Features
Technosoft is just so cool. They have given us one of the best shooter series of all time, Thunder Force. This game first appeared on the Saturn and was later ported to the Playstation. Working Designs got the rights to bring it over and now it is here for us yanks to enjoy.
The graphics in the Playstation version aren't as good as the graphics in the Saturn version, but everything else is intact. Your ship can change speeds whenever you want at the press of a button. You have 5 cool looking weapons as well. There is Twin Shot (later upgraded to the legendary Blade), Back Shot (later upgraded to Rail Gun), Wave, Hunter (gotta have the Hunter!), and the freakin' amazing Free Range! The Free Range demands explanation. Any enemy in the range of the green grid is immediately zapped with a surprisingly powerful laser! You also have the CRAW which acts as the traditional Thunder Force option that enhances your weapons. But it has a new feature now. It can temporarily enhance the power and range of all your weapons! But doing this sucks the energy out of the CRAW units, if they turn red, they are out of juice and you have to wait until they recharge before you use them again. By the way, if your CRAW is hit by a projectile while they are red, you lose it! That is very bad. Scoring has a few unique features. Some enemies have a crosshair on them. This is where they are the weakest. The faster you kill these enemies, the higher the score multiplier bonus you receive! Up to 16! You also get extra points for almost dying. Like you see a bullet, then move out of the way just before it tears your ship apart!
But, alas, this game lacks the intensity of previous Thunder Force games. In Thunder Force 2-4 most of the time you had to deal with carefully navigating your fighter through areas where your surroundings could kill you. Like flying through a cave and watching out for the walls and lava. But, in this game, you rarely have to worry about anything else besides enemies. The game is also much shorter than Thunder Force 2 and 4. The soundtrack, while amazing (features remixes of songs from older games in the series), also lacks the coolness of the other game in the series. But I still really like the songs. But they could have been really good, I wish they could have gotten Tomomi Ohtani (TF2 & TF3) to compose again. He was amazing. Overall, this is a solid purchase, because it is just plain fun. There is a difficulty level for all skill levels too! But if you have the option of getting the PSX or Saturn version, snag the Saturn version if you can.
My rating is **** out of *****.