Warashi should of handled the XBLA version a lot better than this...
Triggerheart Exelica is a Japanese shoot 'em up by Warashi that first arrived on Japanese arcades on the Sega Naomi system that later got ported the Sega Dreamcast in Japan, then the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade worldwide, and finally another Japan-exclusive console port for the PlayStation 2 dubbed Triggerheart Exelica -Enhanced-. In Triggerheart Exelica, you play as Exelica or Crueltear to save the Earth from an invasion of robotic monstrosities known as Ver'mith.
-Story- 2/10
I, for the life of me, cannot say anything good about this version's storyline. All you get with this version of Triggerheart Exelica are small bits of meaningless dialogue between Exelica or Crueltear with the Ver'mith's copy of Faintear, and none of it helps it's narrative at all. What's worse is that if you have a SDTV that hates HD games like I do (unfortunately), chances are you won't be able to even read what they're babbling about since the text is too small. There's MUCH more characters that plays into Triggerheart Exelica's storyline other than these three sukumizu-wearing ladies, but thanks to Warashi, we're never going to hear the end of it. I know the shoot 'em up genre is not made for compelling storylines, but if there was such a thing as a "story" in the Japanese console versions, why not make an effort to bring that over for us non-Japanese speakers? I apologize for my rantings...
-Visuals- 6/10
I'm sorry, but the visuals of this game just don't hold it's own for an "HD" game, especially against the likes of Ikaruga and Mushihime-sama Futari Ver. 1.5., and the character animations do come of as sort of robotic at a close glance. And the visuals overall just don't meet that HD standard. Also, the censorship felt unnecessary if the game already has suggestive themes as one of it's content descriptors. The upside to this is the character models do look smoother, albeit still looking like an old Dreamcast game, and it does serve it's purpose running at 60 FPS most of the time. Another noteworthy feature is that the game allows you to play the game by flipping vertically either to the left or right (if your TV or monitor can be flipped at all), this way you can play the game with the arcade's aspect ratio. Eiji Komatsu also did a nice job with character design (correct me if I'm wrong on this).
-Audio- 6/10
The soundtrack is modest at best to me, although it's not going to replace some of my favorite shoot 'em up soundtracks anytime soon. The soundtrack was redone and it sounds much better than the original arcade version's soundtrack to the point where the original version's not worth listening to. Nice (but limited) Japanese voice overs. I did run into audio problems with the game where every once in a while when I go to pause screen or my Xbox menu, I'd hear voice and explosion sound effects playing at the pause screen. I'm surprised that Warashi haven't even bother to fix this glitch.
-Gameplay- 8/10
Now this is where the game can (almost) make up for it's shortcomings. Simply gunning down enemies until the end credits is just missing the point of this game. This is where the Anchor Shot, Medal Expansion, and Variable Boss Attack System comes into play.
Unlike your traditional shoot 'em up, your protagonist are equipped with an anchor that can be fired at a flying or non-boss enemy and "Capture" them. Once captured, you can use however you see fit, like using them as a shield, swinging them around like a ball-and-chain, or throw them at your enemies. Think of the Wisp sub-weapon from Z.O.E. The 2nd Runner. Ground-based enemies, however, can only be "Locked-On" to fire a single stream of focus shots through the anchor's line.
Destroying enemies leaves behind Medals, which are your "point items" of Triggerheart Exelica, but by destroying them with your Anchor Shot yields more Medals. Naturally, these Medals are drawn to your character if you're not holding the fire button. But if you continue to fire your weapon, the Medal Expansion system will steadily grow the Medals on screen until you stop firing your weapon, or until they fall off the screen. So using the Anchor Shot in conjunction with the Medal Expansion is key for getting hi-scores. But the Medals don't just account for scoring, it factors for many things, one of them being the Variable Boss Attack System (or V.B.A.S. for short).
During most boss battles, the Variable Boss Attack System will determine how many forms of that boss you can take on based on how many Medals you have. Each form gets progressively more difficult than the last, and if you don't meet the Medal requirements of the boss' other forms, the boss battle immediately ends at that point. Boss battles are also timed, and faster you get through the boss and how many forms you defeat means more points to you. At the end of the stage, you're given bonuses based on your performance.
So the game is very skill-based. Lots of challenge and things that to into the scoring system of the game. It's quite challenging, if not hard, but it does have sense of forgiveness that a doujin game like SITER SKAIN's Kamui provides with infinite continues, although shoot 'em ups like this demands skill and wants you to get through the game without a continue.
The game and control settings are flexible and you change your swinging style when you capture enemies to either Auto if you're a beginner, or Manual if you want more tactical control over your character. Although trying to swing your enemies in Manual while dodging bullets can be a pain, though.
-Longevity- 8/10
All five stages of the game are too short for a shoot 'em up game and the entire game lasts about 20-30 minutes. Aside from the Arcade Mode, which is the ONLY thing Warashi bothered to put in this version of the game, there's not much in Triggerheart Exelica that would keep even the most causal of gamers playing. For shoot 'em up fans, however, the challenge of the game might draw you back and the gameplay can be addicting. The other plus in this version of Triggerheart Exelica is that this is the only version with online leaderboards (although it suffers from a bit of bad English; i.e. 141th instead of 141st).
But to me, I want something more than just posting my scores to a leaderboard. There's no personal stat tracking or hi-score rankings for yourself in this game unlike a game like Mushihime-sama Futari Ver. 1.5. and the leaderboards aren't as sophisticated like a Treasure or CAVE shoot 'em up from my prospective at least. I also want my skills to actually pay off and earn something in this game like Ikaruga does with extra modes and features. Taking away all the other stuff from the Dreamcast version (and only to retain most of it on the PlayStation 2 version) such as the Story and Arrange Modes is just plain and outright unfair, especially to us Westerners.
-Final Verdict-
This is more of a game for shoot 'em up fans, although the adjusting gameplay does make it sort of welcoming to those looking into the genre. But for the asking price of 800 MS Points ($10 USD), there should of been more to this game than just a single Arcade Mode. Despite my complaints, it's a decent game. But I'd say get this AFTER you get your hands on a game like Ikaruga (or Mushihime-sama Futari Ver. 1.5 if you can afford a copy). Taking away stuff from the Japanese versions of the game just reminds me why I loathe Namco Bandai so much with their Tales series. It wouldn't hurt to make stuff from the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 versions of the game DLC (or at least make an updated version of the game) to give it more depth and content rather than an arcade port. Overall, it's not a bad game; it's just that Warashi should of handled this much better.
Triggerheart Exelica gets a 7 out of 10 from me.
Triggerheart:
+ Using the Anchor Shot to abuse enemies a la Z.O.E. The Second Runner is kinda fun.
+ Modest soundtrack.
+ Has a deep scoring system.
+ This is the ONLY version of Triggerheart Exelica with online leaderboards.
Heart-breaker:
- Weak "HD" visuals with almost robotic character animations.
- Removing all of the content from the Japanese Dreamcast version is a major letdown, especially for it's price point at 800 MS Points if you ask me.
- The overall game length WAY too short for a shoot 'em up.
- This version of the game (especially in NA and EU) just adds to more reasons why the shoot 'em up genre is not made for any worthwhile storylines (just compare the XBLA versions of the game to the Japanese Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 versions).
- No personal stat tracking, hi-scores, or record keeping unlike other shooters out there.
- Unneeded censorship.