Definitely a weird one to rate for me, as I think the presentation is absolute smash-it-out-of-the-park home run god tier shit, and I could argue that the game is great for that alone… but man, it just flops so hard in some other key areas! Super frustrating, because it really does have GOAT DNA.
The biggest issue here is that the enemy HP is out of whack. It’s fucked. Popcorn ships and destructible enemy fire take a fraction of a second too long to die, creating this weird, repetitive, thudding, subconscious dissatisfaction that builds as you play through a level. Bosses take WAY too long to bring down, especially if you die to one and lose your blade shot (which, uh, you will!)—I swear to god, some of them take between five to ten fucking minutes. Even if they don’t actually, that’s what it feels like—WAY TOO LONG.
Adding to the air of exhaustion is the fact that the game has ten stages. Ten stages of blistering breakneck shooting-em-up! Maybe this is getting more into personal preference than actual criticism, but that feels like one or two too many. When a game does not slow down even for a second, and when it makes you memorize all kinds of crazy bullshit as shmups are wont to do, ten stages feels like an eternity. As much as I love how much content they have and ideas they bring to the table, I’d prefer a more thoroughly edited, tighter experience.
I can’t complain too much though, because more stages in TFIV means more kick-ass crunchy tunes, and more mind-expanding parallax backdrops. Seriously: people call this one of the best-looking and -sounding games on the console, and that is not an exaggeration. The first level’s giant mountain ascending from the ocean into glowing clouds is maybe the most beautiful 16-bit background ever designed.
TFIV is just excessive in almost every way, to both good and ill effect: its stages span two or more vertical screen lengths, creating equal-parts thrilling sense of space and discovery and annoying sense of emptiness and FOMO. Its music drips heavy metal overindulgence. The number of bosses it throws at you could give Alien Soldier a run for its money.
If only this excess had been reigned in just a bit, especially where enemy health is concerned, the game might be perfect.
The biggest issue here is that the enemy HP is out of whack. It’s fucked. Popcorn ships and destructible enemy fire take a fraction of a second too long to die, creating this weird, repetitive, thudding, subconscious dissatisfaction that builds as you play through a level. Bosses take WAY too long to bring down, especially if you die to one and lose your blade shot (which, uh, you will!)—I swear to god, some of them take between five to ten fucking minutes. Even if they don’t actually, that’s what it feels like—WAY TOO LONG.
Adding to the air of exhaustion is the fact that the game has ten stages. Ten stages of blistering breakneck shooting-em-up! Maybe this is getting more into personal preference than actual criticism, but that feels like one or two too many. When a game does not slow down even for a second, and when it makes you memorize all kinds of crazy bullshit as shmups are wont to do, ten stages feels like an eternity. As much as I love how much content they have and ideas they bring to the table, I’d prefer a more thoroughly edited, tighter experience.
I can’t complain too much though, because more stages in TFIV means more kick-ass crunchy tunes, and more mind-expanding parallax backdrops. Seriously: people call this one of the best-looking and -sounding games on the console, and that is not an exaggeration. The first level’s giant mountain ascending from the ocean into glowing clouds is maybe the most beautiful 16-bit background ever designed.
TFIV is just excessive in almost every way, to both good and ill effect: its stages span two or more vertical screen lengths, creating equal-parts thrilling sense of space and discovery and annoying sense of emptiness and FOMO. Its music drips heavy metal overindulgence. The number of bosses it throws at you could give Alien Soldier a run for its money.
If only this excess had been reigned in just a bit, especially where enemy health is concerned, the game might be perfect.