"Yes."

It took me a very long time to warm to this genre, and looking back to when I got my hands on a gem of a 2D vertical shooter called ''Radiant Silvergun'', I am now pretty much positive that all of the credit belongs to this title. Getting this game, despite it costing 65 pounds (around $90 US) from a JPN to UK importer around 2 years after its Japanese release on the Saturn in 1998, I would still say its among the 5 best games I have ever played.

Radiant Silvergun was originally released as a Coinop for the ST-V (which sadly I have never played, or even seen for that matter) and being a Japan only release, its difficult for me to get a firm grasp of the plot of the game. From alternative sources, and from watching the rather impressive opening anime movie, it would seem that the story (set in 2520 AD) has focus around an alien diamond-shaped lifeform, which managed to wipe out the planet Radiant Silvergun is set on. Meanwhile, the cast of the game are in orbit around the planet, and are uneffected by the blast. There are tidbits of English here and there in the game, such as when you are faced with a boss in the game, you are given 3 short pieces of advice in the lower corner of the screen, in poorly translated English. However being a Shmup, the plot, no matter how good or bad it may be to the fluent in Japanese, is not the main attraction of the game :)

That attraction would be the rush you get from actually playing.

Radiant Silvergun abandons system of collecting power-ups experienced in many Shmups, and uses 6 weapons of which you have access to from the very start of the game.
Each weapon is assigned to one of the 6 respective buttons on the Saturn pad (X,Y,Z,A,B,C), with the special ''Radiant Sword'' assigned to the right-hand shoulder button.
To take the weapons of RS into more detail, firstly what I always consider the ''main'' weapon is the Vulcan. Shooting 2 beams vertically, pretty basic stuff. Next is the ''Homing Laser'', firing 2 green beams on an angle away from your ship, one to the left and one to the right, it homes in on any targets on screen, but is quite alot weaker than the Vulcan. Next is the ''Spread'', which is a little less linear than the first 2 attacks. Holding down and firing the ''Spreads'' will simply Two Missiles in the same 45 degree angles as the homing laser hitting targets in the line of sight, or flying off screen, however, firing a spread and releasing it will cause it to detonate on release, this is quite useful as the blast radius ''hangs'' for a few seconds, and you can detonate a spread a split second before a target reaches it. Also spread is used to create a ''shield'' by tapping it and creating multiple explosions close to your ship.
Next is what I tend to see as the least useful of the weapons available in RS, the Homing Plasma. Two Vertical beams extend from your ship to the end of the screen, then begin to move in opposite directions away from each other, locking onto and inflicting damage over time onto whatever they will lock onto.
Then there is the ''Tailgun'' or ''Reverse Vulcan'' as it is sometimes referred to, its rather self-explanatory, firing ''Vulcan'' fire from the rear of the ship. Lastly for the 6 Standard weapons is the ''Lock-on spread'', which when held down, will scan for targets in a large radius from your ship, and inflict small amounts of damage on them.
Lastly is the ''Radiant Sword''.. pressing the right-shoulder button, (or mashing A+B+C), will cause a small sword to do a 360 degree clockwise swipe around your ship. However, in RS there are on occasions small pink shots fired at you from the enemy, if you manage to hit and absorb 10 of these pink bullets with your sword, you will power up the Hyper Sword, which can do massive damage covering practically the entire screen.

Weapons are ''powered up'' as you use them, increasing their strength, and are thankfully not removed when you die. In the ''Saturn Mode'' of the game, when you die, you can save your weapons at the level they were at when you died, and start the game with that as an advantage.

Using the above arsenal of weapons, you blast your way (or sometimes just try to avoid the intense amount of projectiles on screen) through what I personally think are very long and enjoyable levels (for shmups anyway).
The levels are very well designed, and of course get progressively harder, as do the bosses.
All of the bosses in this game are very very impressive (Especially the last boss.. although I would not want to spoil it for anyone with further details). Made up of multiple parts, Allowing you to simply concentrate on the main body of a boss, or take out the other areas to cut down its firepower before going for the kill.
My personal favorite is a Large Mech-like Eagle you encounter towards the end stages of the game, spreading its wings and sending an unreal amount of shots down at you.
There IS some minor slowdown on bosses now and again, but only really when you use the Lock on Spread constantly, and it doesn't affect the game all that much in my eyes.

I feel its worth mentioning that the difficulty setting ranges from ''Very Easy'' (anything but..), Through to ''Very Hard'' (There are no words really), and let there be no doubts this game will challenge your gaming skill to its very limits, but the sign of a great game is not difficulty alone.. what makes RS so fantastic, is that no matter how many times you do die.. you will still want to play it more. This game has an awful lot to give if you are looking for a challenge.

Also the soundtrack deserves a mention here.. the music in this game is nothing short of incredible, done by Masaharu Iwata (Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story).
The music is a good mix of frantic music to match the pace of the game, to the incredible tranquil music in the later stages of the game.

It seems an injustice for me to give this game anything but a 10, you can see how much went into creating this game.. the depth is incredible, only matched by fiendishly addictive gameplay.

It took me about an hour to learn how to play this game.. its been 3 years, and I don't feel I have come close to mastering it. I probably never will. :)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/03