Konami didn't have to go this hard, but they did it for us. A great evolution of the Gradius formula.
Sick design but im bad at it
For my first game logged on here, I figured I'd go back and beat a game that I started decades ago but could never finish due to having little experience with shmups at the time.
I went ahead and did this one without the code for Retroachievements, although I did do one run with save state practice (ESPECIALLY for stage 3) before taking the training wheels off and doing a "hardcore" run.
I've got to be honest, it wasn't a fun experience for the most part. Yes, the aesthetic and music are wonderful- stage 2's music literally gives me chills with how much of an earworm it is. That being said, even though you respawn where you left off just like in Thunder Force 3 (which is a far superior game imho), the dreaded "Gradius syndrome" is in full effect here. (If you die, you lose everything and might as well just shut the damn game off or fly your ship into the walls in order to start the stage over and rebuild)
Even from stage 1, there are traps that can and will kill you if you don't have prior knowledge of them. Walls that completely block off your path with no way through, odd veiny structures that materialize right in the middle of the playing field when you're likely trying to avoid a billion other things (referring to stage 4), and of course those massive arcs of fire from stage 3 that give minimal warning and take up half the screen. To reference Thunder Force 3 again...this game is basically that cavern stage with the bouncing rocks and shifting terrain but stretched across a 30 minute gauntlet.
Ironically, all of the bosses are pathetically easy and can (for the most part) be taken out even with just the pea shooter and a little preservation. I almost laughed at the end of stage 3 because I expected the giant dragon head to be this grueling ordeal considering the stage itself took me almost an hour to route (without dying) but no- he just shoots out an easily avoided projectile. Even the last boss (who I'm assuming is what the american cover art is depicting) is a pushover.
For the sake of finishing a game I barely got to stage 3 on as a kid, I'm happy i finally got around to it. That being said, I'll be sticking with Compile and Technosoft shooters moving forward. A killer soundtrack and great visuals can really only carry a game so far and, sadly, Life Force just doesn't hold up on what should actually matter in a game to me.
I went ahead and did this one without the code for Retroachievements, although I did do one run with save state practice (ESPECIALLY for stage 3) before taking the training wheels off and doing a "hardcore" run.
I've got to be honest, it wasn't a fun experience for the most part. Yes, the aesthetic and music are wonderful- stage 2's music literally gives me chills with how much of an earworm it is. That being said, even though you respawn where you left off just like in Thunder Force 3 (which is a far superior game imho), the dreaded "Gradius syndrome" is in full effect here. (If you die, you lose everything and might as well just shut the damn game off or fly your ship into the walls in order to start the stage over and rebuild)
Even from stage 1, there are traps that can and will kill you if you don't have prior knowledge of them. Walls that completely block off your path with no way through, odd veiny structures that materialize right in the middle of the playing field when you're likely trying to avoid a billion other things (referring to stage 4), and of course those massive arcs of fire from stage 3 that give minimal warning and take up half the screen. To reference Thunder Force 3 again...this game is basically that cavern stage with the bouncing rocks and shifting terrain but stretched across a 30 minute gauntlet.
Ironically, all of the bosses are pathetically easy and can (for the most part) be taken out even with just the pea shooter and a little preservation. I almost laughed at the end of stage 3 because I expected the giant dragon head to be this grueling ordeal considering the stage itself took me almost an hour to route (without dying) but no- he just shoots out an easily avoided projectile. Even the last boss (who I'm assuming is what the american cover art is depicting) is a pushover.
For the sake of finishing a game I barely got to stage 3 on as a kid, I'm happy i finally got around to it. That being said, I'll be sticking with Compile and Technosoft shooters moving forward. A killer soundtrack and great visuals can really only carry a game so far and, sadly, Life Force just doesn't hold up on what should actually matter in a game to me.
I rented and enjoyed this game a lot as a kid.
This was definitely a better shmup than Gradius. I didn't have nearly as many "Gradius syndrome" moments. It was like I could actually somewhat recover from my mistakes!
You ever find it weird that, for the early parts of the Gradius series, they just couldn’t stick with a title for more than one entry at a time? First, there was Scramble, then we had the original Gradius, which was originally gonna be called Scramble 2, and in other regions it is called Nemesis, and then we have today’s game, Salamander, which was renamed as Life Force here in America. For fuck sakes, just stick with a title, guys! It isn’t that hard! Oh well, at least with this game, they made the right call with the rename, because Life Force is a much cooler name then Salamander by a long shot…….. wait, wasn’t I supposed to be doing a review?
Right, so, Life Force! The first spinoff of the Gradius series, which plays… almost exactly like the original Gradius, which makes me question why even bother making this a spin-off at all. That being said, the game is still pretty good, and I would say it is just that LITTLE bit better than the original Gradius. It improves upon a handful of the issues that the original game had, and although this game is still just as ball-bustingly hard as the original, I still overall enjoyed it… when it wasn’t killing me 24/7.
The graphics are about the same as the original game, but I found them a little more appealing then the last game, the music is still pretty good, the control is pretty much the same as the original game, which means you still move up and down very slowly (oh BOY), and the gameplay is still fun, while also adding a bit more to add more variety and value with this installment.
Like I have mentioned, the gameplay is practically identical to the original, where you progress through stages, shooting many enemies along the way, avoiding obstacles, gaining power-ups, and taking on bosses. This time around, however, there is a little more that definitely makes this game an improvement over the original. First and foremost, the game can be now played with a second person, which is always a great addition, even though I can’t do that, because I have no friends, and not only are there horizontal shooting stages, but also now vertical shooting stages! Not much of the core gameplay is changed with this perspective change, but hey, it is nice to see, and again, variety is the spice of life. Also, unlike the original Gradius, there is actually more than one boss! You fight a unique boss for each stage, each being different enough to stand out, making you want to see what they will throw at you next, and despite the fact that this should’ve been the case in the original game as well, at least they got it right in this entry.
Now, with that being said, this game is still FUCKING HARD. I wouldn’t say it is as hard as the original Gradius (at least from what I can recall), but it will still give you hell at every chance it gets. In this installment specifically, I feel like there are even more instances where it seems almost practically impossible to get through these obstacles without the assistance of some kind of save state. For example, in Stage 4, there are these weird-orb-things that shoot out vines whenever they show up on screen, and these caused me to die quite a lot. Sure, you can shoot through them, which makes it not too hard of an obstacle, but then you get to the weird-orb-things that shoot them out, retract them, and then shoot them out again in a repeating fashion. Again, it’s not that bad, but don’t be surprised if you die too much.
Thankfully though, there are some saving graces that make this difficulty much more bearable then the original game. In this game, whenever you die, instead of being sent back to a checkpoint or the beginning of the stage, you respawn in immediately, and honestly, THANK GOD FOR THAT. It makes things a whole lot less stressful, knowing you have some mercy and can still make progress, while also still punishing the player for messing up by getting rid of your upgrades, which is understandable.
Also, is it just me, or do the bosses in this game get easier rather than harder? All of the bosses don’t really provide as much of a challenge as the main stages do, and none of them really increase too much in difficulty. I would be kinda bummed about that, but considering what you already go through to get to these fights, as well as the fact that each boss is pretty unique and fun to take on, I can give it a pass.
Overall, Life Force is what I would consider to be Gradius but better, and while I doubt that the main Gradius series will be taking many ques from this game going forward, I just hope that they all manage to build on the formula in little ways for each installment, just like this game managed to do.
Game #175
Right, so, Life Force! The first spinoff of the Gradius series, which plays… almost exactly like the original Gradius, which makes me question why even bother making this a spin-off at all. That being said, the game is still pretty good, and I would say it is just that LITTLE bit better than the original Gradius. It improves upon a handful of the issues that the original game had, and although this game is still just as ball-bustingly hard as the original, I still overall enjoyed it… when it wasn’t killing me 24/7.
The graphics are about the same as the original game, but I found them a little more appealing then the last game, the music is still pretty good, the control is pretty much the same as the original game, which means you still move up and down very slowly (oh BOY), and the gameplay is still fun, while also adding a bit more to add more variety and value with this installment.
Like I have mentioned, the gameplay is practically identical to the original, where you progress through stages, shooting many enemies along the way, avoiding obstacles, gaining power-ups, and taking on bosses. This time around, however, there is a little more that definitely makes this game an improvement over the original. First and foremost, the game can be now played with a second person, which is always a great addition, even though I can’t do that, because I have no friends, and not only are there horizontal shooting stages, but also now vertical shooting stages! Not much of the core gameplay is changed with this perspective change, but hey, it is nice to see, and again, variety is the spice of life. Also, unlike the original Gradius, there is actually more than one boss! You fight a unique boss for each stage, each being different enough to stand out, making you want to see what they will throw at you next, and despite the fact that this should’ve been the case in the original game as well, at least they got it right in this entry.
Now, with that being said, this game is still FUCKING HARD. I wouldn’t say it is as hard as the original Gradius (at least from what I can recall), but it will still give you hell at every chance it gets. In this installment specifically, I feel like there are even more instances where it seems almost practically impossible to get through these obstacles without the assistance of some kind of save state. For example, in Stage 4, there are these weird-orb-things that shoot out vines whenever they show up on screen, and these caused me to die quite a lot. Sure, you can shoot through them, which makes it not too hard of an obstacle, but then you get to the weird-orb-things that shoot them out, retract them, and then shoot them out again in a repeating fashion. Again, it’s not that bad, but don’t be surprised if you die too much.
Thankfully though, there are some saving graces that make this difficulty much more bearable then the original game. In this game, whenever you die, instead of being sent back to a checkpoint or the beginning of the stage, you respawn in immediately, and honestly, THANK GOD FOR THAT. It makes things a whole lot less stressful, knowing you have some mercy and can still make progress, while also still punishing the player for messing up by getting rid of your upgrades, which is understandable.
Also, is it just me, or do the bosses in this game get easier rather than harder? All of the bosses don’t really provide as much of a challenge as the main stages do, and none of them really increase too much in difficulty. I would be kinda bummed about that, but considering what you already go through to get to these fights, as well as the fact that each boss is pretty unique and fun to take on, I can give it a pass.
Overall, Life Force is what I would consider to be Gradius but better, and while I doubt that the main Gradius series will be taking many ques from this game going forward, I just hope that they all manage to build on the formula in little ways for each installment, just like this game managed to do.
Game #175
one of the best shmups on the nes, graphics are cool, gameplay is a lot like gradius and has simultaneous 2 player, and is a good and challenging game in general
6/10
6/10
Sorry for savestating :(
I'm really not a fan of Konami's approach to its shmups being dropping you into a neverending pit of despair from which you can't recover upon dying.
I'm no shmup master, so I've granted myself a save state at the beginning of each level knowing that death would be worse as it would strip me naked, but now that I've beaten it I wonder if I needed it.
The game has a very uneven difficulty curve: first, vertical levels are much easier, usually presenting you with one obstacle at a time; bosses are all underwhelming and I've beaten each without reloading the stage and am confident I could've beaten them with no power-ups; finally, I want to say that Level 1 might actually be the hardest, featuring several gotcha traps and forcing you to stay close to the edge of the screen. Only the escape sequence gave me more trouble.
It's a comfortable little shmup, even if a bit repetitive at times.
I'm no shmup master, so I've granted myself a save state at the beginning of each level knowing that death would be worse as it would strip me naked, but now that I've beaten it I wonder if I needed it.
The game has a very uneven difficulty curve: first, vertical levels are much easier, usually presenting you with one obstacle at a time; bosses are all underwhelming and I've beaten each without reloading the stage and am confident I could've beaten them with no power-ups; finally, I want to say that Level 1 might actually be the hardest, featuring several gotcha traps and forcing you to stay close to the edge of the screen. Only the escape sequence gave me more trouble.
It's a comfortable little shmup, even if a bit repetitive at times.
Impossible to complete without the Konami code and one of the best unplug your friends controller games of the era. I know Gradius is a very similar game.
Yet this one was our game of choice in my house with my brother and dad wasted many hours on boss fights
Yet this one was our game of choice in my house with my brother and dad wasted many hours on boss fights
A little more well-rounded than the NES port of Gradius, and it has co-op! It's as punishing as you would anticipate, but if you just want to power through it, grab a friend and punch in a code. It's a perfectly serviceable little shooter and one of the better ones on the NES. A shame we never got Gradius II on the platform, though.
I don't really have much to say about it. I just wanted to take the opportunity to highlight that the Japanese release (titled Salamander) easily has the coolest cartridge design ever. I mean, just look at it.
I don't really have much to say about it. I just wanted to take the opportunity to highlight that the Japanese release (titled Salamander) easily has the coolest cartridge design ever. I mean, just look at it.
This spin-off of Gradius is a great game that added some spice to the original game.
The graphics are almost the same between Gradius and Life Force, however they added some really nice sprites to this game that makes the game more clean. The background is also neat and are also part of the stage as obstacle.
The gameplay is also similar to the original. They simplified a little about the power up system. The bosses are also really nice to be against. They are menacing and fun to fight against for a space shooter game.
The biggest change between the two is that now, there's some stages that are horizontal or vertical (depending on which stage you are at).
This game is a better version of Gradius and would recommand if you like space shooter.
Game #36 in my challenge.
The graphics are almost the same between Gradius and Life Force, however they added some really nice sprites to this game that makes the game more clean. The background is also neat and are also part of the stage as obstacle.
The gameplay is also similar to the original. They simplified a little about the power up system. The bosses are also really nice to be against. They are menacing and fun to fight against for a space shooter game.
The biggest change between the two is that now, there's some stages that are horizontal or vertical (depending on which stage you are at).
This game is a better version of Gradius and would recommand if you like space shooter.
Game #36 in my challenge.
Good sequel to Gradius but also it seemed a little more difficult because unlike NES Gradius I could never beat this one. At least you respawn right where you died but that doesn't really help too much because you still lose your weapons.
You can use the Konami Code if you just wanna see all the Stages or practise
You can use the Konami Code if you just wanna see all the Stages or practise
best space shooter on the NES
One of the better NES Schmups that holds up well today. Most people compare it to Gradius and it has more variety which keeps it more favorable in most people's books. The music and bosses are much better which keeps the fun factor high. You gotta have this on the NES, its that simple.
Arcade version has huge slowdowns when you're using your screen-filling shooty shooty stuff; I'm not complaining as this actually helps with this brute of a game.