"A bit overrated and ridiculously expensive"

Nowadays, (Dec 2003) you will pick this up in an auction for anything from GBP110 upwards, in the UK.

I don't recall ever reading a review of this game where someone slagged it off, and I get the impression that a lot of folks who wrote reviews for Radiant Silvergun before now, may not have had to spend the money I did to get hold of this. I paid 100GBP 3 years ago! Either that, or they have all got jobs paying 10 times my salary. I had to sell 10 other Japanese Sega Saturn games to buy this.

A downside of RS, and I know I will upset some hardcore fans out there is that if I were to recommend, in my view, the best vertically scrolling shoot em up for the Sega Saturn, I would have to go with Layer Section 2, everytime. Mainly because of what you are getting for your money.

Sure, the graphics are neat, the backgrounds are particularly spectacular, the sound effects suit the game well, and the music score is pretty phenomenal, but Layer Section 2 offers most of the above, for a fraction of the price.

Some upsides - The game itself is one of the few vertically scrolling shoot 'em ups for the Saturn which actually gives proper full screen, horizontally and vertically, unlike Gunbird, Sonic Wings etc. The scrolling is perfectly smooth, backdrops, baddies and all, with only a tiny bit of slowdown when things get hectic, the ships weapons are different in that you get seven basic weapons instead of one, and each improves as you progress further through the game. A nice touch. There are still things to collect though. Your ship has the ability to collect energy from enemies you have just destroyed. When you have collected enough (shown on a gauge) you can let the whole lot rip in one go to wipe out bosses etc. The difficulty setting on the game is hard, which I think is a good thing. It means you won't complete it in a day.

However, this game is given multiple 'ten out of tens' by everyone, for all it's aspects based purely on what the Sega Saturn was believed capable of when it was in production. RS exceeds some peoples expectations. I have no doubt whatsover that if the Saturn had been a bit easier to program, and this had been one of the first games out on it, (instead of the rubbish we got here in Europe), the Saturn may have lasted a lot longer.

I won't bother telling you anything else about the game, as you have heard it all before, hundreds of times - but I warn you, whether you are a scrolling shoot 'em up fan or not, you may seriously feel the pinch after buying this game. Alternatively, you could buy both Layer Section 2 and Soukyugrentai for less than half the price.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/03