the budget release, focusing on game difficulty.

louisg wrote:Isn't Bjorn Lynne Dr. Awesome? Good stuff.

you're right.

shmups.system11.org

X2 on PSX

X2 on PSX

Re: X2 on PSX

The USA PSX version of X2 was planned...