A Fun Game.....For About 15 Minutes (Gunbird 2 (DC))

Member Name: Guile176

Product:	Gunbird 2 (DC)
Date:	02/05/05 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun game while it last, Multiple characters, Fun game while it last

Disadvantages: Far too short, Far too short

Back in the early 90's 2D shooters were a dime a dozen. If you were
a shooter fan, then you were in Heaven. No place had better, or more
shooters the 16 bit Sega Genesis. They had some of the finest
including, the Thunder Force series, Gaires and Sagia (AKA Daruis)
were just some. Then when the 16 bit era began to fade into 32 bit
things came to a near halt. It seemed everyone was switching to 3D
shooters and forgetting where the genre had its roots. Most 2D
shooting purist were sickened by most of the 3D garbage going around
and true 3D shooters were few and far between.

Well years later it seems Capcom hasn't forgotten the shooters roots
and released several 2D shooters such as this, Giga Wing 1 and 2,
and Mars Matrix to the Dreamcast. And needless to say, im glad they
did.

Well what makes Gun Bird 2 stand out from the million and 1 other
shooters we've all seen before? Well first off Gun Bird 2 features 7
selectable characters. Characters range from a chubby guy on a
flying carpet, a robot, a vampire, and even Morrigan from the
Darkstalkers series. Each character has a unique shot, bomb and
close in attack. Shots can be powered up 4 times. Unfortunately you
cant pick up any other weapons. You can only upgrade.

The story of Gun Bird 2 puts aliens invading your planet and your
Earths last hope. So now you must get into your experimental
prototype ship and stop them. Haha kidding. That may be the story in
90% of the other shooters out there but not here. In Gun Bird 2 you
must travel around the world gathering up these magical potions and
then bring them to the North Pole were some potion god will grant
you any wish. Each character has their own little story for wanting
these potions.

Ok now how does Gun Bird 2 play? Well great for about 15 minutes. I
say that because within 15 minutes you'll have the game beat. Gun
Bird 2 is not only the shortest shooter I have ever played, but one
of the shortest games i've ever played as well. There's only like 6
levels and each one takes around 3-5 minutes to beat. To add insult
to the short length of the game you are also given unlimited continues.
Another thing is that you may want to put the game on the easiest
difficulty setting. On even the medium difficulty settings the game
pours so many enemy shots at you that you can hardly move and are
forced to get hit. Its very unfair. Im all for tough games but
there's so many shots its ridiculous.

Nothing much for game modes here. Not surprising given this is a
shooter. You can play 2 players. There's a cool looking art gallery
and you can use 3 different screen settings. Since the arcade screen
is longer vertically the screen is cut of on the sides in the home
version in order to fit the whole play field. There are 2 versions
of this screen. The first the screen stays put and locks and the
second the screen will scroll slightly if you move back or forward
enough. And finally the game gives you the choice to tilt your TV on
its side so you can have the full arcade experience. Im a little
reluctant to try this as i`ve heard you can ruin your TV this way.

Graphics 7: Not a single polygon to be found here. Just some of the
most beautiful 2D graphics i've seen in a shooter. Animation is
fairly smooth and there's not even a hint of slowdown. Even when the
screen is loaded with bullets things don't slowdown. Honestly
though, I would have welcomed a little slowdown. It would have made
dodging some of these bullets alot easier. Bosses are also pretty
cool looking. Nothing you haven't really seen before. Just your
garden variety mechs and giant planes. Still pretty cool though.


Sound 6: Nothing too bad here. You get some nice explosion sound
effects and your character constantly shouts out comments in
Japanese. As for music its pretty much some non descriptive anime
rock/pop, but it fits the game pretty well though.


Control 9: Not really anything wrong with the control here. Movement
is quick and responsive and your character always does what you want
them to do. You can charge shots. drop bombs and use a close in
attack on the stronger enemies. That's about all that can be said
about the control.


Overall Gun Bird 2 is a good shooter which is hurt the worse by its
insulting length. If this game was 3 times as long it would still be
too short. Im pretty shocked a company would even release a game of
this length. If your a die hard shooter fan and are looking for a
great 2D (or 2.5D) shooter then I would advise either picking up an
old Genesis and a few games like Thunder Force 3 or Lightning Force
or Sagia (Thunder Force 4). If you already own one then go for
Einhander, Thunder Force 5 or G Darius on the Playstation. Or better
yet, track yourself down an ultra rare import copy of Radiant
Silvergun on the Saturn. But if you really want Gun Bird 2 I
wouldn't advise paying more then $15-$20 for it. Any more and you`ll
feel pretty stupid for doing so.

Guile176/PhantasyStar77

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