"Ikaruga Aftermath: Still the best?! Why..."

Yes, I finally review this game and it is after the fact I played Ikaruga, its spiritual sequel(this game was done by the same development team in Treasure).

Let's start things simple, graphics. RS's graphics are absolutely in your face. Swarms of enemies come at you at EVERY direction whilst you dodge multitudes of lasers and missiles as the background moves smoothly from tunnel/to night sky/ to road dramatically as you proceed from one level to another. Then the boss shows up, sometimes SO huge only part of it is available at a time and they move relentlessly to crush your ship. Of its time (1998 that means Einhander, Thunderforce V, Souyugurentai), it obliterates the competition of shooters in this aspect.

Then there's the gameplay. You have 6 standard weapons, all of which range from napalm side explosions, direct rapid fire vulcan, single shot vulcan with reverse vulcan spread, dual homing lasers, radial scanning lock on lasers, twin lock-on lightning streams.Then there's the Radiant Sword, the weapon which is a small sword that slashes in an arc around the ship to absorb some weapon fire and can be left unsheated to do the most damage of the weapons at a very very short range. The shots absorbed will then power its ultimate form, akind of shield/ super bomb power to wipe out your enemies.

Do you believe that you will use at LEAST 5 of the weapons switching form one to the other at any given time as enemy situation, obstacle obstruction, massive oncoming fire assaults you?! Its challenging like no other ('cept Ikaruga...).

Now sound, its more like a score as you progress through the game it tends to be in the dramatic side which lends itself well to onslaught on screen! Although explosions and shots are nothing special, the transforming sound of some bosses give you the impression they're reloading for more fun at your expense.

All of these aspects make Radiant Silvergun exceptional, and on the fly multi button switching weapons make you feel like your playing a fighting game WHILE dodging non-stop enemy fire trying to kill enermous bosses.

Now, at this time some shooter games have some of these traits as well ( Mars Matrix, Giga Wing 2, Zero Gunner 2, the above mentioned games, gaiares, etc.)

So what makes me love this game sooo much? At least 50% is boss battles in this game of totally berserk action while the story unfolds on the unsuspecting heroes bringing up themes of apocalypse/rebirth and the hope for redemption (a Treasure staple). Of course it helps that I know some japanese.=)

The first reasons are enough to own it, this last one is what makes it different IMO. Among hordes of shooters I've played, only this has a story worth replaying for.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/02, Updated 09/15/02