It has become almost tradition for me to start every Gradius review discussing it's naming conventions as nearly every one of them is almost an enigma. This game, Gradius II which should not to be confused with Gradius II is no exception but having the same name as a completely different game in the series is the least of it's problems. For a start this isn't even a sequel in the first place but a remake of Gradius: The Interstellar Assault. Technically that one was the second Gameboy Gradius game and was called Nemesis II in Europe and Japan so I suppose that makes more sense than calling this Gradius III but as it was released in Europe in a Gameboy Colour compilation pack I doubt anyone had a clue about it anyway.
Naming curiosity and trivia aside how is this game? It's still pretty decent but does feel like a step down from it's original in some ways. If you have played a Gradius title before than you will know what to expect with the basics. It's a horizontal shoot em-up where you pilot a ship known as the Vic-viper. At the start you can choose a basic load out of weapon types your ship will have available to it from a choice of three variations. Initially your ship will only have a basic weapon but you can collect power ups from defeated enemies you can then either use straight away or store to move along a row of options activating when you choose. The options include things like speed up, missiles, shields as well as other main weapon types like lasers etc. It's a rewarding and tactical system but dying and losing it all can be brutally punishing.
Gradius II still retains the more interesting level design of being chased, attached by a tractor beam descending through the atmosphere into a planet surface that sparked my enjoyment of the original it's based on. It plays extremely smoothly and the usage of colours do make the game more vibrant obviously as well as some of the objects clearer to see. At the same time however it loses a little something. The original game's black and white visuals had a gritty feel to it allowing for my imagination to picture the spaceship graveyard more vividly for example. Where as having it with a bright pink background with objects in solid colour actually detracts from the whole atmosphere. There are other small changes here and there in the design as well like one of the bosses that was a traditional Gradius design had volcanoes out of it as tribute to the series is now missing them for a more standard ship design.
Overall these small design changes and colours do mean if I ever wanted to play these again I would just choose the Gameboy original of the two but if this is your only option it's still a decent little title that can be beaten in 40 minutes and has more unique level design than a lot of the rest of the series.
So not my favourite game in the series but certainly an interesting curiosity. The cover art though as usual is absolute fire.
+ Fun short little remake of Nemesis II.
+ Level design still stand out as more unique from it's bigger brothers and sisters.
+ I still like the weapon upgrade design.
- Colours actually detract from the overall atmosphere of the game from the Gameboy original.
- Some design changes also are for the worse though they are minor.
Naming curiosity and trivia aside how is this game? It's still pretty decent but does feel like a step down from it's original in some ways. If you have played a Gradius title before than you will know what to expect with the basics. It's a horizontal shoot em-up where you pilot a ship known as the Vic-viper. At the start you can choose a basic load out of weapon types your ship will have available to it from a choice of three variations. Initially your ship will only have a basic weapon but you can collect power ups from defeated enemies you can then either use straight away or store to move along a row of options activating when you choose. The options include things like speed up, missiles, shields as well as other main weapon types like lasers etc. It's a rewarding and tactical system but dying and losing it all can be brutally punishing.
Gradius II still retains the more interesting level design of being chased, attached by a tractor beam descending through the atmosphere into a planet surface that sparked my enjoyment of the original it's based on. It plays extremely smoothly and the usage of colours do make the game more vibrant obviously as well as some of the objects clearer to see. At the same time however it loses a little something. The original game's black and white visuals had a gritty feel to it allowing for my imagination to picture the spaceship graveyard more vividly for example. Where as having it with a bright pink background with objects in solid colour actually detracts from the whole atmosphere. There are other small changes here and there in the design as well like one of the bosses that was a traditional Gradius design had volcanoes out of it as tribute to the series is now missing them for a more standard ship design.
Overall these small design changes and colours do mean if I ever wanted to play these again I would just choose the Gameboy original of the two but if this is your only option it's still a decent little title that can be beaten in 40 minutes and has more unique level design than a lot of the rest of the series.
So not my favourite game in the series but certainly an interesting curiosity. The cover art though as usual is absolute fire.
+ Fun short little remake of Nemesis II.
+ Level design still stand out as more unique from it's bigger brothers and sisters.
+ I still like the weapon upgrade design.
- Colours actually detract from the overall atmosphere of the game from the Gameboy original.
- Some design changes also are for the worse though they are minor.