The Darius series of SHMUPS made by Taito never really gathered much attention aside from the first impressional "woah`s" the original two arcade games got having not one, but three screens to produce the largest horizontal scrolling shooting plane ever.Despite that gimmick, the games were mediocre at best.They say that the third time around is best and Taito certainly proved this with Darius Gaiden.
Shortly after the events of the original Darius, while fleeing from the wrath of the Belser Army, the Darian refugees led by Proco and Tiat set up a temporary base on Vadis to act as a main base before a true refugee planet could be settled upon. However, Belser once again arose, this time from Darius's oceans, thwarting the escape of the remaining Darians and even sending fleets against Vadis itself. A fleet of iconic Silver Hawks were sent to keep Belser from reaching Vadis, but their strength was too great even for them.Once again, Proco and Tiat are chosen to save the day, this time by putting an end to Belser's attempt to imprison the Darius stragglers.
To achieve this feat we need guns and lots of them, offcourse that`s what a SHMUP is all about. The weapon system in Gaiden`s predecessors was quite annoying and there weren`t any smartbombs so Taito was smart enough to incorporate upgradable weapons via powerups and adding powerful defensive shields to help your silverhawk survive tough scenario`s.When the shit hits the fan players can opt to use the ample supply of blackhole bombs the Silverhawk carries.What`s so great about these is they litarly involve the entire level.Not only do all the bullets get pulled in but also parts of the level and stationary enemies like turrets and the likes get ripped off from their spots, enemy fighters and warships hurl uncontrollably into the void and even the giant enemy boss battleships have to exert all their energy not to get smashed into a million bits by a giant blackhole, too bad for any survivors which almost always are exclusively the bosses themselves that after the black hole dissipates a satisfying surge of lightning reels trough the screen leaving destruction in it`s path.It`s just so very satisfying to use the black hole bomb and see the pure carnage it can unleash upon the screen !
Besides upgradable forward/rear firing guns and missiles in their standard array of weaponry the player can opt to try and capture mid-level minibosses and add their firepower to his own.Each miniboss, has a small globe on their head, blast it hard enough and it`ll fall off, capture it and the miniboss will fight alongside you, but since he is regarded as an actual object he can and will take enemy fire and eventually get destroyed.Aside from their added firepower, their the perfect living shields to stick behind to when your fresh out of shields.This process is a precursor to the capture ball as seen in the final Darius installment: G-Darius on the PSX where players can deploy capture balls at will from their Silverhawks to capture any type of enemy they encounter in the level, with the added ability to sacrifice their life for a destructive laser weapon.
Darius Gaiden plays just like an oldskool SHMUP, hello ? that`s exactly what it is.Lovers of SHMUPS should find everything they want in this, difficulty, non-stop bullet hells and relentless waves of enemies and did I mention impressive end of level bosses with equally impressive names ?At the end of each level you can chose which route to take, as such there is a great amount of replay value with the 30 or so levels available with the added challenge of compiling the hardest routes will keep you coming for more.
The best part of Darius Gaiden in my opinion is it`s soundtrack, Zuntata; Taito`s own in-house band has done a memorable job !Starting out in level 1 with creepy female vocals muttering " eyes .. head .. eyes ?? head ! Close your .. eyes .. close your .. head "When the level picks up it`s pace guitar riffs fill the space between gunfire and explosions and that`s when your just sucked in the game.The music is also very dynamic and follows what your doing and what`s going onscreen and it`s done in such a clever manner that it would seem a live DJ is mixing up the various tracks the soundtrack is composed off as you play, cause listening to the actual soundtrack itself in your music player in sequential nature is nowhere near as awesome as what the game does with it.I know games like Zone of the Enders have a dynamic soundtrack but man, we`re talking about a game released in 1994 here it`s pure genius.
For a SHMUP coming all the way back from 1994, the graphics hold up really well.The game is based on relatively large hand-drawn sprites that still look sharp even when the Saturn is plugged into a HDTV.Special effects like large explosions, vortexes and blackholes are rendered in 3D, yet manage not to look out of place in between the wealth of sprites moving on screen mostly without a single hitch.
There`s nothing more words allow me to say about this fantastic classic SHMUP which is why I`ve compiled a gameplay movie just for you guys.All the music played is from the game`s soundtrack, if you love it just search for "Zuntata" on Youtube and you`ll find lots of their music there.
In conclusion, Darius Gaiden should be on your list of essential SHMUPS, it should be available for a really cheap price on a wide range of systems and is not just limited to the Saturn version which I`ve reviewed here with ports to the PC, PSX , PS2 as part of the Taito legends 2 compilation and also it`s found on the Taito memories compilation.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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Gwenster
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