Review: Raiden Fighter Aces (Xbox 360)
Reviews, Shmups — By Timothy Torres on September 14, 2009 at 12:00 am
When it’s not suffering horrible hardware maladies, the Xbox 360 can be a special thing sometimes. It has some decent exclusives, a robust online matchmaking service and the Xbox Live Arcade where one can download arcadey games of the past and present – Metal Slug 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game and Ikaruga to name a few.
Downloading and playing Ikaruga over again on the Live Arcade reignited my passion for shmups, or shoot-’em-ups, twitch-based shooters that require the reflexes of The Flash to play. Or at least, a lot of patience. As a tiny ship fighting against hundreds of other tiny ships, uncanny hand-eye coordination is essential to navigate between enemy fire and other obstacles. With many of these games designated “bullet hell” games, Ikaruga included, they’re, well, tough as hell, but they still have this allure that pulls me back every so often.
Raiden Fighters Aces further fuels my post-Ikaruga shmup appetite, and it’s the best damn series of shooters I’ve played since Ikaruga too. Released as a retail unit rather than a downloadable on Xbox Live, Aces collects all three games in the Raiden Fighters series, never before released on American shores.
As a retail game, it comes with more options, including way more Achievement points and a host of emulation options like screen filters and HUD placement. Raiden Fighters Aces allows you to play the way you want to play, as a hardcore player who wants to boast his (or her) way through all the games on one life, or as someone who just wants to fight the large bosses Boss Rush mode. There’s even a replay feature that lets you record your best playthroughs for playback later, and online leaderboards to upload your best scores. There’s plenty for players to keep track of.
As better-than-arcade-perfect ports, the Raiden Fighters series delivers everything a shooter fan could possibly want. The gorgeous 2D graphics still impress to this day. These games are all about keeping track of enemy patterns, bullets and power-ups and Raiden Fighters bright, expressive color palette keeps things distinct. Eye candy like gigantic exploding tanks and huge laser beams don’t disappoint either.
Sound effects are nice and crunchy – - and loud. With hundreds of lasers and bullets and explosions all sounding off at the same time you can expect the neighbors knocking on your wall unless you wear headphones or dial the volume down. The soundtrack to Raiden Fighters Aces is nothing too memorable, which is fine. The music melts into the background as you concentrate more on dodging bullets than memorizing a game tune. If you do pay attention to it, it’s that usual techno-rock arcade sound, something like that techno Mortal Kombat song.
The gameplay itself holds up extraordinarily well. Boring shooters usually let the player sit back and mash the fire button over and over. In Raiden Fighters Aces, power-ups such as weapon upgrades, slave ships, bombs and extra points appear just outside of reach, forcing you to travel all over the screen to collect them. And they’re essential too, as upgrading your slave drones, laser and missile capabilities yields extremely satisfying results. There are several different kinds of aircraft in each game, and they each have their own unique “charge attack.” Hold down the fire button and let go to unleash a powerful blast that could easily turn the tide of battle. There’s just something about a tiny WWII fighter blasting Kamehameha waves at giant enemy aircraft carriers that quickens the pulse.
The games are a real rush, and really difficult, made slightly easier by the inclusion of a second player (though only offline). Things get way more hectic – - there’s double the amount of bullets onscreen – - but it’s a thrill to bark orders and insults at one another as you try to take down that last boss and steal each other’s upgrades.
The games are short but with the plethora of options, aircraft and weaponry spread across three beautiful games, Raiden Fighters Aces is a steal at $20. For shmup fans, or Xbox 360 owners in need of something without space marines shooting alien Nazi zombies, it doesn’t get much better than this. Support Raiden Fighters Aces and keep the endangered shmup genre alive!
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Tags: 2D, raiden fighters aces, shmup, Shmups, shooter, Shooters, vertical shmup, vertical shooter
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2 Comments
I remember playing Raiden in the arcade back in the 90s with my brothers during summer recess. Why aren’t space shooters being made at the rate as a FPS? I think space shooters are far more fun. I think I’ll pick this one up this week.