Mobile Light Force 2

"Let's fighting love!"

Something's rotten in the city of Japan. No, it's not the day-old sushi. It's something more sinister than that. It's an evil presence lurking deep within every person's soul, an imbalance that makes the best of people descend into bloodthirsty madness. When a person succumbs to their satanic urges, they murder their closest loved ones in a fit of passionate rage, sell their souls to the Devil, and apparently gain the ability to shoot laser beams out of their hands. Of course, a bunch of powers and an alliance to Satan don't excuse these murderers from their actions. Thus a bunch of equally powerfully heroes have been dispatched to take down Lucifer's latest servants.

At least, that's what the instruction manual implies. If you happen to come across Mobile Light Force 2 (mostly likely at the bottom of a bargain bin), you'll likely notice the three remarkably beautiful women blasting their way through a horde of flying robot assassins on the box cover, then ponder over the game's existence. Is it some kind of futuristic first person shooter? A post-apocalyptic struggle for mankind's existence, perhaps? Judging by the women's considerable bosoms and flowing hair, you may assume it's some kind of sexually-charged Charlie's Angels ripoff. Thankfully, you'd be wrong' Mobile Light Force 2 is actually a poorly localized Shikigami no shiro, a vertical arcade shooter from Japan. Accordingly, the three Charlie's Angels rejects aren't even in the game. Instead, their demon-busting duties have been left to a small band of characters with absolutely no personality whatsoever.

But even if they don't look like the wannabe porn stars on the cover, the characters of Mobile Light Force 2 have more than enough power to knock Satan's minions down a few pegs. They don't need to use the laser cannons or semiautomatics from the cover, either; they're imbued with magical powers and offensive magic. As Kuga zooms through Tokyo's skyline, he can fire off row after row of energy pillars upon the Devil's incoming legions. If you prefer taking your foes out in style, then Hyuga's double helix-shaped energy beams can lay waste to a line of enemies in seconds. Or it you prefer something with a little more widespread destruction, Sayo's glowing tarot cards can be devastating. The attacks can be further developed by the coins that each slain enemy drops; the more cash you snag, the faster your character will level up. Since each of the six characters come with his or her own playing style, you'll be sure to find one to your liking.

But if people floating in midair and slinging energy beams sounds a little too boring, you'll find that each character also comes packing both special and super attacks. If you hold down the firing button long enough, Kuga will unleash a ghostly warrior/homing missile, Fumiko will uses her witchery to summon a manually-directed laser strike, and Hyuga will use his long-range tazer to zap his foes into submission. That's aside from the spinning blades, rotating staves, and fiery explosives that the other warriors possess. But if you want to dish out some real punishment, you can use one of your precious few bombs to annihilate everything in your way. You'll get to roast evil with energy waves that cover every inch of the screen, summon explosions that send shrapnel in every direction, smite evil with a homing wolf (yes, of the Big Bad variety) and plenty of other broken attacks. While such things cheapen the combat a bit, they're certainly fun to watch.

Unfortunately, the experience is bittersweet. While the concept of a bunch of random characters flying around and smiting evil may sound cool, the game sorely lacks a story; despite the brief character profiles and villain descriptions in the instruction manual, you'll never get to know any of the characters or the story beyond the “good guys must kill murderers” plot. The lack of in-game text becomes painfully obvious when one of the characters tries to speak; their static voice acting is garbled beyond comprehension. The fact the crusade lasts only a handful of miniscule levels doesn't help much, either. The game tries to make it up to you by including a bonus score multiplier for narrowly dodging unfriendly fire and counterattacking, but the questionable hit detection can make things aggravating. While the game features some fairly tough (aka incredibly cheap, even for shooting game standards) boss battles, you'll find the adventure to be dissatisfying at best.

It's not like you'll take Mobile Light Force 2 seriously anyway. You'd expect Satan's minions to be a bunch of scaly, winged monsters with razor-sharp fangs and glowing red eyes. Instead, a bunch of giant teddy bears and ballerinas will float toward you, spewing out intermittent bursts of laser fire. Later foes will include quadrupedal tanks (think Metal Gear Solid 3's Shagohod, hold the awesome), bionic helicopters, and a bunch of super-powered humans that want to kill you for an unspecified reason. Needless to say, the game looks pretty weird. Sure, the neon billboards, lighted skyscrapers, and the rest of the backgrounds look pretty cool, but the character designs are horrid. The characters are so small that you can just barely make out Hyuga holding his hat as he moves around, or how Sayo's dress flows in the breeze. All of the enemies, from the flying teddy bears to the giant baby-faced moths, look like a bunch of poorly rendered clay models. Considering what the PS2 is capable of, the presentation comes off lackluster at best.

Oh dear. During its trip from overseas, most of Shikigami no shiro got lost in translation. While the front cover looks appealing, the obvious lack of a story and choppy dialogue will leave you confused as to what you're supposed to be playing. The unusual visuals and enemies are certainly a far cry from those of other shooting games. The combat is solid enough, allowing you to use six heroes with highly varied playing styles and attacks. However, the brevity and simplicity of the game hinder it from greatness; once you've been smacked around by the bosses enough times, you'll likely find there isn't any compelling reason to continue playing and give up. In the end, that's really what Mobile Light Force 2 is: a disappointment.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/25/07