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System:
Arcade
Genre:
Shoot 'Em Up
Publisher:
Konami
Developer:
Konami
Players:
1-2 (1 simultaneously)
Release date/year:
1989
Other systems:
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- Gradius III
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1989 Konami - Konami - Arcade
- Gradius III is yet another stone in the shooting game genre that keeps you on your toes and keeps your skills honed. However, there is one problem with this game that keeps it from being one of the greats, and that is the extreme difficulty that the game has to offer. Though the game is essentially the same in game play {as it is in all of the Gradius games}, the difficulty is ramped up to such a point, that beating this title is nearly impossible. Some of the newest features in the game have to do with the fact that the game offers you no chances to continue, and you’re on your own with simply one credit in a handful of ships.
Games that offer up this kind of difficulty are hard to gauge correctly, simply because the gamer doesn’t have a chance to see what is beyond a certain point. Though the game offers up some better visuals, the sound seems to retain the same monotone music and sound effects that the first two games did. The difficulty alone though will either push you to do better, or keep you from playing the game at all. Fear not, the game play and the audio is pretty much the same as the first two games, though the visuals have been upgraded just enough to give you a little more feeling in the environments!
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-The Game Play-
The game play is pretty much what you’ve been accustomed to in other horizontal space shooters, in which you pilot a fighter craft through several different stages of enemy annihilating madness and mayhem in an attempt to save the galaxy from the clutches of evil aliens. Through your adventures, you’ll find weapon power ups that will allow you to add onto your little flying ship of death with the likes of lasers and whatnot, but the true focus of the game doesn’t just revolve around blowing enemies up as it does making sure that your ship is a true power house! Defeating groups of enemies allows you to gain small power ups that will affect different aspects of your ships performance.
Through this performance, you’ll be able to work with a ship that is drastically different than the one you started out with, therefore changing the game play ever so slightly as you progress through the stages. While this doesn’t seem to be too much of a change from the normal, everyday space shooters that you may play, the innovation with a working attribute system is something that was relatively unheard of back in the mid-eighties! Challenge throughout the game, and the replay value that you may find with this title is also extremely high, in which you have to have the right reflexes, and the right power ups in place before you go speeding into certain stages. Without these power ups, you may find that the game becomes relatively impossible to surpass!
The control in Gradius is yet another piece of the puzzle in which it changes constantly. While the game doesn’t necessary have anything too advanced attached to it, you’ll find that with the gain of other power ups, your ship will change in the way that it speeds along! This will constantly test your ability to keep an eye on your ship, in which it can be rather difficult to speed through the waves of enemy fighters if your ship is moving faster than you can compensate for. Again, this is another instance of something that had not been introduced yet into the genre, and during its time, this was about as good as it got for the way that the game played. The level of skill that is required to control the game is nothing however, and anyone of any skill level can learn just how to move and control the game without having to resort to some sort of advanced schooling on how to play games of this type!
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-The Visuals-
The visuals that you find in Gradius III are upgraded from the previous two with some pretty impressive backgrounds that give you a better look at the game. Some of the more impressive stages that I’ve seen have to do with the sand stages, where the enemies literally leap from the sand and come at you. But, just like the previous games, the enemies themselves have little or no real movement to them and seem forced on the screen. You’ll see that game moves extremely slow as well, with the overall visuals falling below what you’d find in the final Gradius game. If you’re not really bothered by the way that the game is presented in this fashion, then you’ll find nothing wrong here, but more of a familiar feel that the first couple of games presented!
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-The Audio-
For the most part, the audio that you find here is monotone in the way that it is presented with some highs and lows throughout. Like the previous two games, you’ll see that the game just doesn’t seem to have too much going for it except in certain stages. The sound effects are done in a relatively low fashion, with more of the high-pitched bleeps and bloops that you would expect from an older shooting game. When you blend them altogether, you have some decently done sound and audio, but for some reason, it just doesn’t seem to change the way that the game is presented for you and doesn’t always keep you in the overall theme of the game!
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-The Verdict-
Gradius III is only different because of the overly challenging game play that it has to offer. The visuals are upgraded, as you would expect from sequels in a series, but the overall effect is lost when you start listening to the way that the game sounds and the fact that you only have one credit to work with! When you get into the game, and you’re able to get further into the overall game, you might find some more redeeming qualities. However, if you like the challenge that this title does offer and you want to try your luck at defeating the game on simply one credit, then by all means, have at this sequel and see just what you can do!
7/10
//KasketDarkfyre
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