Raiden IV 360 US-Bound...

[Galactik]

Lovin this game, and as a new player to the shmups genre, I am loving it. I have been playing RFA since it came out using the Mad Catz SE and TE arcade sticks, and am really enjoying them.

However, Raiden 4 is kicking my butt.

I am guessing my play style may be wrong, so I am looking for some general tips on playing shmups.

I tend to stay at the bottom of the screen, and in the middle and focus my eyes directly on the ship. Right? Wrong?

Oh yeah, and living in Canada, not having access to the 2 new ships, especially the fairy (I loved the Judge Spear in RFA) is kinda annoying. But a small blemish on a great fun game.

[Raizen1984]

People have every right to be complaining about the DLC. Yes, it's not essential, but the idea that we're paying for content that's already on the disc, readily available at release is not a good thing, and many companies have been taking advantage of consumer trust in this area to make more money. It's completely shameless, just like placing advertisements in games. Yes, companies need to make money, but where do you draw the line? Are we going to be paying just to see the ending? Or go to the next level? People were joking a while back about paying per-bullet in Halo, but it doesn't seem too far from reality these days.

[Elixir]

That's the explanation I would like to believe, i.e. that the publisher didn't really want to go with an MSRP of 40 bucks and paid DLC ships.

Unless they're Namco or D3 Publisher.

[brokenhalo]

I tend to stay at the bottom of the screen, and in the middle and focus my eyes directly on the ship. Right? Wrong?

generally speaking, in vertically scrolling shmups you'll want to stay in the bottom 30% of the screen as you start to learn a particular game. as you get more comfortable with the stages and learn the enemy spawns you'll start to work your way further up the screen for quick kills. this will come with practice and you'll be doing it without realizing it after a while. also, you don't want to stay in the middle. if you watch most replays, you'll notice players will move from left to right and then back quite a bit. this helps you easily dodge aimed shots. and just as a common example, if you know a ship is going to release a huge swarm of aimed shots at you, you can move far to the left, wait for him to unload, and then zip away to the right side of the screen. this allows you to dodge the entire pattern rather than trying to weave through it.

as far as where to look, i find that the longer you can follow a bullet pattern, the more time you have to react to it. if you are staring at your ship, you'll have to react at the last possible second. hardly ideal. after a while, you'll get comfortable with the ships hitbox and you'll find yourself looking at the ship less and less and looking upscreen more and more so that you can watch whats coming as it approaches.

[Acid King]

Idiotic. There is a lot to enjoy in this release, it's completely worth $40 and the two extra ships are far from essential. It's shameless but trivial.

I concur. It's no reason to not buy the game and support the localization. The game is fine out of the box.

[seattlexc]

Just letting anyone in the Seattle area know I bought the last copy of Raiden IV at the Northgate Gamestop and the last issue of Play from the Barnes and Noble.

[JCDenton]

Seriously.

the retail game is so devoid of content is just disgusting.

Idiotic. There is a lot to enjoy in this release, it's completely worth $40 and the two extra ships are far from essential. It's shameless but trivial.

These pay to play ships are advertised as being in the game. Go watch the official trailer, they're featured in the footage. I ordered the game because I liked what I saw in the trailer, and then they pulled a bait and switch, charging extra for things that had been showed as part of the game.

[Dandy J]

They are in the game, it's true I used em a couple times.

[Etrian]

Seriously.

the retail game is so devoid of content is just disgusting.

Idiotic. There is a lot to enjoy in this release, it's completely worth $40 and the two extra ships are far from essential. It's shameless but trivial.

These pay to play ships are advertised as being in the game. Go watch the official trailer, they're featured in the footage. I ordered the game because I liked what I saw in the trailer, and then they pulled a bait and switch, charging extra for things that had been showed as part of the game.

So you bought the game just to play as the Fairy?

[Malc74]

The predictably depressing IGN review has been phoned in.
And in a quite remarkable feat manages to make a factual error in the very first fucking sentence.

If even the though of clicking on that link makes you feel nauseous, let me summarise...

blah blah too expensive... blah blah just like all the rest... blah wibble levels only take a couple of minutes to beat... wibble blah too expensive.

[Kiken]

The predictably depressing IGN review has been phoned in.
And in a quite remarkable feat manages to make a factual error in the very first fucking sentence.

Fact-checking FTW. Way to go, IGN, keeping the stereotype alive!

[Rob]

However, Raiden 4 is kicking my butt.

I am guessing my play style may be wrong, so I am looking for some general tips on playing shmups.

It's just a really hard game with fast patterns - I'd suggest bumping the difficulty down or trying arcade light just so you can see how the patterns unfold in "slow motion". Destroying enemies quick isn't just for score like it seemed in Raiden III, it really punishes you for not being quick and knowing the layouts.

[kozo]

I really want this game. Dang poorness. Hopefully there will be copies floating around in a few months.

Edit: Got to hear the OST. Haven't heard music like this in a long time. Very old-school melody ala Falcom. I like what I am hearing! Props to UFO for bringing the CD over with the game.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I gave up on reading the IGN review after that one sentence. Absolutely shameful.

[Elixir]

I think listening to Americans complaining about having to pay $40 eagletears for a video game is single handedly by far the most fucking retarded thing I could ever possibly witness in my entire life.

[adversity1]

IGN idiocy aside, would anyone really give this game a lot higher than the IGN score?

Decent level lay-out with a passable scoring system, ok graphics, mediocre music. Good leaderboards/replays, nice gallery, and the menu interface was pretty good.

For me it was solid 7 territory.

[Elixir]

I disagree about the music, I think it was nicely done. Though most of the music's just remixed stuff from Raiden II DX, III, etc. My only main issue with the game is that there's this condensed feeling and it's too close to III, which was just pretty weak overall.

The difference is that IGN didn't give it a 6 for any of those reasons, but rather complained about trivial shit like "optional DLC" and how it can be "completed in 15 minutes". I stopped reading after they said the toothpaste laser was one of the highlights of the game, since it's not and it's a pretty shitty option to use compared to DX.

I also hooked my 360 up to my tate'd CRT the other day and Raiden IV looked way better. I don't think yoko does it justice.

[Dandy J]

i thought the music was great. id give it a 8 and i dont like raiden games especially

[JusteZero]

One of the best videogame soundtracks i've heard in years(remixes or not), very happy to have the soundtrack CD that was included.

[Chacranajxy]

I do think the pricing for this game is fucking retarded considering that it's a domestic release, but yeah, IGN's review went a bit overboard on complaining about it.

Really loving the game, though. Are there any extends in it? I can get to the fourth level on 1 credit and then I die

[Elixir]

There's an extend in Stage 4 if you successfully destroy all of the statues from left to right.

[Rob]

IGN idiocy aside, would anyone really give this game a lot higher than the IGN score?

Yes. It's nice to have a new-ish shooter release that's challenging just to play for survival because I'm tired of most scoring systems. I can't remember if double play mode was in III (probably is), but I'm playing that just as much as regular.

[BulletMagnet]

For me it was solid 7 territory.

I'd probably put it around there, but then I'm not a huge Raiden fan personally. Definitely a notch higher than III, though, for whatever that's worth.

I can't remember if double play mode was in III (probably is)

Yeah, it was.

[Chacranajxy]

IGN idiocy aside, would anyone really give this game a lot higher than the IGN score?

Decent level lay-out with a passable scoring system, ok graphics, mediocre music. Good leaderboards/replays, nice gallery, and the menu interface was pretty good.

For me it was solid 7 territory.

I'd probably give it an 8.5, myself. The gameplay feels like modern old-school (if that makes any sense), which I really dig, and I love the aesthetics. It won't unseat some of my favorites like Espgaluda and Soukyugurentai, but I really, really like the game.

[TodayIsForgotten]

"this should have been a 10 dollar game on xbla." I dont know about 10 dollars. "The achievements tell you there are 14 levels, but there are really 7." IGN seems to bash the the game for not looking good. I thought it looked pretty for a shootem up. Guess I'm easy to please. I read that whole review. It was pretty hard to finish.

[kozo]

I'm probably full of crap, since I haven't played it yet, but I'd pay $40 for the OST alone. That's really not a bad price for a game and soundtrack, especially since Amazon sells it for even less, PLUS free shipping. As many of you know, Raiden IV was close to $70-$80 retail on release in Japan, as are most games, including PS2 titles, and used Raiden IV still costs more than a new NA print.

In other words, I'd hit that.

[Acid King]

I do think the pricing for this game is fucking retarded considering that it's a domestic release, but yeah, IGN's review went a bit overboard on complaining about it.

What's fucking retarded about it? The only stupid thing about it is the nickel and dime shit for the extra ships. $40 is a totally reasonable price for the game.

[keropi]

it is a shame those games don't get released in the EU market

[Rob]

I think XBLA has conditioned some people to think shooters are only worth $10 (MAX!). I don't remember this much talk about the price in bad reviews of yore.

[Dandy J]

Yeah let's remember that in this genre people commonly player import-only games for as long as I can remember, and those are $70-$80+, give or take shipping. Age also plays a big factor; this is a new release. Ikaruga was 7 years old when the XBLA port came out, and that's exactly why it was an XBLA port.