If I’m allowed to get real for a second, for most of the day that I am typing this review in, I have been feeling pretty shitty. I could barely sleep last night, I have a massive headache, my nose is all stuffed up, my eyes keep watering, I'm constantly sneezing, my voice is gone, and even after going back to sleep for a good couple of hours, I only managed to get slightly better. So y'all are getting Sick and Delirious Mega for today, and I figured there was only one thing to do in order to take care of this apparent sickness that I have gotten…….. going to play another Parodius game! Because after all, what could possibly heal the body and the soul more than a game meant to make you angry and defeated by any means necessary? Nah, but in all seriousness, it has been a while since I had tackled any of these games, and I usually have a great time with each of them, so I ain’t gonna let some goddamn sickness get in the way of me doing what I love. So, with that out of the way, it’s about time we get to the next title in the series known simply as Fantastic Journey.
At this point, I have played, what, 10 or 12 of these games, so now I know exactly what to expect when going into any of them. It is clear that these games were never concerned with expanding upon the shmup genre, or expanding upon the gameplay style that they established back in the first entry, and each new entry is just meant to give you another round of insanity to go through. Naturally, this is exactly what I ended up getting with Fantastic Journey, and also naturally, the game managed to be pretty good, providing a solid enough shmup experience while keeping the core gameplay as fun and frantic as ever, even though I am reeeeeeeally starting to get burnt out on these games at this point…….. that could just be the sickness talking, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t.
The story is basically non-existant, with it being just about you wanting to reclaim your former glory by getting an ancient treasure, which I would complain about as being not enough, but considering what kind of game this is, I feel like that’s all the story we would ever need. The graphics are pretty good, bringing that classic Gradius look while also being mixed up with the insanity of your typical Parodius game, even if it doesn’t look that much different then the previous game, the music is still good, having the same mix of remixes of classical tunes, original songs, and staple tracks from Gradius, but there was nothing that really jumped out at me as being anything too memorable, and the gameplay/control is…….. well, if you somehow don’t know how it is at this point, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention for the past dozen reviews of this series.
The game is your typical horizontal shmup, where you take control of one of many different whacky characters, such as the classic Vic Viper, a pig with wings, an anime girl riding on a missile, or some Microsoft-desktop-icon-looking guy, go through plenty of different levels through a handful of natural or weird environments, shoot down everything in sight, whether it be a typical enemy from a shmup or a cute penguin floating by, because everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is out to kill you, gather plenty of power-ups to assist you along your way in the form of your regular Gradius selectable upgrades and the TwinBee bells that you can change the color of, and take on plenty of bosses that will not only provide you with quite a challenge, but will also make you question what the fuck you are playing every time. It is the Parodius experience in its truest form, and while this overall style of gameplay without any kind of change may be overdone at this point, it still manages to be fun for someone like me who has been engrossed in these games for the past…… what, year or so? Good lord, it’s been so long…
As is tradition with these Parodius games, the only real thing worth noting about this game is the amount of weird, zany, fucked up things you will see along your journey, and trust me, this game has that covered in spades. Not gonna lie, I believe I have grown numb to the weirdness at this point, as I have accepted it as a normal part of life (or it could just be the sickness getting in the way), but it is still a massive reason as to why you would want to check out this game in the first place, so let’s just go ahead and run down a quick list of what kind of weirdness this game has to offer. ahem..... the characters you play as get weirder and weirder, now with the inclusion of the previously mentioned anime girl and the Microsoft-icon, the enemies include chickens, claw machine claws, lips, Uncle Sam eagles, and penguins, the stages can bring you from a snowy area to places like inside a claw machine, in the cat-pirate sea, and inside some kind of egyptian temple full of building blocks, and the bosses range from a panda bear ballerina dancer, a giant Moai ship, a cardboard cut-out of a woman that is being controlled by two random penguins, and a mermaid that moans seductively whenever you shoot her weak spot. This is all the typical stuff that one would see when they take drugs, but for the outsider, this could just be some of the wackiest shit they have ever seen, hence why I still enjoy this brand of chaos, and why I continue to play these games even now.
Of course though, the game does suffer from your typical Parodius/Gradius problems, with the most obvious one being that this game does nothing to further change up the Gradius formula, and gives you another round of insanity for the sake of it, which could be fine for huge fans of the franchise, but for everyone else, they would have definitely moved on at this point. Also, is it just me, or does this game sometimes feel like… a copy? Like, it sounds weird, but hear me out: in many ways, this game feels like a direct copy, almost like a mod, of From Myth to Laughter, having a lot of the same types of enemies in the same areas, the same types of levels, the same boss gimmicks, and several other things that seem too similar to be just a coincidence. Could the developers have used the last games as a basis for this new one by modifying that one? I dunno, someone with more knowledge on that kind of shit would probably be able to tell me, but for now, I am incredibly suspicious of you, Fantastic Journey…….. oh yeah, and the game is still hard as fuck.
Overall, despite a major lack of change and how the game can certainly kick your ass at points, Fantastic Journey still manages to be another bundle of weirdness wrapped up in that sweet satisfaction and gameplay that this series is known for, still being just as bombastic and entertaining as the previous titles. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the other Gradius/Parodius games, as well as those who are huge fans of weird shit, because these games have plenty of weirdness to go around, and this entry is no exception. But anyways, now that I have finally taken care of all of that, I should probably go try to get better now. I do feel a little better then when I started, but let’s face it, taking care of my health is probably a lot more important then some silly video games.
Game #598
At this point, I have played, what, 10 or 12 of these games, so now I know exactly what to expect when going into any of them. It is clear that these games were never concerned with expanding upon the shmup genre, or expanding upon the gameplay style that they established back in the first entry, and each new entry is just meant to give you another round of insanity to go through. Naturally, this is exactly what I ended up getting with Fantastic Journey, and also naturally, the game managed to be pretty good, providing a solid enough shmup experience while keeping the core gameplay as fun and frantic as ever, even though I am reeeeeeeally starting to get burnt out on these games at this point…….. that could just be the sickness talking, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t.
The story is basically non-existant, with it being just about you wanting to reclaim your former glory by getting an ancient treasure, which I would complain about as being not enough, but considering what kind of game this is, I feel like that’s all the story we would ever need. The graphics are pretty good, bringing that classic Gradius look while also being mixed up with the insanity of your typical Parodius game, even if it doesn’t look that much different then the previous game, the music is still good, having the same mix of remixes of classical tunes, original songs, and staple tracks from Gradius, but there was nothing that really jumped out at me as being anything too memorable, and the gameplay/control is…….. well, if you somehow don’t know how it is at this point, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention for the past dozen reviews of this series.
The game is your typical horizontal shmup, where you take control of one of many different whacky characters, such as the classic Vic Viper, a pig with wings, an anime girl riding on a missile, or some Microsoft-desktop-icon-looking guy, go through plenty of different levels through a handful of natural or weird environments, shoot down everything in sight, whether it be a typical enemy from a shmup or a cute penguin floating by, because everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is out to kill you, gather plenty of power-ups to assist you along your way in the form of your regular Gradius selectable upgrades and the TwinBee bells that you can change the color of, and take on plenty of bosses that will not only provide you with quite a challenge, but will also make you question what the fuck you are playing every time. It is the Parodius experience in its truest form, and while this overall style of gameplay without any kind of change may be overdone at this point, it still manages to be fun for someone like me who has been engrossed in these games for the past…… what, year or so? Good lord, it’s been so long…
As is tradition with these Parodius games, the only real thing worth noting about this game is the amount of weird, zany, fucked up things you will see along your journey, and trust me, this game has that covered in spades. Not gonna lie, I believe I have grown numb to the weirdness at this point, as I have accepted it as a normal part of life (or it could just be the sickness getting in the way), but it is still a massive reason as to why you would want to check out this game in the first place, so let’s just go ahead and run down a quick list of what kind of weirdness this game has to offer. ahem..... the characters you play as get weirder and weirder, now with the inclusion of the previously mentioned anime girl and the Microsoft-icon, the enemies include chickens, claw machine claws, lips, Uncle Sam eagles, and penguins, the stages can bring you from a snowy area to places like inside a claw machine, in the cat-pirate sea, and inside some kind of egyptian temple full of building blocks, and the bosses range from a panda bear ballerina dancer, a giant Moai ship, a cardboard cut-out of a woman that is being controlled by two random penguins, and a mermaid that moans seductively whenever you shoot her weak spot. This is all the typical stuff that one would see when they take drugs, but for the outsider, this could just be some of the wackiest shit they have ever seen, hence why I still enjoy this brand of chaos, and why I continue to play these games even now.
Of course though, the game does suffer from your typical Parodius/Gradius problems, with the most obvious one being that this game does nothing to further change up the Gradius formula, and gives you another round of insanity for the sake of it, which could be fine for huge fans of the franchise, but for everyone else, they would have definitely moved on at this point. Also, is it just me, or does this game sometimes feel like… a copy? Like, it sounds weird, but hear me out: in many ways, this game feels like a direct copy, almost like a mod, of From Myth to Laughter, having a lot of the same types of enemies in the same areas, the same types of levels, the same boss gimmicks, and several other things that seem too similar to be just a coincidence. Could the developers have used the last games as a basis for this new one by modifying that one? I dunno, someone with more knowledge on that kind of shit would probably be able to tell me, but for now, I am incredibly suspicious of you, Fantastic Journey…….. oh yeah, and the game is still hard as fuck.
Overall, despite a major lack of change and how the game can certainly kick your ass at points, Fantastic Journey still manages to be another bundle of weirdness wrapped up in that sweet satisfaction and gameplay that this series is known for, still being just as bombastic and entertaining as the previous titles. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the other Gradius/Parodius games, as well as those who are huge fans of weird shit, because these games have plenty of weirdness to go around, and this entry is no exception. But anyways, now that I have finally taken care of all of that, I should probably go try to get better now. I do feel a little better then when I started, but let’s face it, taking care of my health is probably a lot more important then some silly video games.
Game #598
PitSolitayrh
30 days ago