in case anyone missed it, i'll paste the little review/preview i wrote up in the PCE shooters thread:
Psychic Storm is a cool vert shooter from Laser Soft and Alfa System that not many people talk about. It's got some shortcomings, but the presentation is nice and the gameplay is solid enough to make it worth checking it out.
The most interesting gameplay addition is a transformation feature. Press I, your character shouts out "PSYCHIKUU STORM!", and your ship transforms into one of four weird bio-insect things depending on which character you choose. Each one has a different powerful weapon, but the transformation only lasts as long as the timer bar at the bottom of the screen. You can pick up orbs to add time on to the bar, and if you get hit time is taken off.
In normal ship mode, you have a life bar, and you can take six or seven hits before you die. You also have a charge bar which fills up quickly over time; when its full you press I + II at the same time to get a traditional bomb-type effect. This is more like a sub-weapon than a bomb though, as it's use is unlimited (the transformation has stocks though, up to three).
The game starts with a nice, albeit short, intro that highlights the characters:
Alexthander F. Lin
Codename: Duke in Scarlet
Sex: Male Age: 19 Bloodtype: O
Nastasia Ustinov
Codename: The Blue Shooting Star
Sex: Female Age: 22 Bloodtype: A
Joe McSimilien
Codename: Pirates of Violet
Sex: Male Age: 27 Bloodtype: B
Charr
Codename: The Black Widow
Sex: Male Age: 24 Bloodtype: AB
As mentioned above, there are some weaknesses that keep the game from being great. The ships seems kind of slow; in fact, the whole game seems a little slow. THis might be due to the scrolling speed or the occasional lack of enemies. I don't personally mind this cuz i don't need every shooter i play to be Cave-style craziness, but some people might get bored. Some of the BGs can be kind of sparse too, but i dig any game that has a "flying over a city at night" level, which in this case is New Hong Kong (the first level). THe game is pretty easy due to the life bar, sub-weapon, and transformations, but if you die you start at the beginning of a level. This pisses me off sometimes, as the levels (of which there are seven) are looooonnngggg, with two parts to each stage.
However, there are a lot of nice touches:
- There's a two-player mode where, when you transform, both players merge together, with one person shooting forward and one shooting backwards via a crosshairs.
- You can switch characters between stages.
- The enemy sprites are super-detailed and varied, with a sort of mechanized insect vibe, and the bosses are big and cool.
- Once you get to the third stage you can choose your path.
- THe BGM, while not overly memorable, has some nice tracks (i like the second stage particularly).
- THere is some awesome engrish: "YOU SHOOTED THE BOSS".
- With four characters each with a different main shot, sub-weapon, and psychic storm attack, there's a lot of weapon variety.
Overall, it's a game definitely worth buying, especially because it's pretty cheap. Hardcore shooter fans might find it boring or just average, but the small touches make it a game that will get plenty of play.
