Great addition to the Raiden franchise. Amazing gameplay, beautiful graphics, and and just plain fun to play!
Raiden IV is everything that Raiden Fighter Aces is not. Raiden IV definitely has a more strategic gameplay mechanism to it than the Fighter Aces compilation. Raiden IV want's you to be patient, sit back, and try to be very defensive rather than kill absolutely everything you see as fast as possible. While this might make it seems less fun, it is in fact very important. This game throws bullets at you from every direction on the screen and unless you're a shmup vet, you prob won't even see which ones hit you.
The game offers varieties of gameplay modes (Xbox, Arcade, Boss Rush) which won't bore you. It does lack online multiplayer, but does include local multiplayer and even an option to control two ships via one controller. Though it does lack online multiplayer, it does have online leaderboards which are very functional in this game. The games allow you record your gameplay and post online with your scores. This is a very practical game feature that has proven to be useful to myself many times while playing through this game.
The game does have 1000 acheivement points, but by any means don't think they will be an easy 1000. In fact, if it wasn't for the user gameplay videos via the leaderboards I wouldn't have made it through many of the later levels. Some of the acheivements are also believed to be lost in translation, as they are very difficult to comprehend.
The major downside to Raiden IV is the lack of ships. Raiden Fighter's had an enormous variety of ship to choose from, while Riaden IV comes with only one ship...which is truly dissapointing. Though, for a 80 MS points each, you can buy two ships that are available via XBL Marketplace. I went ahead and purchased these ships. While I oppose DLC like this in general, I have to reccomend a purchase if you intend to own this game. At least purchase the Fairy, which will dramatically help your progress as a beginner.
Pros:
- Great gameplay
- Great visuals
- Replay ability
- DLC
- Cheap
Cons:
- No online multiplayer
- Only 1 ship available with retail package
- Paid DLC
- Confusing acheievements
Verdict: Must own if a shump fan, rent if a weekend warrior.