The intentionof this review is, essentially, for fans of the Saturn original to decide if they want to purchase this PS1 sequel as well. It's also here to redress the balance a little over the general opinion that the Saturn original is "obviously" superior to this sequel - something I really do not believe to be true.
The Saturn original, to jog the memory for a moment, was a portof a Jaleco coin-op. As with a lot of conversions of the time, the Saturn version offered the original game as well as a Saturn "extra" version which in this case included things like an extra pilot, 2 extra levels, a time attack version - plus a few other nice little touches here and there. One of the extra levels - the karaoke singing girl - is my favourite and one of the more memorable and unique video game moments one can experience. Especially in a shooter!
I don't know the exact deal with the story behind the original, but it appears the videogame equivalent of Dick Dastardly has infiltrated and taken over amusement machine recreation as we know and love it. Gameplay consists of you choosing one of several characters and seeking him out (normally in the guise of an end-of-level boss) in standard 2D vertical shoot-em-up fare,but from the original perspective of flying through an arcade, across pinball tables etc.
For the full SP check out the site for Lee's review.
Essentially GP2 is more of the same. Although it's now gone all 3D and polygons and pushes the "strange" meter up a fair old bit. It offers a shorter experience over its Saturn predecessor - just five not so long levels and a bonus one if you complete all of those. But if does offer the very odd procedure of being able to play it with a Guncon and the pad: one person controls the character and the other one shoots at the screen! There are a few other things besides the game itself - but I could not fathom these out. Maybe they needed the Guncon connected in order to work.
Once a level is completed, instead of starting the next you go to a highscore table where you can see how you fared against others and at what difficulty setting, character used etc. You then put your desired obscene name in the table and either go about your business, or you can choose another level from the main screen.
The levels offer similar themes to GP1, and one of the first things that grabs you, from playing level one, is seeing the familiar "inside the arcade battle" but this time in 3D. It all runs very smoothly, the sound effects are generally better (heavier explosions than the splash of white noise in GP1) and slight lighting/transparency effects for the visual side of the explosions too. But then another thing grabs you - there's not so much to shoot at as there is in GP1 and there's a lot less detail (for example all the coin-ops in the arcades in GP1 actually had games running on them - here they don't). And here's where the main differences lie really. The Saturn one is a longer game, with a lot more to shoot at and more 2D detail. The PS version is prettier to look at and listen to overall but has smooth 3D environments with less detail. But the real crux of the matter is this: personally I've always had a slight problem with GP1. I can't put my finger on what it is, but I never found it that enjoyable to play. It was a great idea - a videogame set inside a videogame world - and there's lots to shoot at and nice sound effects etc. But it didn't quite work for me in the way most shooters do and I love the concept of the game more than the game itself. I found it slightly empty. I believe the PS1 version doesn't suffer from this problem. It may be short - but what it does it does extremely well. It's more inventive than GP1, and the whole thing gels together better - a real sense of fluidity flows between all the components of the game - from the level designs to the actual playability. It just generally seems to hang together a little bit better. I found it more enjoyable to shoot the enemies in this game, and a great reason for a purchase is some of the goings-on in the levels. Towards the end of level 2 you find yourself hovering outside an ominous building, which really reminded me a lot of the David Lynch film Lost Highway; the next thing I know is I'm actually inside this building and my character is hobbling very tentatively forward (the scroll stops and then starts!) and going slowly around these dark corridors. I couldn't quite believe this! Little ghost characters appear with Dick Dastardly in them - which you have to shoot and they disappear making an eerie sound - and eventually you find yourself paused outside a door thinking "what the F is in there". This I'll leave you to find out.... Shortly into level 3 you are greeted with the words "welcome to the vector zone" and then a very retro flavoured vector enemy onslaught comes your way - which is a total joy. Everyhing shatters (with a smashing glass sound) into tiny little vector lines - and you are soon treated to such things as a huge vector fish waggling on a fishing line which you have to shoot bit by bit. This level alone is better than any of the normal levels in the original GP1. The racing level - something I thought was ingenious in GP1 - leaves it's predecessor standing. You truly are inside the race in this one - hurtling around the corners and so forth - and there's some pretty strange stuff going on later on too! Extra clever-points are also awarded for a bit in the game where you find yourself at Dick Dastardly's website home page - and then fly inside it.
So all in all for me this is a pretty enjoyable package - I was initially put off buying this because of all the comments - and even Lee was reluctant to send me one down. But I had a good feeling and it paid off. Initally I did wonder about it, as your first impression is that it's a watered-down version of the first game. But it doesn't take long to realise otherwise, and that it certainly has a lot of nice little moments that the other one doesn't have. At the end of the day, people may still love the original because they see it as more of an all-out blaster. But I think anyone who owns that would be more than happy to own this - and to see this as a game not worth having is non-sensical. At worst you get a few more levels to go at and some bits remixed in 3D. You get some nice audio visuals, and some very nice touches that I believe outshine the original. I suppose it can be criticized for being a tad too easy - certainly in comparison to the first one, but it's certainly not a pushover as something like Zero Gunner 2 on the DC - where you could play it with your eyes shut and still do well. It also scores reasonably well on the weirdometer - which is always a plus for me. If there was no GP1 available on the Saturn then I'm sure this would be considered a must-have game. Not a purchase one would make before Harmful Park, Zanac, Night Raid et al, but definitely in the next box down on the shopping list next to the R-type Deltas and the Ore no Ryouris. So therefore it's kind of a shame that it seems to have got overshadowed by its older brother on the Saturn. In an ideal world one would own both games if possible - my criticisms aside I do believe GP1 is a good game - but personally if I had to choose between the two? I'd choose GP2.
Review by Dave Harvey.
Overall good condition but see pictures for details: ACTUAL ITEM PICTURED.
Note that we only ever crop our photos. We never enhance/retouch them!
The Saturn original, to jog the memory for a moment, was a portof a Jaleco coin-op. As with a lot of conversions of the time, the Saturn version offered the original game as well as a Saturn "extra" version which in this case included things like an extra pilot, 2 extra levels, a time attack version - plus a few other nice little touches here and there. One of the extra levels - the karaoke singing girl - is my favourite and one of the more memorable and unique video game moments one can experience. Especially in a shooter!
I don't know the exact deal with the story behind the original, but it appears the videogame equivalent of Dick Dastardly has infiltrated and taken over amusement machine recreation as we know and love it. Gameplay consists of you choosing one of several characters and seeking him out (normally in the guise of an end-of-level boss) in standard 2D vertical shoot-em-up fare,but from the original perspective of flying through an arcade, across pinball tables etc.
For the full SP check out the site for Lee's review.
Essentially GP2 is more of the same. Although it's now gone all 3D and polygons and pushes the "strange" meter up a fair old bit. It offers a shorter experience over its Saturn predecessor - just five not so long levels and a bonus one if you complete all of those. But if does offer the very odd procedure of being able to play it with a Guncon and the pad: one person controls the character and the other one shoots at the screen! There are a few other things besides the game itself - but I could not fathom these out. Maybe they needed the Guncon connected in order to work.
Once a level is completed, instead of starting the next you go to a highscore table where you can see how you fared against others and at what difficulty setting, character used etc. You then put your desired obscene name in the table and either go about your business, or you can choose another level from the main screen.
The levels offer similar themes to GP1, and one of the first things that grabs you, from playing level one, is seeing the familiar "inside the arcade battle" but this time in 3D. It all runs very smoothly, the sound effects are generally better (heavier explosions than the splash of white noise in GP1) and slight lighting/transparency effects for the visual side of the explosions too. But then another thing grabs you - there's not so much to shoot at as there is in GP1 and there's a lot less detail (for example all the coin-ops in the arcades in GP1 actually had games running on them - here they don't). And here's where the main differences lie really. The Saturn one is a longer game, with a lot more to shoot at and more 2D detail. The PS version is prettier to look at and listen to overall but has smooth 3D environments with less detail. But the real crux of the matter is this: personally I've always had a slight problem with GP1. I can't put my finger on what it is, but I never found it that enjoyable to play. It was a great idea - a videogame set inside a videogame world - and there's lots to shoot at and nice sound effects etc. But it didn't quite work for me in the way most shooters do and I love the concept of the game more than the game itself. I found it slightly empty. I believe the PS1 version doesn't suffer from this problem. It may be short - but what it does it does extremely well. It's more inventive than GP1, and the whole thing gels together better - a real sense of fluidity flows between all the components of the game - from the level designs to the actual playability. It just generally seems to hang together a little bit better. I found it more enjoyable to shoot the enemies in this game, and a great reason for a purchase is some of the goings-on in the levels. Towards the end of level 2 you find yourself hovering outside an ominous building, which really reminded me a lot of the David Lynch film Lost Highway; the next thing I know is I'm actually inside this building and my character is hobbling very tentatively forward (the scroll stops and then starts!) and going slowly around these dark corridors. I couldn't quite believe this! Little ghost characters appear with Dick Dastardly in them - which you have to shoot and they disappear making an eerie sound - and eventually you find yourself paused outside a door thinking "what the F is in there". This I'll leave you to find out.... Shortly into level 3 you are greeted with the words "welcome to the vector zone" and then a very retro flavoured vector enemy onslaught comes your way - which is a total joy. Everyhing shatters (with a smashing glass sound) into tiny little vector lines - and you are soon treated to such things as a huge vector fish waggling on a fishing line which you have to shoot bit by bit. This level alone is better than any of the normal levels in the original GP1. The racing level - something I thought was ingenious in GP1 - leaves it's predecessor standing. You truly are inside the race in this one - hurtling around the corners and so forth - and there's some pretty strange stuff going on later on too! Extra clever-points are also awarded for a bit in the game where you find yourself at Dick Dastardly's website home page - and then fly inside it.
So all in all for me this is a pretty enjoyable package - I was initially put off buying this because of all the comments - and even Lee was reluctant to send me one down. But I had a good feeling and it paid off. Initally I did wonder about it, as your first impression is that it's a watered-down version of the first game. But it doesn't take long to realise otherwise, and that it certainly has a lot of nice little moments that the other one doesn't have. At the end of the day, people may still love the original because they see it as more of an all-out blaster. But I think anyone who owns that would be more than happy to own this - and to see this as a game not worth having is non-sensical. At worst you get a few more levels to go at and some bits remixed in 3D. You get some nice audio visuals, and some very nice touches that I believe outshine the original. I suppose it can be criticized for being a tad too easy - certainly in comparison to the first one, but it's certainly not a pushover as something like Zero Gunner 2 on the DC - where you could play it with your eyes shut and still do well. It also scores reasonably well on the weirdometer - which is always a plus for me. If there was no GP1 available on the Saturn then I'm sure this would be considered a must-have game. Not a purchase one would make before Harmful Park, Zanac, Night Raid et al, but definitely in the next box down on the shopping list next to the R-type Deltas and the Ore no Ryouris. So therefore it's kind of a shame that it seems to have got overshadowed by its older brother on the Saturn. In an ideal world one would own both games if possible - my criticisms aside I do believe GP1 is a good game - but personally if I had to choose between the two? I'd choose GP2.
Review by Dave Harvey.
Overall good condition but see pictures for details: ACTUAL ITEM PICTURED.
Note that we only ever crop our photos. We never enhance/retouch them!
