MagneticBurn
Thunder Force IV 1992
Log Status
Completed
Playing
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Time Played
--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
October 18, 2021
Platforms Played
This is my FOURTH time reviewing this holy SHIT
Anyway I discovered that TF3's staff (except for the music team) left and they had all-new staff from their Devil's Crash port come in to work on this. It is factually correct to say this is a shmup designed by people who literally don't make shmups.
It's so weird cause like, you got all the mechanics and weapons that make shmups cool. The setpieces, art and style are there. All of its elements come together to create a great sense of speed and universal conflict. But the shmup design is just blatantly not there, and it feels way more like an adventure game than anything. The game is challenging you less on dodging bullets, and more on managing your weapons and memorizing every little scripted event the stage throws at you. It's not an overtly routing-focused game like R-Type, and yet you do way more of it here than any shmup I can think of. It doesn't feel natural within the confines of the genre, but it also has a very visceral, addicting appeal.
It's also a victim of not really having a 'best' version. This game's pushing the genesis to the fucking limit as far as sprite speeds and parallax go, and it causes the game to slow down a lot whenever you have your powered up weapons active. The Saturn and AGES port let you toggle the slowdown off, but there's a lot of enemies that were clearly not designed around it. Biggest offender is the desert boss, whose attacks basically have no telegraph when slowdown's removed.
TF4 is this insane amalgamation of what someone outside the shmup playerbase THINKS a shmup should be. It's this twisted portal of so many clashing visions. It reminds me a lot of Sonic Adventure 2, in the way it has abrasive difficulty and a lot of rough design choices, but also has a totally unique rhythm underneath that kinda clicks when you 'get it' and keeps you hooked. It's not 'good' when you look for anything that traditionally defines the strengths of STGs, and yet it has so much passion put into everything else it does, you can't help but be drawn to it. That, or the music is making me feel biased.
Anyway I discovered that TF3's staff (except for the music team) left and they had all-new staff from their Devil's Crash port come in to work on this. It is factually correct to say this is a shmup designed by people who literally don't make shmups.
It's so weird cause like, you got all the mechanics and weapons that make shmups cool. The setpieces, art and style are there. All of its elements come together to create a great sense of speed and universal conflict. But the shmup design is just blatantly not there, and it feels way more like an adventure game than anything. The game is challenging you less on dodging bullets, and more on managing your weapons and memorizing every little scripted event the stage throws at you. It's not an overtly routing-focused game like R-Type, and yet you do way more of it here than any shmup I can think of. It doesn't feel natural within the confines of the genre, but it also has a very visceral, addicting appeal.
It's also a victim of not really having a 'best' version. This game's pushing the genesis to the fucking limit as far as sprite speeds and parallax go, and it causes the game to slow down a lot whenever you have your powered up weapons active. The Saturn and AGES port let you toggle the slowdown off, but there's a lot of enemies that were clearly not designed around it. Biggest offender is the desert boss, whose attacks basically have no telegraph when slowdown's removed.
TF4 is this insane amalgamation of what someone outside the shmup playerbase THINKS a shmup should be. It's this twisted portal of so many clashing visions. It reminds me a lot of Sonic Adventure 2, in the way it has abrasive difficulty and a lot of rough design choices, but also has a totally unique rhythm underneath that kinda clicks when you 'get it' and keeps you hooked. It's not 'good' when you look for anything that traditionally defines the strengths of STGs, and yet it has so much passion put into everything else it does, you can't help but be drawn to it. That, or the music is making me feel biased.