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As far as retail releases of shoot 'em ups go, it's been slim pickin's this generation, at least in the West. This summer though, the Xbox 360 got the fantastic compilation of Raiden Fighters. Following up on Raiden Fighters Aces' success is Raiden IV, which has been in Japanese arcades for over two years and on Japanese 360s for nearly a year. Hit the link to find out if the fourth installment of the classic shooter series lives up to the Raiden name.
Raiden I and II were practically the same game, except the sequel had much better graphics and some tweaked enemies. The stages and patterns remained nearly identical, though. So when Raiden III was released, I was left scratching my head, wondering why the game didn't start off in a rural landscape and then proceed to a modern sea-side city. Admittedly, I didn't give Raiden III much of a chance, but I wasn't impressed. I was particularly disappointed by its deviation to the classic Raiden formula.
Raiden IV also throws said formula to the wind but is far more successful than its predecessor. Some levels are reminiscent of the Raiden of olde, but upon close inspection are quite different. The game does start off in a rural area and the second level is a city, but after that, the game takes on its own direction in terms of stage design.
The three power-ups - red, blue, and pink - from Raiden II are still present, but the player can now choose between two versions of the purple power-up before starting a game. One is the classic plasma shot that locks onto enemies in one stream. The other is similar, but has several streams, each of which only lock onto one enemy. Personally, I roll with the original, which seems like an all-around better shot.
As for secondary weapons, a new missile has been added alongside the Nuclear and Homing shots. The Radar shot is a mix between the Nuclear and Homing types - it's only partially guided towards an enemy, but it does far more damage than the Homing missile. This is definitely a more useful addition than the new plasma shot.
The gameplay of Raiden IV is solid to say the least. It's slower than most current shmups, but bullet patterns can get dizzyingly complex. The game definitely isn't an easy one, but it isn't frustrating either. It plays similar to the other Raidens, so fans of the series can expect to feel at home, except for the ramped up difficulty.
I honestly can't complain about the gameplay, itself. But I can complain about the game's scoring system. Sure, you get points for shooting down enemies and collecting medals, but the real points come in at the end of each level, after the boss is defeated. All collected medals and left over ships and bombs contribute to the bonus points. The problem is, if you lose a life, you lose all your medals. That means you have to beat the entire level without dying a single time in order to rack up a decent score. If you die in even just a minute or two into a stage, you might as well restart your run. This is the single most frustrating thing, and the biggest flaw, of Raiden IV.
Raiden IV features several different modes of play. The Arcade Mode is a supposedly arcade-perfect port of the original Taito X board. The 360 Mode is similar to Arcade Mode, but features slightly different enemies at times, as well as two extra levels, bringing the total from five to eight. The silly but challenging Dual Mode has the player controlling two ships simultaneously with both analog stick and shooting with the triggers and bumpers. Boss Rush mode and Time Attack mode are self-explanatory, and Wold Ranking Mode gives you one credit to rack up as many points as possible and get as high on the world-wide leaderboards as possible. The only problem with this is that the Japanese have been playing this game for quite a while now. How are we Westerners supposed to compete with that? Some Americans have broken into the top 100, but most people are having trouble. Personally, I currently can't break out of the 500s. Raiden IV should have followed most games and had separate region and world-wide leaderboards.
Now for the controversy. I've heard of several people boycotting Raiden IV due to the fact that extra ships have to be paid for and downloaded over XBLA, rather than unlocked in the game. You know me; I can't stand DLC, but come on - boycotting the game because of it? I know it's the principle of the thing, but the two extra ships (only one of which is worth buying) cost a mere dollar. Plus, the publisher was good enough to A. include the soundtrack for free, and B. only charge $40 for the game. Not only that, but boycotting the game is not a good idea if we want more shmups localized. We get few of them as it stands, so not buying one - and a quality one at that - is simply moronic.
And another thing. A lot of reviewers have been criticizing Raiden IV because the player has to beat the game twice in a row to actually finish it. Hello, welcome to shoot 'em ups. This has been a staple of the genre since the '80s. Oh and did these reviewers mention that the second loop of the game plays at double the speed, making it far less repetitive than they would have you believe, and that the levels feature new lighting and particle effects? I didn't think so. Reviewers have also complained that there are only seven levels in the game. Again, welcome to the world of shooters. Shooters, especially today, very rarely feature more than eight or so levels. Raiden IV's seven levels is a perfectly adequate amount of stages.
The bottom line is this - Raiden IV is a great game. Any shmup fan needs to pick this up. And at $40 it's not going to put much of a dent in your wallet. While Raiden IV does depart from the classical Raiden formula, it is indeed worthy of the Raiden moniker.
YAY! - It's a localized shooter in 2009, difficult but not frustrating, tons of modes, only $40
NAY! -Some slow down in level 5, world-wide-only leaderboards, scoring system sucks
For those of you who really hate reading, or only learned to read numbers: - 9/10
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