"Another exelent shmup for the Dreamcast!"

Well, after a brief stint in the arcades, then spending time on the Gamecube and PS2, Shikigami no Shiro 2 finally comes out on the Dreamcast.

Gameplay 10/10

Shikigami no Shiro 2 is a shooting game (shmup). When you first start playing, you may think that not much here is different from other shmup’s, but there are some things worth mentioning. For one thing, this game features the T.B.S. system. What this means is that depending on your range from your target, the damage done by your shots will change. If you are far away, your shots will do little damage. On the other hand, if you are at point blank range from your enemy, your fire will do more damage. You can do up to eight times as much damage a shot this way. Another way to do more damage is to be near enemy fire, as the T.B.S. system also come into play here, so you are encouraged to laugh in the face of death and actually go towards the enemy fire.

In addition to the T.B.S. system, some basic mechanics of the shmup genre have been altered. For one thing, you have a life bar, as opposed to dying as soon as you are hit, as in most other games of this type. You can be hit twice and still live; get hit a third time, and your character dies. Also, your “bomb” is not what you may think. As opposed to the usual “blow everything on screen up” type bomb, you have a character specific move that, while powerful, must be used more thoughtfully. To elaborate, in Suzuki’s case, he turns invincible for a bit, and can damage everything he comes into contact with for a few seconds. Thus, while you can still kill everything like you could with a “normal” shmup bomb, you will need to think a bit more (and have good reflexes) to get your desired results.

So this is all well and good, but is there anything bad?
Well, this game is a shmup, so by definition, it is very short (5 stages, each divided into two parts by mid-level bosses).
While I didn’t take off points for the games initial length, I will still point it out.
However, the game does have lastability, so read on!

Controls 10/10

As complicated as a shmup gets. Which is to say, simple.
The D-pad controls your character, while the X (rapid fire), A (regular shot), and B (super move) buttons perform your attacks. If you hold the A button down, you will get a slower, but more powerful attack than your regular shot.

Story 10/10

Yes, I know what your probably thinking: “Most shooters don’t have story lines worth mentioning, so why point it out at all?”. Well, your right, most shooters don’t have story lines (you probably know where I’m going with this). But this game isn’t most shooters, and it does have a story line. It’s all in Japanese though, so if you don’t know Japanese, I guess the story won’t do much for you.
However, this game has one of, if not the best story of any shmup ever made.
These characters have feelings. They have emotions. They have a soul.
They have reasons for fighting. Reasons for existing.
I have never before in my life actually cared about a character in a shmup.
When you beat the big bad boss at the end of a level in a normal shump, do you care?
And by that I mean, do you care that the person you’re playing as (usually in a spaceship) is one step closer to their goal?
Not your goal of beating the game, but the characters goal?
It’s like someone put a quality RPG in my shmup.
And for that, I am thankful, although I will still not officially grade the story due to the fact that I am unable to understand all of it. From what I do know of it though, and as far as shmup stories are concerned, the story gets a 10/10.

It’s not a story that will be retold through out the ages, but for a shooter, its far more than was ever needed.

Graphics 9/10

As Shikigami no Shiro 2 was originally developed on the Naomi arcade hardware, the game looks great.
Textures are nice looking, explosions look real enough for our purposes, and the enemies look great.
The only real problem is that in some areas, certain objects look “boxy”. That is, they have angles all over the sides, and look more like a bolthead than a circle. But these are few and far between.
As for slowdown, there is some when a boss is destroyed, but I’m guessing that this is more for effect than real slowdown.

Sound 8/10

Ah the soundtrack. Shikigami 2 has a very nice soundtrack, with all of the sounds having that feeling of “fitting” the level they are played in. A city has a fast paced techno track, while a level high in the clouds has the appropriate medium paced orchestral “air” feeling to it. So why the 8/10?
Well, you see there are two separate soundtracks for Shikigami no Shiro 2.

Before you select a mode to play, you can select which soundtrack to play.
“Original” is the default, and is the very good one that I described above.
“S2Mix” on the other hand, is a mess.

While not “bad” by any means of the imagination (it sounds like a selection you would hear in a standard shmup), it is still not “good”. These songs don’t “fit” the levels. And with the incredible “Original” track on the disk, the “S2Mix” really seems like a waste of disk space.

Replayability 10/10

Let’s see, this game can be beaten very quickly; what is their to prolong the life of your (most likely) expensive import?
Gallery mode!
Yes you heard right, Gallery mode. By playing the game, you can unlock pictures to view in your spare time.
What, that’s not worthy of a 10/10? I’m not done yet, hold on.

The main thing that lends to the games replayability is that you have seven characters to select from.
Each of these characters plays differently from another, with no two characters sharing an attack.
And with each character having three different attacks (regular shot, held-down shot, and super), and two styles to play as with as character (one style with everything balanced, another leaning more towards the special and trick shots) you can learn the play styles of different characters.

Think of the replay value in this game as that of a fighting game; when you get really good as one character and beat the game as them, learn a new one to play as.
Also, you can try to obtain a highscore and play co-op, as per any normal shmup these days.

Final Recommendation

Shikigami no Shiro 2 is, without a doubt, a great game. Dreamcast has some of the best shmups available on any console, and this game is able to hold its own. It looks good, and plays great. And really, when you take away all the fancy graphics and modes of play, isn’t that all the really matters?

The wonderful thing is that, while that is all that truly matters in a game, it has enough other things to make the game worth buying, not to mention playing of course.

Final Score: 10/10
(the final score is not an average)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/01/04