Viper Phase 1 is a great, modern vert shooter that continues where the Raiden series left off. It is set in space and on space stations and has a fairly simple control scheme. It has many things going for it as it excels in most aspects of what makes a good vert shooter. Here are some of those things:
1. Graphics/Visual Detail: VP1 has unbelievably detailed graphics. There are men running around in all directions, there are big, detailed mechs, complex space station buildings and spaceships that burn and blow apart. Clearly, some extra care was taken in the graphic presentation and it shows. The ships catch fire and burn when hit. The fire flickers and grows, it is very well done. Shrapnel flies everywhere, but they used restraint as it is not so much as to be confused with what you have to avoid or blow up. The Napalm power-up has green explosions (you know, for realism) and they're cool. It's just a lot of eye candy to enjoy.
2. Sound: Nice bass-laden booms in the explosions. Hard to understand why some modern shooters have crappy/weak sound, but VP1 sounds great (except the overall volume is low compared to other MAME games, so turn it up)!
3. Nice gameplay with a reasonable learning curve: If you've read some of my other GOTD entries of modern shooters, sometimes I bitch because they are too crowded and it's too hard to see what's going on. In VP1, the play is hectic, but you can see and control what you need in order to be successful. They let you get your feet wet for the first couple of rounds and then amp up the chaos to make sure your adrenal gland is working.
4. Scoring System: First, the score is NOT gigantic to start. Your "ones" digit even moves and your score goes up in increments of 10s and 100s. You get bonuses for the medals you pick up and of course, everything you blast. At the end of the round, you get some more bonuses for how well you played including a big multiplier that is based on what % of everything you destroyed.
There is nothing overly unique about VP1. it's simply a very nicely polished modern vertical shooter. If you haven't played it, check it out and enjoy.
"Hard to understand why some modern shooters have crappy/weak sound"
ReplyDeleteI just had to chime in and say... EXACTLY. Drives me nuts. IMO, booming explosions are crucial to the shooter experience, and some fairly recent shooters (on PS3, etc.) are extremely disappointing in this respect. The sound alone is probably the main reason why DoDonPachi is my favorite shooter right now.
Have you played both the 'new' and 'old' versions, the power up system differs greatly between them giving a much different experience.
ReplyDeleteif so, which one do you prefer?
Just recently discovered in doing my mini-research on this game that there was an old and new version. Have to figure out which I was playing and check out the other, thanks.
ReplyDelete