Hard - like old school shooters should be
I'm in my late 30's, so I played some of the original Gradius's on the NES and SNES as a kid. I'm used to getting a beat down with shmups (shoot'em up's for you kiddies out there). This game brought back some good memories. If your a Gradius fan at all, GET THIS GAME.
GRAPHICS
Hard to describe. Kind of a mix between old and new school done right. Mostly old school, but with less pixelation, and better explosions. Also, if your a fan of the SNES Gradius 3, you'll find the familiar slowdowns when lots of stuff is on screen. The slowdown is obviously intentional here for the nostalgia effect. And just like the SNES Gradius's, the slowdowns usually help!
SOUNDS
Awsome remixes from some of the other Gradius games. Similar to the graphics - old and new school done right. You won't find generic rock tunes. Each stage song will remind you of an older Gradius (and Salamander too!).
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is identical to other Gradius games. Waves of enemies come, you kill them, get the power ups they drop, and become a powered up wrecking machine. Then you loose it all when you die and go through it again. Bosses are tough and you WILL die a few times trying to kill them. Only five stages, but they change on the 2nd loop. Couple of hidden stages too and some unlockables (won't mention for spoiler reasons). I prefer a shorter Gradius like this one than the more recent ones.
CONCLUSION
This is the type of games I see teens whining about because its "Too Hard". Let me get my violin out for them, or perhaps mail them a cookie. This is how I remember games. You had to put in the time, cause you ain't going to beat it on the first play. To true shmups loving oldies like me, this is a must buy!
FYI - compared to other shmups, the difficulty of GR is only average. When I say its hard, I'm comparing it to the standard of most of today's games. If you want really hard shmup, try Ikaruga!