Fuck, that's disappointing.

Some people aren't obsessed with lightgun games. They played a few in arcades and stuff, but they never really got much out of the experience. Kinda fun, I guess - They probably played something like Ninja Assault.

Almost a how-to on making a boring lightgun shooter. Bunch of enemies that spawn in and fire tiny projectiles at you, that you have to strike down. Basically every enemy takes multiple hits, and your gunfire feels pathetic as a result. You're constantly firing. No sense of drama or tension. Just the act of following the moving targets until the next ones are presented in front of you. Total dogdirt sound design, too. PlayStation demo menu drum and bass that doesn't attempt to complement the action or setting. There's a results screen at the end of each level with a bit of samisen, but that's all you're getting.

Seeing that Namco logo on the front of an early PS2 lightgun shooter implies something, and it's not "boredom". This is from Now Production, who are a bit of a powerhouse outsourcing studio for lacklustre shite and bland ports. I can only speculate this is a Bill Murray/Garfield situation, where someone from Namco mistook them for WOW Entertainment.

It's not rubbish. There's a flaming kitsune boss, and that's kind of cool. The last boss turns into a floating head that flies into a bigger floating skull. It's not as good as that makes it sound, though. Passionless. You could do so much better. Don't you dare let this colour your impression of the genre.

Reviewed on Feb 07, 2023


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