A space shooter for the hardcore...
If you're unfamiliar with those mechanics, they involve you flying a space ship on a 2D plane with enemy ships and natural obstacles blocking your way. One bullet from an enemy or colliding into any on-screen object besides power-ups results in instant death. Sounds simple?....Well I should mention that all these things tend to come at you once and relentlessly. This game is HARD (most space shooters are but this once cranks it up a notch). The originality of the Gradius series comes from it power ups. When starting a new game you will pick a set of weapons or create your own custom set. At the start of the game you will notice a bar with 7 slots at the bottom of the screen. When you pick up a red power-up orb, the first slot will be highlighted. Pressing the power-up button will activate that power-up, in this example the speed boost (the 1st slot is used to boost speed, the second to enable missiles etc). Picking up a second power-up before activating it will highlight the second slot and allow you to use and enable the second power up from the kit you chose at the start of the game. Most of the gameplay involves getting enough power-ups for the onslaught of enemies and bosses. Also dying will make you loose all current power-ups which adds a lot to the diffulty as it is very hard to take on a boss or the secnod half of a level with no power-ups (your ship uses speed upgrades to maneuver more quickly so even avoiding attacks becomes harder after death.).
As for the enemies the game has plenty in store for you. You will be destroying countless enemy ships, missile launchers and other non-identifiable metal things. Boss fights are quite special in this game. These fights range from a giant space earwig, to easter island statues to all sorts of crazy laser shooting mechanical atrocities.
The game has no story-telling to speak of and this is fine as most Gradius players can't be bothered with a story. This is an action gem no more, no less. The game is comprised of about 10 levels and takes about 45 minutes to an hour to beat. (this is of course assuming you make it this far)
The game's graphics are unimpressive (by 16 bit standards of course) but are clear and sharp enough for you to distiguish and see all the bullets, enemies, obstacles and power-ups coming your way.
The game's music fares a bit better but the music is very limited and the sound effects tend to get repetitive.
All in all, this game is a great addition to any action fans' collection and will be sure to challenge them for a while.