>>Rafael Fernandes: 2011 was undoubtedly a year full of news for retrogamers.
Among the blogs we have seen a lot of things:
poorly done games, people listening to music and dying, conspiracy theories,
tizzies, trollings, videos, twenty years of Sonic, new Zelda,
new Streets of Rage, nipples, drunk people,
[pause for breath]
and memes or memes.
Anyway.
In a joint collaboration of the retrogamer blogosphere,
I present to you some of the games that I played in this year that is ending.
Are you ready then?
Ready
Go!
What I played in 2011
If there is a game that deserves the title of most played in 2011, this is RayForce.
The Taito shoot 'em up from 1993 is one of the best games of the company,
with considerable success in the arcades of the time and two sequels,
called RayStorm and RayCrisis.
It's very likely that you've heard of this game.
The problem is that it can also be called Gunlock
and in the port to Sega Saturn it was named Layer Section,
whose American version was renamed Galactic Attack.
Wow!
With so much confusion,
is very difficult to find even the ROM to play in MAME,
unless you were actually looking for it,
which was my case.
RayForce differential is in the gameplay.
In addition to the enemies that come in the same direction of your spacecraft,
there is also a lower plane,
where the player has to aim and shoot with the laser before they come toward you.
It's possible to lock the target on various enemies at the same time,
thus being able to make a combo and score more points.
Stage bosses also have several other weaknesses
that can only be hit with the laser,
thus being able to set new strategies to defeat them,
which are many.
With this game mechanics,
RayForce takes full advantage of the scale effects that the Taito F3 board had,
however, the game uses a number of other visual effects such as rotation and transparency,
generating images that simulate 3D and look really awesome,
quite reminding Super Nintendo's Mode-7,
but much better.
It's also worth mentioning the game's story:
according to the subsequent games,
RayForce's plot is focused on the creation of a supercomputer called Con-Human,
that when accidentally connected to the brain of a human clone,
eventually becomes conscious and consequently
destroys and annihilate much of the planet.
The few survivors escape to a space colony,
where they prepare an offensive to destroy the supercomputer
and consequently our planet.
In short, it is a suicide mission, practically,
where the heroine, yes, the heroine,
have to sacrifice herself in order to prevent Con-Human acquiring more power
and conquer the universe.
Complex, eh?
Thus, the journey of the entire mission is based on a re-entry to the planet,
descending by more and more deep layers
to get to the core and find the supercomputer.
This just shows that the game has a great design,
not only in relation to the story,
but also the stages and enemies, especially the bosses,
that seem having come out of an anime.
The only weak point in this regard is that the game itself,
being an arcade, has no indication of its complex story,
leaving players without really knowing what would be the reason
for all the conflict that happens the game.
But the main reason I played RayForce throughout this year is on the soundtrack.
All the songs were composed by this lady there,
called Tamayo Kawamoto.
She began her career in Capcom composing for games like Son Son,
Legendary Wings and Ghosts ‘n Goblins! Yeah!
But here in RayForce,
she produced a perfect blend of jazz, new age and electronic music,
that I believe it was the first time a shoot 'em up used songs in that style,
since prior to 1993 shmups
had a soundtrack more focused on the rock and the jazz fusion.
It's worth remembering that the soundtrack of the arcade version has a different sound,
more muffled,
so that it could be reproduced in the sound chip that was on the board.
The Sega Saturn version has the songs that are possibly in their original versions,
since they are the same that are on the CD of the soundtrack of the game released in 1994.
Despite the different instrumentation,
both compositions are still sensational.
That's why I recommend to anyone to play RayForce at least once in life,
either the version for MAME,
that doesn't correctly emulates the sound, but it's something,
or the ports for PC, Sega Saturn,
and as part of the Japanese collection Taito Memories Jōkan,
that was released for the PlayStation 2.
The game is a unique and much better experience than its sequels RayStorm and RayCrisis,
which are also very good games,
but don't reach the level of fun of RayForce.
But it's also worth remembering that the game is almost impossibly difficult,
so much that to this day I use at least 7 coins to finish the game.
That's because I'm always practicing.
The difficulty of the game reaches some absurd moments and especially treacherous,
partly because the enemy always fire randomly,
then memorizing still helps,
but what really matters here are quick reflexes to deal with the constant chaos.
Still, it's a very fun experience that does not become frustrating,
at least for me.
Maybe I'm a masochist… But anyway.
And this was the video review of RayForce.
If you have enjoyed,
don't forget to bookmark or to like it on the YouTube page.
Stay tuned for the next edition with the review of Space Channel 5: Part 2.
See you there!
Watch other videos Produced by Rafael Fernandes @rafafernandes64