Gundeadligne

This time, I'm going for another slightly older doujin title, "Gundeadligne." If you're familiar with Progear no Arashi for the arcade, you should feel right at home with this game. Gundeadligne is basically a horizontal scrolling 2D shooter. The kind where bullets swarm in on you from all directions. Being more used (though not that good at all) to vertical shooters, it took me a while to adjust to the gameplay.

The game features high quality character artwork, smooth-scrolling graphics and snes-style sprites coupled with 3D effects. What is most noticeable about this game is the amount of depth (or potential depth) it has for hardcore gamers. I have yet to even figure out half of what the bars and numbers on the gameplay screen stand for. Fortunately, it's easy to pick up and play for casual gamers as well. The game features an auto-bomb system which automatically detonates any bombs you might have whenever you're in a pinch. The collision detection is very forgiving and you can actually do some very risky dodges without getting hit, unlike the hair trigger collision of most other 2D shooters.

The levels seem to rely more on memory rather than fancy dodging, especially the bosses whose bullets can trap you into a corner if you don't know what to expect. The action is extremely fast-paced even though enemy bullets travel relatively slowly. Thankfully, colliding with enemy sprites doesn't seem to do any damage to your character. Controls seem to be the standard Z,X,C. Holding down Z makes your character focus-fire for more damage (probably at the expense of your score). There are intitially three characters to choose from. The first two control normally while the third one, Nagi has one of the wierdest control schemes I've ever seen. Her line of fire rotates in reverse correlation to where you move her (ehehe! It's kinda hard to explain. It's best if you try it yourself.) I suppose this character is able to hit enemies who move in behind her more easily, though I'm not sure how to control her line of fire. Two players can play the game simultaneously.

In the game's instruction manual, there are explanations of the deeper gameplay aspects like reload time, flip turn, and slow mode (unfortunately, I have no idea what they're talking about and I'm to lazy to try translating it.)

Each character also seems to have a story (written in ZOMG mostly kanji).

Lastly, the bgm tracks are fantastic. They sound like modern remixes of old-school nes shooter themes.

homepage: http://www.murasame.com/