Viewpoint |
PlayStation |
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Review by Matt Paprocki |
Electronic Arts |
Shooter |
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Graphics: 6 |
Sound: 3 |
Gameplay: 5 |
Overall: 4 |
Viewpoint hit the Neo Geo home/arcade console early in the systems life. At the time, it was highly regarded not only for the insane difficulty, but one of the single greatest soundtracks of all time. This
PlayStation update adds a little bit to the gameplay (including the killer: an uneven
frame rate) but ditches that soundtrack which ends up being the final straw.
Unlike the initial release, players now have the advantage of a shield surrounding their ship. You can take a few hits in this rendition instead of the unforgiving one-hit-kills in the original. Running into an actual enemy ship still means a death regardless of your shield strength. You have solo shots, powered up blasts, and 3 bombs available to you from the start for offense. 2 indestructible side ships will join in when the appropriate power-up is found. These are generally readily available whenever you die, so going without them is quite rare. All of the graphics have been pumped up, now with insane color and shading. Everything is rendered with a computer now instead of being hand drawn. All of the enemies look like they did before, now with more color and a brilliant sheen to the proceedings. Some CG cinemas have been added, though their inclusion is relatively worthless.
As with the graphical issues, the sound suffers the same fate. The sound effects are serviceable, but the abysmal techno/surf tunes soundtrack is an embarrassment to the classic tracks of the Geo cart. There is little reason or logic as to why the original music simply wasn't remixed for the CD format, but it's obvious the designers didn't do their homework. If you have never played the first release, you obviously won't care as much, but enjoying these tunes either way is a stretch. This is still a fair shooter. Die-hard fans of the genre will likely find something to like and this group is always up for a challenge. Rest assured they'll find it here. This one is actually harder than the first game thanks to the stuttering slowdown, but not even this is as annoying as the awful excuse for a soundtrack. Those who enjoyed this one on the Geo are better off staying on those grounds then venturing into this new territory. |