Ginga Force (Qute, Xbox360)

[drunkninja24]

It'll run just the same as any other game.

[BulletMagnet]

Had a chance to tool around with my copy a bit, so you know what that means: Magnet-pressions!

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- In case anyone was still worried, yes, you can skip the cutscenes in Story mode. Install size is 1.4 GB.

- The visuals are best described as "workmanlike", but aren't anything offensive. The character art is indeed rather amateurish (the main female character's outfit is easily the low point), but as with most other such elements in a shmup are pretty easily ignored. Music is itself very "shmup-ish" for lack of a better word, but suits the setting well.

- As in Eschatos, you "main" and "sub" weapons are assigned to separate buttons, though now you can fire them simultaneously - I didn't notice a Radirgy-esque power drop penalty for doing so offhand, but maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. The "main" weapon's power level seems to drop with time, while the "sub" weapon is depleted via use. Both are replenished pretty easily via blue items dropped by enemies (I THINK they recharge you more if you collect them while laying off the trigger), so it's usually not an issue, but it can be a bit hard to climb back out of a rut if you're careless; you do automatically recharge a little bit if you completely run out, but once you get to that point the quickest way to a refill is usually death.

- The only other two buttons to worry about are for the frontal shield (technically "special weapon", since some equipment behaves differently) and speed change, so no worries about overly-complex controls.

- In "Story" mode stages are played individually, and you start with three lives per stage, though you can buy/earn a limited number of extras (you can also choose to play with fewer, though I'm not sure what benefits, if any, come in exchange). Even if you fail a mission you get to keep the money you earned up 'til you died. Some parts of each level (i.e. chasing down an enemy ship) come with time limits, though I'm not currently sure what happens when you run out of time. As others have reported things can get rather hairy a few levels in.

- "Score Attack" mode simply lets you play individual stages you've cleared on Story with one of three pre-set weapon "types" for your craft, though bonuses and such seem to be calculated differently. Offhand the layouts and whatnot seem identical, though I could be missing something.

- All stages in all modes (seems to be ten, plus the two "Judgement" add-ons) can be played on three difficulty levels, score for each are saved separately, and replays can be saved at the end of each stage. Scores for each "type" are also separate in Score Attack.

- As in Eschatos, play-wise most elements feel pretty good - the hitbox seems fairly generous, bullet visibility is generally fine, and the occasional "behind the plane" sequence doesn't muck things up too badly. I will complain of occasional "yeah, try to avoid this if you haven't already seen it at least once before" moments, though not everyone's as sensitive to those as me.

- There's only a vague initial visual indication of how the stuff you acquire in the Shop works, so it'll take some experimentation (and/or a friendly translator or two) to work all that out. Apart from new "main" "sub" and "special" weapons (and upgrades for stuff you already have), you can snag "engines" (which changes how your speed adjustments work), "extra items" (additional starting lives and stat adjusters, it seems you can equip up to three at once), and new colors for your ship. New stuff becomes available as you clear levels.

- Some stages seem to have some manner of "secondary goal" to them (not getting caught by the alarm bots in Stage 2, for instance), though again it'll take some trial and error for any non-Japanese-literate players to sort. I obviously can't make much sense of the plot, but it seems in each level you're out to catch and blast some manner of criminal; no idea if I'm on the right track though, heh.

- "Judgement Force Tiger" is actually unlocked as a "Training Simulator" in Story mode, and simply presents you with a series of increasingly tricky groups of enemies to eliminate within 30 seconds apiece for bonus money (and high scores of course), and also limits your loadout to the three pre-set "types" used in Score Attack. I assume the other "Judgement" mini-game is similar, though I haven't encountered it yet. EDIT: Just unlocked "Dragon", seems to be another "enemy rush" sort of affair, but laid out differently (and tougher; some of those little swarmy buggers'll make you want to snap your controller).

- "Gallery" mode is where you watch your replays, and can also read (in Japanese) "Guide of Seventier" blurbs (apparently something story-related) and character profiles, or watch movies. No actual art gallery that I can see, but again, that's not a huge loss.

- The only thing that currently pops up under the Marketplace link from the main menu seems to be an icon pack...not sure if they're planning on anything more substantial, unless I missed some earlier announcement (not that it matters much to me personally, as I'll never go through the hassle of getting Japanese XBL points, but it would kinda stink if something nifty was so hard to obtain for most of us).

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That's about all I can think to mention so far - Qute's stuff does seem to have a certain scrappy charm about it, though this one departs from convention a fair ways. Hopefully it gets them at least enough success to keep on truckin'.

[parts]

Looks like fun game. Has anyone tried it in a US console, as in region free?

[Primative Charm]

Looks like fun game. Has anyone tried it in a US console, as in region free?

Yep its region free. Had my copy preorded ages ago, when Qute's twitter page announced back in August that it was. Good stuff I tell ya.

[AweOfShe]

Sounds pretty awesome. My copy just shipped, so I'll be jumping into it soon.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I ordered this with Gunhound. I'm waiting for a Gunhound restock before this ships out.

[Joerpg84]

Sounds amazing. My copy is on its way...at the mail sorting facility so either today or tomorrow


What is a good translator? I don't think I will understand any of the story mode but hopefully make sense of the shop or the side missions.

Never heard of gun hound till you mentioned it. Going to get that as well now.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

How is Play Asia doing for their delivery times atm? (std delivery) I ordered a couple of PSP games recently and it only took 10-14 days, when I was using them a year ago it would be always 4-6 weeks wait.

[drunkninja24]

I don't think I've ever had a Play Asia order by standard mail take more than a full week to arrive to me in the States.

[Special World]

I don't think I've ever had a Play Asia order by standard mail take more than a full week to arrive to me in the States.

I think the first (only?) time I ordered from them, my package took a good two weeks to get here. I ordered Ginga Force from there, but I selected the 1-3 day shipping option. It's still not here, so hopefully it arrives tomorrow.

[Vetus]

New game from the creator of Eschatos (one of my favourite shmups) and I never heard about it before? Damn, I feel like I was living under a stone for a long time. I should visit this forum more often.

[Joerpg84]

Really enjoying the game. It is quite difficult on normal to start off with.

Does anyone know what the parts in the shop mean?
For the extra item equips:
Is the -10% power a bad thing?
The first item looks like a target or hit box
Then there is a clock like one?

I just put extra life cause I need them lol

[Joerpg84]

Figured out the power thing is your weapon gauge. It decreases the rate it uses. A good thing if you want to kill things quicker.

Hit box shows the target on enemies and their health. Not sure it's worth it considering I can just equip better items. Especially once you play the stage once with it you get a rough idea of what to shoot anyway.

So far a great game. Much better than eschatos. I liked eschatos a lot too.

[Joerpg84]

Anyone know what the 3 bars are on the stats screen?
I'm guessing power, homing and then how long the sun weapon strength gauge lasts?

[Kiken]

Anyone know what the 3 bars are on the stats screen?
I'm guessing power, homing and then how long the sun weapon strength gauge lasts?

It should be:
Attack Strength
Auto Fire Rate
Meter Consumption

[Joerpg84]

Anyone know what the 3 bars are on the stats screen?
I'm guessing power, homing and then how long the sun weapon strength gauge lasts?

It should be:
Attack Strength
Auto Fire Rate
Meter Consumption

Awesome...thanks!

Do you know how significant the damage weakens by when the meter is used up?

stuck on chapter 9 atm! That boss is intense. Havnt managed to scrape any hidden 1ups.

[system11]

Mine arrived today, I don't like it at all.

* Confused visuals, even when it's bright it's a mess to work out what's what.
* Impossible to see what's happening in stage 2

Seriously how the hell are you supposed to deal with those laser wall turrets that appear under you while a spotlight is being shone on your ship? Avoid them and bam, you hit a dark coloured enemy hanging in the dark, not firing.

[Joerpg84]

Mine arrived today, I don't like it at all.

* Confused visuals, even when it's bright it's a mess to work out what's what.
* Impossible to see what's happening in stage 2

Seriously how the hell are you supposed to deal with those laser wall turrets that appear under you while a spotlight is being shone on your ship? Avoid them and bam, you hit a dark coloured enemy hanging in the dark, not firing.

Stage 2 is the worst. I hated it a lot. Put me off the game at first. It gets way better...still think it is one of the harder levels to see what is going on. I had to switch weapons to kills those red laser things quick or turn them blue. The flashlight and those blue lasers seem impossible on normal but was fine on easy.

I have unlocked slow time do I guess the laser walls might be doable now on normal.
I have no idea how to pass chapter 9.

[Skykid]

This sounds a bit underwhelming. Will purchase Gunhound instead I think, just wanted to hear the reactions.

[Kiken]

Stage 2 is the worst. I hated it a lot. Put me off the game at first. It gets way better...still think it is one of the harder levels to see what is going on. I had to switch weapons to kills those red laser things quick or turn them blue. The flashlight and those blue lasers seem impossible on normal but was fine on easy.

I have unlocked slow time do I guess the laser walls might be doable now on normal.
I have no idea how to pass chapter 9.

Just wait until you try it on Hard. You have to be hellishly careful to avoid the spotlights in the background (so that you don't trigger the enemies that send out the blue laser walls), even then, the smaller enemies just shower the screen with miniscule, slow moving bullets which seriously hamper maneuverability.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Yeah, that sounds like some bad game design to me. I cancelled my order. I might get in on it later if they do a wonder price version.

[NeoStrayCat]

Yeah, that sounds like some bad game design to me. I cancelled my order. I might get in on it later if they do a wonder price version.

Same, its good to me, not spending $80-something that I'd rather wait on a Platinum/Wonder/Bargain Price release anyways when it goes for about $40 a year or so. >_>

[psoslayer]

Ha...! Expected this to tourn out crap. I'm still looking forward to playing Echatos though. Was it region free too?

[pestro87]

Sounds exactly like the complaints that some people had on Eschatos and I love that game.

The only thing that I'm not too keen on is that it seems like the only way that you can compete in this game is by playing the Score Attack mode and that seems to be broken up into small parts.

Anyways, my copy is going to arrive tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to playing this!

[gatsu25]

I'm confused as to how I'm gaining extra lives on stages from the start. Is it just playing the stage over and over?

[Jeneki]

Anyone unlock the Judgement games yet? I'm curious what they're about, as I really liked the extras on Eschatos.

[BulletMagnet]

Anyone unlock the Judgement games yet? I'm curious what they're about, as I really liked the extras on Eschatos.

Quoting from my previous post:

- "Judgement Force Tiger" is actually unlocked as a "Training Simulator" in Story mode, and simply presents you with a series of increasingly tricky groups of enemies to eliminate within 30 seconds apiece for bonus money (and high scores of course), and also limits your loadout to the three pre-set "types" used in Score Attack. I assume the other "Judgement" mini-game is similar, though I haven't encountered it yet. EDIT: Just unlocked "Dragon", seems to be another "enemy rush" sort of affair, but laid out differently (and tougher; some of those little swarmy buggers'll make you want to snap your controller).

I'm confused as to how I'm gaining extra lives on stages from the start. Is it just playing the stage over and over?

I think that as you uncover and collect Extends in Story mode you're able to start with them added to your stock for that stage next time you play it, but I'm not positive about that yet.

[Drake]

I want to buy the game just because people are complaining about things as early as stage 2.

[Squire Grooktook]

Yeah, seems a bit hasty.

[ratikal]

Game is fun as hell. Haven't used any other weapons besides the Eschatos ones but they just feel so good.

Also, I don't get the stage 2 bitching. I was able to get past normal mode just fine...Those blue lasers were pretty crazy though!