Gradius V

The Gradius series has been around almost as long as games themselves. Many old and new gamers recognize the name Gradius, and it’s no surprise that a new Gradius has been desired by so many shooter fans. The wait is over, because Gradius V for the Playstation 2 has arrived.

It’s so good to see that shooters aren’t dead. The releases of modern shooters like Metal Slug, Ikaruga, and R-Type Final has shown that the style of gameplay is still a huge hit, and that 2D games are not a sin. For some odd reason many developers think they have to make 3D games, and while most games work best in three dimensions, some games just need to stick to two. And believe me, being two dimensional does not mean you have to look like an old 8- or 16-bit game. The latest 2D games have been some of the most beautiful games seen on a console. Gradius V is no exception to this trend.

Gradius V plays just like the originals of the series. When you start your game, you are given the option of four different power-up arrangements. Every ship has the same power-ups, but the difference is what the power-ups actually do. For example, every ship has a two-way shot, but some ships shot both out of the front of the ship in a V-shape while others shoot the second shot out of the tail of the ship. So when picking between the four different arrays, you are picking different combinations of the various power-ups available to you.

In case you’ve never played a Gradius before, power-ups are handled differently than in most shooters. Many shooters power you up automatically when you pick up a special icon on the screen. Gradius instead gives you a list of your power-ups along the bottom of the screen, and as you pick up power-up icons the cursor moves down the list of possible upgrades. When the upgrade you want is highlighted, the cursor starts at the beginning of the list. Some upgrades can be activated multiple times to increase the effect, while others are a one-time activation.

One of these particular upgrades has been modified for the new Gradius. In past Gradius games, there was an upgrade that granted you a little helper, or Option. This was basically a little orb that moved with your ship and shot whatever your ship was shooting at the time. These provided extra firepower as well as added protection. Now in Gradius V you can use the Option Control button to take a bit of control over your Options, or Multiples as they are called in Gradius V.

Four Multiple types are available in the beginning: Rotate, Freeze, Spacing, and Direction. In Rotate, holding the Option Control button will cause your Multiples to rotate around your ship. Using Freeze, your Multiples will freeze in place when holding the Option Control button allowing strategic placement on the fly. When using Spacing, the Multiples are spaced evenly around your ship, and by holding the Option Control button you can spread them out or bring them in. Using the Direction Multiples, holding the Option Control button will allow you to control the angle at which your multiples are aiming.

If you can’t find a suitable combination of power-ups in any of the four variations, you can unlock a Weapon Edit mode where you create a ship using your favorite selection of Gradius weaponry.

Gradius V now includes a 2-player mode where you and a friend can fight the Bacterian simultaneously. This is a lot of fun, but there are a few downsides. First of all you are sharing continues, so if you are pretty good but your friend isn’t, you may get a game over the first time you die. You are also sharing Multiples, so you can only have four between the two of you. This is pretty nice because it cuts down on a lot of the onscreen clutter, but if you have a greedy friend you will find yourself with only one or no Multiples. Also, when you have two fully powered up ships onscreen and shooting everything they’ve got, it gets really hard to see enemy shots. This can be expected of any shooter, but with Gradius’ tight corridors and tricky environments it can get very confusing.

Gradius V improves on its predecessors on many levels. The graphics are spectacular, and it shows more and more the further you proceed into the game’s seven huge stages. The music and sound effects are wonderful, fitting the mood and environment very well. There is even an online score ranking that anyone can take part in. All you do is start up a Score Attack game and last as long as you can. There are no continues, so when you exhaust the last of your ships you are given a code. All you have to do is go to the website given and enter that code and your score is posted. For a limited time Konami is even offering Gradius-related prizes to the top scorers.

Gradius V’s biggest draw is definitely its difficulty. The main reason to keep playing Gradius V is to get better, and to earn more credits (extra credits are gradually unlocked by play time) so that you can survive longer. This game is very hard, and it takes practice to beat each stage. Unless you’ve played a lot of the previous Gradius games, you are most likely not going to be able to beat this game your first time through…or even your second.

There are many reasons to pick up Gradius V - excellent graphics, unique and interesting level design, classic challenging gameplay and $30 price tag to name a few – and if you’re a fan of shooters you should. There is also a lot of gameplay packed into Gradius V, but most of it is going to be practice. Especially with the later stages, until you build up some credits it’s going to be very hard to complete.     

Gameplay: 8.5
Classic 2D shooter gameplay is hard to come by these days, but when it decides to show itself it never disappoints. The Gradius series has a very special twist on the genre, too, making Gradius V a unique experience in this generation of games. Plus, having the ability to control your Multiples adds to the strategy that is typically absent in two dimensional shooters.

Graphics: 9.2 
As you progress through the stages of Gradius V, more and more detail starts to pop out at you. More objects are crammed on the screen, and brilliant flashes of fire, debris, and energy emit from various objects. The environments are also very well designed, giving players something difficult to navigate while supplying spectators with colorful eye candy.

Sound: 7.6
Gradius V’s soundtrack is made up of mostly techno beats, fitting perfectly with the futuristic theme of the game. Sound effects consist mainly of explosions and various blasts. Nothing is wrong with the sound, but also nothing is too impressive.  

Difficulty: Hard
Gradius V is, like every great shooter, very hard. Each level becomes much more difficult than the last, and those power-ups you’ve worked so hard to collect become extremely precious. You can change the difficulty in the options menu, but I can tell you now that even on normal difficulty it is a hard game.

Concept: 9.0 
Even though shooters have been around since the birth of video games, it never gets old seeing how good they can make them look each generation. With all the recent additions to the genre they’ve been able to push the gameplay that little bit further while keeping the same great formula.

Multiplayer: 7.0
It’s always fun to play a game with a friend, but sometimes it can be more of a hassle. It kind of depends on your taste in multiplayer games and how well you work together, but Gradius’ tight spaces and expansive ship upgrades can make it very confusing to play with two people.  

Overall: 8.0
Gradius V makes a lovely addition to the shooter family, and expands on the Gradius formula while sticking to its roots. The only downside is that there isn’t as much to Gradius V as there is to some of its competition (R-Type Final, for example) in terms of variation and replay value, but the key element of Gradius V is its challenging and fun gameplay. Konami succeeded in bringing us another wonderful and addicting Gradius.