Salamander (1986)

(Personal context skip ahead if TL;Dr) I decided to play Life Force because I had played a game called Crisis Force that I played because it was Konami and I couldn't recall any SHMUPS they made. I actually forgot all about Gradius series because it is NOT a game I like actually. I actually thought I had played Life Force before and had it backlogged but nope, I definitely never played a Gradius game with vert. and horiz. elements (though its possible I simply never got past the first level. This game. Is. Hard!!!)

Stage 1 quickly teaches you whats what in the sense that terrain is going to be your most dangerous foe

Life Force (originally released as Salamander (J)) is a SHMUP that is mostly horizontal scrolling shooting but has several vertical scrolling shooting levels as well. These alternating stage styles are nice and not too many games did that. (When it comes to SHMUPS, ANY variety or new idea is usually welcome because they can get boring and stale fast). I would say this is largely the game's chief strength (and maybe claim to fame even if it was the first to do it, IDK).

A few of the vertical levels feel almost like bonus game rounds. They tend to move fast!

However, overall, the game is lackluster and makes for a mediocre shooter at best. I found that the weapon upgrade system was alright, however I was really disappointed with the ripple beam (which I remember being pretty OP in Gradius) however, I found the laser quite nice with its ability to focus all your options in a single line for max effect, or the fact the beams move with your craft/options to make for a very versatile offense capability.

However, the problem is that there is no way you're actually going to survive this game, upgrade your weapons and maintain possession of your options. Often the beginning of a stage is a weapons upgrade "run" where if you kill all the lines of sustained enemies you might get up to a dozen upgrades. I find this is actually next to impossible to do without cheating however.

Very much like Gradius, this game is hard and has a weird upgrade scheme. It's been a while since I played Gradius to be honest, but many elements of the game are reminiscent of it.

Level variation was alright (I've seen some of these levels in other games). The boss fights in this game are interesting. They are actually the easiest parts of the game. I very much enjoyed them. The bosses are weird and ugly/creepy and they tend to move around a lot, chasing you. They are quite easy with a max upgraded ship and sometimes go down in seconds. Otherwise it's a wrestling match of sorts and makes for a good marathon testing your stamina. The hard parts of this game are really the levels themselves, trying to not crash into the terrain. (Many parts of the game of which are just damn ridiculous. Fucking coin op design...)

In the end it isn't a long game (like most SHMUPs) and it's nothing amazing either. It does feature a 2 player sim. co-op mode which is of course probably the best way to play it.

Graphics aren't amazing but look okay overall, same can be said of sound (though sometimes sound effects don't play all the time for some reason). The game has flicker and slow down here and there, as is common with many games of this type that have multiple enemies on the screen at once.

While I did enjoy it with an emulator using rewind and save states, the difficulty of this is over the top. This game loves to steal your quarters with really sleazy dark-souls-y terrain "gotcha traps" where the terrain will just grow or things will lunge at you. Increasing your speed is helpful to dodge incoming attacks from enemies but then the game screws you for it by making you go down the tightest Luke Skywalker death star butt hole this wayside of the galaxy...

Like the other reviewer says: it's an overrated series, but it's still interesting to look at in the way it's programmed difficultly. I know some people hate these games and the way they are made hard like this, but I think these games will probably stand the test of time as notable challenges to anyone who ever seeks one out. Perhaps our heavily augmented cyborg children will actually come back to this one and appreciate it in a new light because it's such a test of reflexes and whatnot. A weird thought I know.

Platform:

Turbografx-16

Description:

A classic among shmups, that is unique because it alternates vertical and horizontal scrolling levels.

Liked:

The switch between vertical scrolling and horizontal levels brings a little variety, and offers a way to directly compare which shmup style you prefer. (I prefer vertical). I liked the different themes of each level, a lot of attention is paid to detail to make the environments consistent in the game world. It's also interesting that Bosses need to be shot at a specific spot to be defeated.

Disliked:

The difficulty here is ridiculous, and the game really punishes you from the first level on, probably because the game is really short. The level design is focused more on making you feel claustrophobic because there is no room at all to evade anything, than to actually maneuver skillfully around bullets and enemies.

Summary:

Reading a lot of praise for the Gradius series, which includes this, I think it's one of the most overrated Shmups I know. That doesn't mean it's a bad game, but the level of difficulty puts me off, and I personally don't really like shooters that force you to evade the environment and fly through ridiculously narrow passages where you die if you as much as touch the walls. It might have been impressive at the time, but today there is much better shmups out there. It's still average for me.