Raiden Project

                         -=) Written By Hydra/TSN (=-
 
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        Okey doke, I'd just like to introduce myself first as this is
        the first console review I've done and some of you reading this
        may not have heard of me.

        I've been playing around with computer for years now, since I
        was 10 actually, first on a BBC Micro!, Since then I've had the
        following computers and consoles in the following order..

        Commodore C64!
        Amiga A500
        PC-Engine!
        Spectrum 48k
        ZX81
        286-PC
        386-DX40 PC
        Amiga A1200 (030/50Mhz)
        486-DX75 PC
        Panasonic UK 3DO
        Panasonic US 3DO (after selling the US one)
        Amiga A3000
        Sony Playstation

        So as you can see I've had most of the popular ones apart from
        the Snes And Megadrive (but have played on em lots :-)


 

        Raiden 1+2 (Raiden Project)
        ===========================

        Format:      Playstation
        Size:        1 CD
        Players:     1 or 2
        Type:        Shoot Em Up.
        GFX Rating:  9/10 for raiden 2 and 8/10 for raiden 1
        Playabitity: 8/10
        Value:       8/10
        Price:       55 quid (from Playstation Games UK Ltd)
        Availabity:  Average

 
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        Review
        ======

        This actually contains BOTH of the arcade games on one CD so
        you get pretty good value for money with this release.

        The game is a vertically scrolling shootem up with the usual
        array of power-up's, ground based targets (both moving and
        static) and ariel targets and with some of the coolest end of
        level bosses I've seen for a while..

        When ya first pop the CD in the PS-X it takes about 4-5 seconds
        to load the game up you then get presented with a rather nice
        (even if a little jerky in places) 3D intro sequence, which is
        real time calculated and not raytraced/fmv..  from this main
        menu you can select to play either raiden 1 or 2 and you can
        change a few options (saveable to memory card)

        Now, in the arcade this game has the monitor rotated 90 degrees
        so that it's taller than it is wide, so the game in normal mode
        plays in a squashed rotated letterbox format (blank areas at the
        sides rather than the top or the bottom).  With the options you
        can change the display mode to that it's not squashed or you
        can rotate it 90 degrees and turn your TV 90 degress as well,
        then it's just like the arcade!  Kewl!  I've tried this on my
        14" TV but i thought i better not upset my 25" tv as it might
        not like it :-)  I normally play it in the squased mode as it
        seems more normal to me..
        You can also change the music (from the exact arcade music
        which is not very good really) to and from a remixed version
        which sounds much nicer, and you can change the controller
        config too..

        The origonal raiden (Raiden 1) is not amazing to look at
        graphics wise but as it's one of my fave games in the arcade
        I can truly say that it's arcade perfect in every respect.

        The game starts off pretty easy but gets BLOODY hard on the
        later levels, you can continue as many times as you like,
        but I've been limiting myself to 9 creds per go so i don't
        finish it straight away! :-)  Every time you die you loose
        all your powerups and get put back a bit, so you have to
        keep re-trying the fucking solid bits until ya get it right.

        There's only 2 powerups in raiden 1, one is the normal spread
        like firepower which goes forward and out to the sides, but is
        weaker than the forward only firing blue lasers (which are best
        for the bosses)

        Raiden 1 is really playable and a great shoot em up and I love
        it.. (but I'm a REAL BIG fan of shoot em ups and you don't
        get many shoot em up's this good on any system these days
        so it's a nice change to see such a cool one as this)

        THEN you get RAIDEN 2, now this is something else, the GFX
        are AWESOME on this.  in most shoot em ups you shoot planes
        and stuff and they just blow up with a nice explosion and
        disapear without a trace.  But not so with raiden 2!  When
        you shoot a flying craft it blows up, turns to a reckage
        and plummets to the ground and explodes on impact causing
        lots of depris to fly round the screen, which in turn land
        and cause nice ripple effects in the grass on on the water!

        It's COOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!  The background gfx are also pretty cool
        espically the nice little desert island volcanoes.  The sprites
        are amazingly detailed and have lots of animation frames.

        If you thought Project X or stardust was a cool looking game on
        the Amiga then you ain't seen nothing! This is AWESOME!
        I'd buy it just cos it looks cool!

        The game features 3 weapon types and 2 smartbomb types, the
        first two weapons are the same as raiden 1 but the third weapon
        is cool!  it's a bit like a plasma stream type effect which
        homes in on the target and locks on until you move or it blows
        up.  This is the best weapon to kill the level bosses with as
        it lets you stay right out of the way of most of the enemy
        firepower allowing you to concentrate on dodgeing the bullets
        rather than trying to hit the boss itself!

        The first smartbomb is the same as raiden one (causes a huge
        round exposion infront of you) the second is much cooler to
        watch (lots of small rockets fire around your craft and expode
        on the ground) but i don't think it kills bosses quite as well
        as the round one...

        I've not played this in two player mode yet (Don't get my extra
        joypad until next week :-(  But if the arcade was anything to
        go by it should be just as much fun!

        To sum up Raiden Project is use 2 words - Fucking KEWL!
        go any buy this right away!  Whack up yer Hifi to full volume
        play it on a BIG Tv in surround sound dim the lights and
        experiance one of the coolest shoot-em-up's I've seen for ages!



 
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        Tips
        ====

        When playing the game press all four shift buttons (the ones
        on on the back of the pad) and hold them down, this causes
        a menu to appear and pauses the game, from this menu you
        can choose to go to the other game, the main menu, change
        the screen size and position, change all your bombs from
        one type to the other and look at the stats.

        When playing raiden 2 always go for the pink weapon before you get
        to the bosses, use the blue one at most other times.

		Comments? eMail me at dominic.clifton@p1.sps.co.uk