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