Undead Line

"Only the hardcore need apply."

I first read about Undead Line in the Graveyard section of the now gone (and sorely missed) GameFan magazine. I remember how ECM sang its praises and hailed it as one of the most hardcore VSOS's (Vertically Scrolling Overhead Shooter) ever. Looking at the screen shots I though ''Yeah, right. You've finally lost it, Eric.'' but, knowing that ECM was usually bang-on with his assessments of games, I gave it a whirl. After about 5 minutes of playing, I started wolfing down the humble pie.

Raiden. Aleste (renamed M.U.S.H.A., state side). Axelay. Amazing VSOS's. Very skilled games. Classics for sure. All must bow down to the might of Undead Line. Undead Line is one of those shooters that the new generation of gamers that grew up on PlayStation and N64 only hear stories about. Games of old that make your heart race so fast and hard that it feels like your chest is going to explode, making you so on edge that you reflexes are kicked into overdrive, and like Quai Chang in Kung-Fu, time starts slowing down around you as all that exists is you and the game... and then you get smoked by an enemy; and that's the way Undead Line is, because it's as hardcore as they come.

Like all shooters, Undead Line is a combination of pattern memorization and twitch factor gameplay, with more emphasis on the former. Which is a good thing. Anyone that's played the original R-Type will know what it's like to play a shooter based on memorization and not twitch factor. It's not a lot of fun. In Undead Line, as long as your reflex and crisis reaction speed is good, you can survive most any situation, making it a true skills based shooter.

On easy, the game is just a normal shooter, with not much to make it too difficult. On normal, it's a whole other ballgame, with more enemies and more shots filling the screen, and you can start to see why the game is known as a skills based hardcore shooter. On hard, the game is well nigh impossible and I guarantee that attempting such a venture will result in many a broken controller. And that's what makes Undead Line such a great game to play. It's so hardcore that few will ever see the ending to this game, making it quite the bragging right to any that can accomplish this daunting task.

Graphics and sound? Nothing special, but that's not what games like this are all about; they're about a feeling of intensity that makes you so jumpy the slightest action on screen results in an immediate lightning fast reaction.

Anyhow, I'll try and calm down now, as I'm sure this rant has gone on way too long. Seriously though you owe it to yourself as a hardcore gamer to play this game from start to finish on at least the normal setting. And if you're not that type of gamer? Well, read my one line intro.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/02, Updated 04/06/02