I
originally bought Phelios about a year ago because it
happened to meet two important purchasing criteria: A) it was a Namco
game, and B) it was cheap. While the second criterion would have probably
been sufficient to justify the purchase, the first certainly didn't hurt."The gods are at war!" As Apollo, the sun deity, (Namco gets points for using the word "deity" here) you must rescue Artemis, goddess of the moon and all around hot babe. Apollo is "stupendously angry, as only a mighty god can be!...He grasps his sword of light and leaps on Pegasus..."
"She's been taken by Typhon," who, incidentally is the ruler of the darkness. Artemis informs Apollo that he will face "horrendous wretches...But you must come!" It really does say that. Apollo must use his "sword of light" to defeat the nasty nellies and ultimately rescue Artemis, if you're up to the task.
Any game that can manage to slip in that much sexually tilted innuendo not only in the instruction book, but also right there on the back of the package is already on the fast track to becoming a huge favorite of mine. This game not only is a fantastic shoot 'em up, it's loaded with tons of eye candy, wacky mythological creatures, and all kinds of neat touches that fall into the category of "cool stuff we've always wanted to see in a video game."
You get to traverse the top to bottom, and slightly side to side, scrolling terrain not in a jet, 'copter, spaceship, or flying VW bus, but rather, on the back of Pegasus, the legendary winged horsie. Cool! You don't have machine guns or bombs, but you do have your groovy sword of light which, will send out quick bursts of light (less damaging - quick tap of button) or more powerful bursts (booya! - hold button down longer) Cool! Phelios manages to successfully alter the standard shooter with its themes of mythology, and gives us a wonderful gaming experience in the bargain. Really cool!
You
know the drill by now. Fly around, shoot a bunch of evil stuff, gather the
power ups, fight a boss, watch a cinema scene, then keep moving forward.
Here, at many of the cinemas, we're treated to a really nice view of
Artemis' heaving bosom as she waits for us to rescue her. She speaks to us
in a slightly above average Genesis digitized voice, and if that's not
enough to get you to grab this cart, hell, we've got Medusa, dragons,
skeletons, disembodied heads, phantasms, and all sorts of neato creatures.
Hey, as far as I'm concerned, any game that includes villains who attack
by throwing their own heads at you is AOK, and we've got 'em here. After
having played it, I would have bought it even if it wasn't buried at the
bottom of the bargain bin. Get your copy today!