Gunhed the game and Gunhed the movie are related by name only, iirc.
I thought I read that the PCE version had some cut scenes and such that tied into the film?
Either way, it's just cool to me that such a kickass game is actually an obscure movie tie-in.
I gave BL a go last night just to test it out and ended up pretty hooked. Got to the last boss rush level and ran out of continues and decided to give it a go this morning. A couple hours and runs later I finally beat it, and can't really say enough good about it. This is my first foray into Hudson shooters, and like what Hudson did with the Bonk games, it managed to take a pretty played out genre and give its game character and polish that sets it apart. Little things, like the 3D-ish ship animation when you move left or right, really help give the game depth to go along with the great parallax. I love the variety in the game - so many different enemies, so many different attack patterns and of course all the different weapons. Collecting the purple orbs for powering up is a nice touch to keep you always on the hunt even when you're relatively powered up.
I find often in shooters you max out early and then just rely on that same gun throughout and it can become a little stale. In this, you're always given options to change weapons and then orbs to change their attack spread, and in the later levels there's some strategy as to what weapons to take. I agree that II is the one to use for most of it, but III is essential for Area 8 and it's a stronger weapon at lower power so it comes in very handy during the last level when you're losing lives and just trying to hang on. The additional power ups are cool but my only complaint is that the shield one is so essential the others don't really get much time, and there's nothing worse on the later levels than accidentally collecting an F or H powerup when you've got a full shield and a good weapon and then one hit and you're toast!
I liked the difficulty curve in this game - the first two levels are a breeze and then it gets a little harder but it's always pretty manageable until they throw everything at you at the end, and even then you can work through it with enough lives and bombs. I actually found the 5th level to be one of the most challenging, honestly; it becomes pretty bullet hell-y at a few parts. Other than the usual shmup trope of accidentally grabbing a shitty powerup to mess up your mojo, my only complaint is that the game can be very difficult in a few early spots in a level and then overly easy for most of the bosses. If you die on Area 8 early, starting from scratch with nothing and racing to get that shield on the side of the level is one of the most difficult tasks in the game and pretty much essential if you want to survive long enough to get a weapon decent enough to take out all the bubbles. Then, once you're powered with at least a second level III, 8 becomes a cakewalk. Then in the last level, the bosses are all pretty easy, it's just all the other crap in between them that can lead you to turmoil.
Anyway, awesome game and I'm thankful for the GOTW for finally getting me to sit down and play my
incredibly tanned HuCard of the game. I only ever had a passing interest in shooters before I got into TG-16, but after this, Lords, Galaga, R-Type and, yep, Deep Blue, I'm officially a shootaholic. Looking forward to trying out my copy Super Star Soldier next, and afraid at the prices I'll pay to obtain Soldier Blade in the near future.
Topic: (10/31/2015 - 11/6/2015) Game of the Week: Blazing Lazers (Read 1200 times)