Psyvariar 2: The Will to Fabricate

"A success or not?"

It’s been while now since Psyvariar first graced the arcades and now we have Psyvariar 2: The will to Fabricate on our very own Dreamcast consoles.

Psyvariar for me has always been a game that was very underrated and was never in the spotlight and stayed quietly in the shadows of more well known shmups, However I feel that Psyvariar should get the recognition it deserves but will Psyvariar 2 bring the series to peoples attention?.

Controls

(Using standard official Dreamcast pad)

This is one of the most important factors with any shmup and I feel that the controls overall are good (not great by any means) but there is room for improvement.

The controls at times can feel rather stiff and then sometimes they feel rather loose and this does not help when it changes and your under heavy gun fire.

But for the benefit of the doubt I will say this maybe because the Dreamcast pad would be better of being replaced with an arcade stick.

6/10

Music and Audio

Nothing special here in the music department, not to say its bad its rather bland soft tecno/dance beats which I feel suits the game well.

Explosions and gunfire do sound good but there’s also nothing that stands out here too.

6/10

Graphics

This is where Psyvariar 2 really excels and to say the graphics are great is an understatement, this game is up there with Ikaruga when it comes to graphics.

The backgrounds are very nice indeed with a good variety but where Psyvariar 2’s graphics really get the Dreamcast into a sweat is the amazing enemy fire, it quite frankly looks like a fireworks display during heavy gun fire and it looks beautiful to say the least.

The explosions the bosses make are also a treat to the eye and look very similar to the boss explosions from Ikaruga.

9/10

Gameplay

This is where it starts going downhill…

We all know the original Psyvariar was a blast with 2 players but Success for some reason seen fit to completely remove the option to have 2 players which is a real shame and has hurt the game a lot.

Anyway lets move on to what we do have…

You are given the choice from 2 characters to select (one being male the other female) to control your robot, Who you select will change the way the game plays for you.

The girl has a much greater improved amount of fire power than her male counterpart, The game is a little easier when played with this character in the way that she disposes of enemies quicker.
Now the male character in all fairness does not seem as evenly matched as the girl and you will notice quickly that you are taking longer to rid the screen of robots and bosses.

The levels are ridiculously short and in the earlier levels you will only have had to dodge a few bullets and it’s all over and on to the next level. The next few levels (yes few, there are only 5) are over just as quickly and you should have no problem completing this game on default settings with 10-15mins max.
The bosses are fun and are the best thing about the game.

Another gripe I have with the game is the collision detector, on the whole it’s good, very good, but it does not seem consistent throughout the game and in some cases you can find your self looking like a shmup master dodging everything when your sure you should have been nuked and then on other occasions its seems to have a change of heart and punish you when you are sure you did not get shot and this is especially annoying after your first miracle of not getting shot after you first encounter its more forgiving side.

The buzz system is still present and is untouched which just like in the previous game rewards you for getting as closer to enemy fire as possible and for your effort you will be rewarded with a short stint of invisibility.

Your 3 forms of attack come under bombing your opponent (this takes around a second to come into effect) and of course your normal shot, and there’s also the spin shot which is simply done be spinning on the analogue stick in a circular motion, all this does it narrow out your shot so that you can concentrate on one enemy at a time better.

6/10

Replay value

As with all shmups you will find your self coming back time and time again to beat your highest score but I found my self becoming quickly tired of this game, maybe it has something to do with the fact the levels are so short and the game is rather boring when your not engaged in a boss fight…

And of course with the 2Player mode missing you wont be replaying this with your friends.

5/10

To buy or not to buy?

I think this is one of the shmups you could give a miss on the Dreamcast without losing out on anything.
There are better on the Dreamcast and unless you have all the others that are worth owning then I don’t see much point in buying this game unless you’re a Psyvariar fan or you have all the other shmups on the DC and need something fresh.

This is the perfect game to rent, just a shame you can’t.

Total score

6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/04