mmmm, overhead shooters(shmups)
When I talk to most gamers about overhead shooters and what they think about them, I almost always recieve 2 different opinions:

• Old School - Too slow, bullets move insanely slow, i could never beat it because I was too impatient. it sucks.
• New School - HOLY SHIT HAVE YOU PLAYED GIGAWING AT ALL THE ENTIRE SCREEN IS COVERED IN BULLETS AND IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAY! it sucks.

The point I'm driving at is that the majority of hardcore, casual, and non gamers really aren't too interested in any 2-d, or 2.5-d shmup... why is this? The answer my friends lies in the first 2 answers, it's either too old and easy, or too new and impossible. Well I say that nothing is too old to still be fun, and nothing is impossible. I ask all "haters" of shmups to try Strikers and give it another long hard look. You don't have to buy it, or rent it, hell, any time the oppurtunity comes up, just try it. This second point that I am eventually coming to is the reason I'm writing this review/manifesto: Strkers fits perfectly inbetween old school graphics and gameplay, with new school challenge.
 

"winter of 1945. The ashes of WWII have not yet cooled when a secret orginization known only as CANY attempted a coup to revive militarism. Their effort failed, but to a battle-weary population, it seemed a new shadow had spread across the world."

"Meanwhile, a similar threat code named: 'F.G.R.' successfully stole top secret Department of National Defense files covering new ammunition data. By using the information provided by their spy network, the F.G.R will do their best to return the world to the chaos and upheaval of global warfare."

"The only force capable of restoring order is the allied military special commando force known as the 'STRIKERS.'"

WTF! I know I slept alot in history class, but if interesting shit like this came up i would have spent alot more time studying in class and less time.. well... that's another story for another time.

This game is NOT about historical accuracy, although it is cool to fly around in old-school Japanese WWII planes and shoot lasers at giant robots created by (the evil capitalist monsters known as) F.G.R.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Okay, so it goes like this, you are one little plane, capable of regular fire(which can be powered up of course), hold down that button and do a super fire(leveled up by shots hit), and a limited number of SUPER MEGA ATTACK... just regular run of the mill shooter. Ya got yer 8 stages, long ass hard boss fights at the end, some with multiple bosses... and the screen occasionall covered bullets. Are you twitching yet? If not, you should start practicing, this is the first step towards achieving the ultimate goal of shmups: THE MEANING OF LIFE.

You can see God(or what have you) in the Shmup.

Yeah, okay, I know what your'e saying, "Who does this guy think he is, this is just a video game."
That is true, this is just a video game. Video games attack our senses, force our coordination and concentration to increase, force us to move faster, react faster, and most importantly: think faster.

"A very small percentage of individuals may experience epileptic seizures when exposed to certain light patterns or flashing lights. Exposure to certain patterns or backgrounds on a television screen or while playing video games played on the Playstation game console, may induce an epileptic seizure in these indviduals. Certain conditions may induce previously undeteted epileptic symptoms even in persons who have no history or prior seizures or epilepsy."
Just thought I'd throw that in there.

You are completely concentrated on a tiny plane on the screen, everything in front of that plane is either being destroyed, or will be. There are 9 enemies surrounding you, you can only shoot forward. Each enemy throws 10 bullets at you varrying in size, speed, and pattern. The patterns mix together, forming a magnificent dance of 90 lights dazzling the screen. The room you're in disappears, the enemies begin disappear. Your mind begins to empty itself of extraenous thoughts. You are finally at complete peace, move forward, past 2, slower, slower, breaking right inbetween the next three. 10 more are cornering you, you know that means certain death, but you're not concerened with that right now, you're fingers begin moving indepently of your thoughts. They are relying on information sent by the eyes alone, in esscence, the game is controlling you. Seconds later, the screen is cleared of enemies for the time being, the parade of deadly bullets has passed behind you. You feel relieved, that wave of dager is over, you are relaxed, but at the same time, you feel something else, something greater than what you have just achieved. You have just found a pattern in the chaos, and succesfully navigated it.

The concentration used to play though these difficult shmups I would compare to deep meditation. I am not a religous scholar, nor do I claim to be, hell, I'm not even a religous person, but this cannot be denied: For these few moments, you have achieved a state of Zen, you are nowhere, and you are everywhere, your mind is clear and your thoughts are concentrated into one state of being.

Call it "the zone", "gaming zen", "loser-ville", call it what you will, but I live for these moments in video games, and these games are dying.(some would say they are already dead).
Agree or disagree, I dont care. This is how I feel on the subject, if you have any other opinons regarding videogames and expanded concsiousness, let me know, I'd love to discsus it with you.
-Xero

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