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G-Rev, a
company formed from ex-Taito
employees responsible for among
others the Darius and Layer Section
games, and producers of previous
Dreamcast and arcade shooter Border
Down, bring us a brand new top down
helicopter shootemup.
If
you’ve been playing modern
shooters, you might have noticed that
they have a certain style in common.
Dense and beautiful bullet patterns,
bullet scrape techniques, and tricky
scoring rules are the flavor of the
day. However, Under Defeat
is a comparatively straightforward
shoot ‘em up. This isn’t to
say that it’s a simplistic
throwback, but rather that it focuses
on survival more than it does on
score. Overall, the game is probably
going to be compared the most with Toaplan’s
helicopter shoot ‘em ups like Twin
Cobra
-
but leaving it at that wouldn’t
do it justice. |
A
few distinctions make Under
Defeat more than just a 3D
homage to late 80s arcade games.
First, you can turn your chopper to
aim. This is not 360-degree aiming
like in Zero Gunner 2,
but it lets you tilt quite a ways
nonetheless. There is no turn
button-- instead, your chopper
swivels if you move left or right
without firing. Second, the game
makes excellent use of 3d in the
level design. In order to hit targets
on the ground, your shots must
actually travel downwards. This means
that a tank hiding behind a building
or under a bridge may be hard to hit
unless you bring your chopper around
to a different angle and position.
Likewise, ground enemies’ shots
must first travel upwards to the
player’s plane before they can
cause damage. Finally, the
player’s helicopter can only hit
ground targets with the center gun--
it has two smaller machine guns on
either side which always fire at sky
targets. This makes it possible to
hit ground and air targets
simultaneously, and some levels had
me having RayForce flashbacks. |
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The particle effects and explosions in this
game are second to
none, even more impressive than
Ikaruga
or Raiden 3
You
also have a choice of three different
options (vulcan,
cannon and rocket)
and can switch by picking up a
powerup. Each option has different
behaviors, reload times, and cause
varying amounts of damage. The angle
that you deploy these at counts as
well, and sometimes a misfired option
leaves the player cornered since in
order to deploy these, you must stop
firing. The fire-and-forget
strategies required to really blaze
through the levels reminded me of
some of Psikyo’s
games. Finally, enemies may also be
hit with the options themselves,
which does come in handy at times.
Each level features an array of tanks
and choppers with a variety of shot
patterns, and they’re further
distinguished from each other by the
setting. For example, stage 2 has the
player taking on battleships
loaded with insane amounts of
weaponry, and stage 4 is an assault
on a walled fortress.
Each has one or more midbosses which
all require different strategies to
beat, and each stage introduces new
enemies and attacks. Some levels also
have friendly units which help you if
you can protect them, and some have
environmental hazards like
snowstorms. And while the game only
has five levels, they are all fairly
long-- not to mention the second
loop. I don’t want to spoil it
too much, but the second loop
features horizontally flipped levels
with different seasons, different
intermission graphics, as well as
some new shot patterns. What the game
does not have are far-out level
themes like Zero Gunner 2’s
orbital elevator or aerial city - the
backdrops in Under Defeat stick
with a pseudo-realistic war theme.
That’s not to say they
don’t have their share of
surprises. |
 
The game uses a slight 'forced perpective'
view which is useful
for guaging attacks on aerial and land based
enemies..
So,
this could be the last Dreamcast
game, coming out late March in 2006.
Since that makes the audience for
this game even smaller than that for
most shooters, I expected a
bare-bones port. But no, G-Rev came
through with a disc that sports an
arrange soundtrack (longer tracks,
not a full remix), a few different
screen modes (with selectable
wallpaper in the letterboxed modes),
two sets of replay videos, and a
practice mode. The practice mode
allows the player to start on any
segment of the level with any rank
and any option armed, as well as the
ability to save replays to the VMU.
There is also an unlockable art
gallery that includes sketches,
cabinet art (including the
instructions panel), and more. And
after the game is finished on any
setting with any amount of continues,
the second loop is selectable from
the start. But I’ve neglected so
far to really talk about the
graphics. Visually, the game is
beautiful. While the backdrops are
pretty plain, the objects all look
very nice and the sheer amount of
effects is staggering for what is
essentially 1998 hardware: smoke
billows from destroyed targets, trees
sway to explosions and your
heli’s downforce, debris and
sparks fly everywhere, tanks rock as
they roll over uneven ground, objects
reflect correctly in water, and an
assortment of other effects. With all
of this, it still doesn’t slow
down very much.
Players looking for a chain-oriented
manic shooter may be disappointed, as
might players who dislike shooters
played from a gently angled 3d
perspective. But if you are looking
for a fun, solid, well-executed and
relatively accessible shoot ‘em
up, you might consider giving this a
try.
Score
out of Five: 1/2
Thanks
Louis! Under Defeat is indeed one of
the most technically impressive
releases ever on the Dreamcast, with
G-Rev really cranking up the
graphical output of a platftorm that
is pushing nearly ten years old, and
the spectacular result is a game that
manages to outdo the likes of Raiden III on
the Playstation 2 in the visuals
department.. no mean feat! The
beautiful explosions and particle
effects alone are some of the best
I've ever seen on any console
platform and those with a liking for
such satisfying visual pyrotechnic
overkill will find themselves
grinning like loonies all the way
through this game! Huge amounts of
fun to boot, for Dreamcast fans this
game is not to be missed. And it's
much better than Zero Gunner 2! Mike
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