Another Gradius game? It better be good...

I was a huge fan of Gradius 3 on the SNES back in the day. Then I recently purchased the Gradius 3/4 combo for the PS2. I thought those sucked so bad I took the game back a day later. Because of this I was a little reluctant to purchase Gradius 5.

If you're not familiar with Gradius, read this paragraph, otherwise skip it. In Gradius, you control a ship called the Vic Viper. You fly around in space and to different worlds and kill a ton of enemies. Basically, you're outnumbered and outgunned, but you have to somehow save the universe. As you certain enemies, they drop power-up capsules. By obtaining these, you can increase your power and protection.

Graphics:
What can I say? These graphics are incredible. This is what I was expecting when I bought Gradius 3/4. I have a 46" widescreen TV, and the colors are so vibrant on this game it's amazing. It also plays in full wide screen! Awesome. The backgrounds twist and move and are absolutely beautiful. To me, the biggest improvement are the explosions. When enemies blow up, you will be treated to realistic, large, and loud explosions, especially from the end-bosses.

I have yet to see any slowdown or flicker, a problem that plagued the SNES versions. I also don't have any problem picking out my ship from the various on-screen objects. Graphics get a 10/10 for this type of game.

Sound:
Truly amazing. The music is nice as are the special effects and explosions. Only the voice-overs could use some work. They sound metallic and are hard to understand. I give the sound an 8/10 for this type of game.

Gameplay:
Excellent. Gone is the frustrating situations when you're ship blows up from barely being grazed by a bullit. The "kill zone" is much smaller, almost too small. You pretty much have to get hit in the center of the ship to blow up.

You can choose from 5 different weapons modes. In these modes, the biggest difference is how your multiples work. On my favorite setting, you can press the R1 button to keep your ship still, and use the analog stick to make your multiples fire in any direction you wish. This makes it much easier to kill enemies above and below you, and is crucial in certain situations.

Features:
The best new feature is 2 player simultaneous play! That's right! You and a friend at once. That is truly awesome, but can get a bit confusing at times. One player's ship will be blue, with blue afterburn, while the other is red. Still, this feature is so incredible and so long in coming that if you are a fan of this type of game, you need to get Gradius 5.

Of course, you can edit basic features such as difficulty, number of ships, how often you get an extra life, the controls, and the sound. This is all pretty standard from the Gradius series.

You start out the game with 3 continues, and gain one for every certain amount of gameplay time you have commited. I think it's like 1 for every hour, but I'm not sure. And since you start right where your ship left off if you die or continue (no starting back at the start or halfway mark), the more you play the more continues you get. It's kind of like an intelligent way for the computer to know you need more help.

I also would be remiss not to mention if you die, your multiples (options) will stay there, but slowly move to the back of the screen and eventually off. This does give you enough time to grab them again. It was so frustrating to lose everything on the higher levels when your ship exploded. This feature gives you your multiples, but you'll still lose your laser, speed, and missiles, so it's not too easy.

Overall:
The bosses are huge and the enemies numerous. I've only played on the normal level, and I find the challenge just right. I have yet to get frustrated. I love this game and would recommend it to anyone who likes playing shooter games.