Raiden

"Overhead shooting goodness."

Raiden is one of the only two shooting games that you have on the Jaguar that has anything going for it. Placing you in the middle of an alien invasion, you must travel through several stages of finger numbing action in order to halt the advance of the evil forces. A high range of difficulty set into endless waves of enemies with upgradeable weapons and constant overhead action makes for a game well worth taking a look at. If you’re a Jaguar owner and you need to get the shooter fix, then this is as close as you can get to a decent shooting game besides Trevor McFur.

-The Game Play-

As with most overhead shooters, the point of the game is to take out as many of the enemies as you possibly can without getting yourself killed in the process. The enemies themselves actually get tougher from the middle of the first stage on and some of the boss fighters are downright unforgiving. Just like the other overhead shooters, if you learn the patterns of the incoming projectiles and the enemies as they come into the screen, you’ll have the jump on whatever is coming your way. However, if you race full tilt into the mass of incoming fighters and other various enemies, then you’ll find yourself cornered without any chance of survival.

The armament that your fighter has is limited only to what you pick up during the intense battles. For each power-up capsules, you’ll be able to gain more powerful machine guns, lasers, homing missiles and an assortment of other weapons that are improved on each pick up. But, like most shooting games, if you go from one particular weapon to the next, you’ll find that the weapon is changed to the lowest setting. That will change your game plan up to the point of getting you at a disadvantage. You’ll just have to work with it and change your strategy accordingly.

Control isn’t a problem if you’re a veteran to the shooting game genre, and more of what you’ll find here is the same as everywhere else. You go through, avoid the incoming shots and keep yourself alive at all times. Picking up the weapon capsules will help you to stay alive and if you get backed into a corner, you can always hit the bomb and keep yourself at a safe distance. Scoring is pretty simple in which you pick up medals and other various objects to be tallied up at the end of each stage.

-The Visuals-

As with most overhead shooters, the only thing that you can look forward to with this title is the expansive environment that you have to fly over. For the most part, you have several good looking and well-detailed environments that will be at your disposal, but the best part of the game comes with the way that the enemies are designed. Huge bosses meet you at the end of every stage and there are plenty of places where the screen is filled with incoming shots and enemies that constantly fly at you from all directions. The amount of speed and detail comes with a price however, and you’ll find that the game tends to slow down when the action gets hot and heavy.

-The Audio-

A killer soundtrack accompanies you through the game that changes from fast to faster depending on where you’re at in the game. Even though there isn’t much variation on the main theme, there is enough pace setting tone to it to keep your interest high. Sound effects in the game are also pretty evenly matched with the way that each of the weapons sound and the explosions that rock through the speakers. If you’re looking for theme and attention getting sound, then you’ll find it all here in Raiden, which is a switch from most shooter games these days.

-The Verdict-

Raiden has plenty of redeeming qualities if you’re looking for a good shooter for the Jaguar system. Although the game isn’t as flashy as the Thunder Force series and there is plenty of unfair difficulty at the later stages, Raiden is probably the best old school shooter that I’ve played in quite sometime. With several levels of intense action, an excellent soundtrack and plenty of enemies to fire off and blow up throughout the stages, the only thing that this game really lacks is a sequel. Jaguar owners would do well to have this game in their collection, just to have something to do to pass the time when they’re tired of all the more modern flash and flare.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/01/02, Updated 10/01/02