Darius Twin

"If this game were a bit more challenging, it would be great."

I dusted off this game and popped it in. It's a fun, fun game to play the first couple of times through, but then it gets a little boring once you've been through all the levels.

Gameplay
9/10
I love side-scrolling space-shooter games like this and Super R-Type. After you beat a level, you choose out of 2 or 3 levels one to go to next, and continue in this path until you reach the final level. It does not take long to beat this game, only about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, you can go back through the game to hit those levels you didn't get to before. The object of the game is to blast all those baddies until you reach the end of the level, where you encounter a huge battleship, or as we like to say, boss. I find the bosses to be loads of fun to battle. Throughout the levels you can find lots of different power-ups. Some give you a protective shield. Some make your blaster more powerful/have a wider range. Some allow you to drop missiles while you are using your blaster. Some allow you to shoot in any direction. Fun stuff.

Control
10/10
It's easy stuff. Just maneuver your ship using those 4 happy directions on the D-Pad and also hold down 2 of the buttons for rapid fire, pressing Start when you need to take a leak. Easy controls.

Difficulty
2/10
Suffice to say, this is where this game is lacking the most. It's just too easy. You get power-ups after every group of enemies. When you get to the point where you have a more powerful blaster and aerial fire coming out of all angles of your ship (which usually happens right around the end of the first level), you are essentially unbeatable as far as getting through the levels is concerned. If you can maneuver quickly, you'll have no problem with the bosses. Usually, with fire coming out of all directions of your ship, you can pick a corner of the screen and hold down the buttons and pummel the boss, but be in such a position where the boss cannot hit you at all.

Sound
5/10
Pretty basic sound system, nothing very elaborate, nothing to get excited about. It sounds pretty neat when the bosses blow up, though.

Re-playability
3/10
Once you've gone through all the levels possible to go through, which usually takes 3 or so treks through the game, you won't play this again for a while. Kind of a shame, because it is fun while it lasts, but it does get old pretty quickly.

Overall
6/10
I re-iterate. I think this game is a lot of fun. The only problems lie in that the replay factor is quite low and the game is just too easy. If it were harder and longer, it would get a higher score. I'd say that you go ahead and rent this game. You'll most likely beat it within the few days that you have to play it. If you like it, go for it. You can get this game for fairly cheap now.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/02/02, Updated 08/26/02