Psychic Killer Taromaru
I'd been putting this game off for a while. I don't know why, exactly. I was afraid it would be too difficult, too unapproachable and annoying to play, and that I'd get severe buyer's remorse. Happy to report that wasn't the case. This game fucking rocks. I think it might be my favourite game on the Saturn.
This is a 2.5D action-platformer in a similar vein as Shinobi Legions. You can jump, dash, and slide your way around the screen, ninja-style. There aren't quite as many moves you can pull off in this game, but movement is a lot more fluid. However, the major difference is that you don't attack enemies directly, per se. Rather, there's a reticle on-screen that targets enemies near to you automatically. You can switch the reticle from enemy to enemy, and when you press the attack button, a bolt of lightning fires from you to the targetted enemy. Some enemies and small hazards, like projectiles, go down in one shot, while others take multiple shots. The game oozes style: some enemies require multiple hits before going down, and each time you hit them, a limb flies off, or their skin peels back, visibly showing the damage you're doing. It's totally bad-ass. You can also charge up your attack, Mega Man style, and at full power, it will arc across enemies close together, killing multiple at a time. This was a bit finicky though, because sometimes it might only arc from one enemy to a single other before disappearing; other times, it would arc to multiple enemies. It seemed to be dependent on the enemies -- in boss fights, there was less of this "chaining" -- perhaps to inflate the difficulty of the boss fights.
Speaking of boss fights, this game has them in droves. You start the game in a boss fight, as two skeletal demons descend on either side of the screen. It isn't long before you face another boss fight -- a giant spider with a woman's face -- and soon after, a huge water centipede that wraps around a bridge and fires spines at you. I think there's something like 25 different boss fights in the game. They're all unique and interesting and fun, but some of them are over quite quickly.
I read a review that recommended a rapid-fire controller, saying that it makes the game easier and would reduce gameplay length by about half. I don't think that's particularly realistic, OR a good idea. There are times where you want to rapid-press, but there are also times where you want to charge your attack. The charge attack does much more damage, although if you let go at the wrong time or when an enemy disappears from your reticle, the charge is lost and no damage is done. Bummer.
The game has a ton of variety not just in enemies and bosses, but gameplay, too. In your first level, you're running across the backs of bulls that come on screen. In one small section of another level, you're log-rolling across water (backwards is forwards, forwards is backwards). In yet another level, you're stuck in an orb, like a giant hamster ball, and you have to navigate up and down hills, which push you back down, or speed your descent, all while avoiding bombs planted on the path, and enemies everywhere. Another time, you ride the decapitated flying head of the kitsune boss you just killed through the sky... Okay, that's more of a cut-scene, but it's still badass. The game plays like one giant, long level. There's no "LEVEL 3 START" that places you in a completely new area. There's a progression that's mostly clear and seamless from one level to the next.
The game sounds pretty stressful and chaotic, but it's actually quite forgiving. You can take a good number of hits before you die, and there are occasional health pick-ups. I changed the difficulty to "Easy" and bumped the lives up to 5. After three continues, it's game over. I continued only once, right near the end, and it immediately places you right back in the action without any penalty. Still, if this is too difficult, you can bring a friend and play two-player. There are actually 2 characters you can use. The differences seem subtle, but it seems like Taromaru's charged attacks arc between enemies, while the other player character has more powerful attacks and a much larger range, but no arcing.
Music is standard Japanese traditional music. It's action-y, and it fits the gameplay and setting very well.
The game is excellent, but not without flaws. One annoyance is that jump height is pre-determined. I found myself sometimes wishing I could do small jumps, but the standard jump height (quite high), kept launching me into hazards when I'd jumped to try to avoid other hazards. Also, the reticle aiming system can admittedly be a bit tricky to manage and predict sometimes. There can be over a dozen enemies or targettable hazards on-screen at any time, and the mechanics behind which hazard you're trying to target can be a bit unclear. It seems to prefer enemies in front of your character's line of sight, and may connect with the one closest to you when it appears. When you are "locked on" that way, it seems like the reticle doesn't change until you manually change the target, or the target (or you) moves out of range.
Still, minor quibbles with such an excellent game. It only took about an hour to finish. Maybe a bit less. After finishing, I jumped right back in to play it a bit longer as the other character. On the normal setting, the difficulty admittedly didn't seem that much higher.
9.5/10
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