Many people may not of heard of Gun Valkyrie, or have a clue what the hell it is, and you'll be forgiven due to the fact this hotly anticipated Dreamcast title never even made to Japan, although its not completely lost forever, instead it hops over to the X-Box's bandwagon!!
Well, for a start its made by those lovely people at Smilebit, who are starting to make a name for themselves when it comes to making fun original games!! Games like Jet Set Radio, Hundred Swords and The Typing Of The Dead line up in their track record, as well as the games they are developing for the X-Box, Jet Set Radio Future, the revival of Panzer Dragoon and of course, Gun Valkyrie, which looks set to be as fun and original as everything else Smilebit has made. In fact, it looks set to be their best game yet!!
So apart from being a Dreamcast title that never was, what exactly IS Gun Valkyrie?? Well it's a fast action packed shoot em up in third person perspective set in the future, and plays like a mix of Tomb Raider and Outrigger put with greater speed and mobility!! With your spacesuit and anti-gravity boots, plus a load of hefty weapons, you bounce around in all angles, floating in the air, running up the walls just blowing everything up!!
The levels themselves take on a future look as you might expect, bouncing around space colonies and unknown planets. It doesn't look like there will be any missions to trawl through the levels, but gameplay will be about blasting through levels and blowing up anything that comes near you!! The control system however will get some getting used to, seeing as Gun Valkyrie was dubbed as a game where you shoot with the light gun and move with the d-pad!! With the X-Box controller, its more than likely the control system will take on a Virtua On "Feel", that is, moving your character with one analogue stick and aiming your weapons with the other!!
The graphics look smart enough, which are bright and detailed due to a wide variety of textures and a sharp resolution, although there is nothing here that would push the console to its limits would could suggest that Smilebit want to pay more attention to Jet Set Radio Future and wait and see whether Gun Valkyrie will be a hit or miss!!
I personally cant wait to see what Gun Valkyrie has to offer us, and it may a surprise hit for the X-Box, although I'll be surprised if it registers as a miss.
