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Darius Gaiden Review by: John Hokanson Jr. For those that thought the era of two dimensional shooters was as dead as the dodo, I give thee "Darius Gaiden." A testimate to the days when it didn't take five zillion polygons to make a game cool. Darius Gaiden is your average side scrolling shooter with some extra panache. Although programed by TAITO, Acclaim actually had the brain power to bring this over to the US (Guess we can't really call them AccLAME anymore). Darius Gaiden doesn't have much of a story, but what little there is consists of this: After an epic battle on the planet Darius, the planet seems to whither, forcing a massive emigration to the planet Vadis. However, after much time had passed, these immigrants decided to return to their home planet. While their return plans were taking shape, an unknown force began destroying their ports of transit and docking, both aerial and nautical. The Destroyers are now chasing after the main convoy of ships (which is presumed to be used in the transporting of people between Vadis and Darius.) As the convoy approaches Vadis, the evil hands of the destroyers extend towards the Vadis' INS (Immigration & Naturalization Service). One by one, the attacking enemy mercilessly slaughters resisting Silverhawk soldiers. Silverhawk is now left with only two planes, and these planes head into battle with the aspirations of its people in tow.... That's where you come in. As the sole remaining Silver hawk pilot(s), it's your job to wipe out the enemy threat, thus ensuring safe passage for the colonists. If you haven't already guessed, Darius Gaiden is a one or two player game that pits your tiny fighter craft against 50 million enemy ships, and some of the biggest, baddest bosses (which all take on a nautical theme) ever to grace a shooter. There are seven stages to master, subdivided into 28 zones. After beating a stage, you can choose what zone you want to go to next. Each Zone has its own background. They range from deep space, to planetary missions. Though each zone is quite short, the difficulty level (even in Easy mode) presents an extreme amount of challenge. This fact alone greatly improves the replay value. A couple of years ago, the graphics in Darius Gaiden would have been state of the art for a home console. However, now they are seriously dated. Nevertheless, the graphics are very sharp, well colored, and incite no slowdown at all. Darius Gaiden showcases quality engineering & technical virtuosity. It's a shame that the same can't be said for the majority of other next-gen titles. It's games like Darius Gaiden that reaffirm my preferecnce for 2D titles. Weapon effects are well done. Enemy animations are well done. As is the boss themselves. In fact, the bosses are often the best part. After defeating them, you are rewarded with a large super nova type explosion before you jump into hyper space. The backgrounds range from mediocre to awesome. Certain backgrounds are often psychedelic in nature, such as the colorful rippling background of Zone I. Though most of the said effects could easily have been done on an SNES, as many scrolling and rotational aspects look very much like Mode 7. Just look at the rotating space Colony in Zone E, and tell me that doesn't remind you of the first stage of R-Type 3. In fact, John Yeman (reviewer for this site) said that he can best describe Darius Gaiden as R-Type on Steroids. I also think that's a excellant way to sum things up. Sound is on par with your average shooter. You have your traditional weapon sounds, and your run of the mill explosions. Music is an oddball flavor. It's hard to describe actually. It seems to be techoish, a mixture of ambiance, with opera overtones, and soft vocals. I think that its best left up to personal opinion. Some tracks I liked, others I didn't care for, or were down right annoying. Only one or two tracks contain vocals. The rest is BGM with or without a chorus line. All the music is CD Redbook, so you can expect top notch quality. Like the Sound FX, Control is average shooter caliber (no pun intended). You only utilize two buttons. One for your main weapons. And the other for a special bomb attack. As well as the D-Pad. Simplicity is king, and you never end up fighting with the control pad. In all, what Darius lacks in Graphics, it most certainly makes up for in it's funfactor and replay value. Isn't that the most important aspect? Acclaim is selling this for around $30, but I picked it up at my local Best Buy for $10. Honestly, is $10 too much to ask for a quality shooter? I think not. If nothing else, Darius Gaiden should at least hold you over until Thunderforce 5 comes out.
Results
Features, Funfactor,
Graphics: 7.0 Overall: 8.0
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