As much as I love digging into new console libraries, it can sometimes be challenging to know where to start.
I've looked at a few games on the TurboGrafx-16 at this point, and I certainly plan on checking out a few more. But again, there's the question of how to pick which ones to try next. Do I try and stick with the more well renowned titles on the console, or do I try to keep looking at titles that are less well known. Looking at the better games ensures you are giving the console a fair shake. But at the end of the day, my purpose here is to look at forgotten titles and that means going the latter path. So, which is it.
Well, I guess I'll do a little bit of both. And besides, you could probably argue every game on the TG16 is "off the beaten path" in the eyes of a North American gamer, at least the ones that aren't ports. I also think that when you are looking at genres that aren't necessarily your favorite, you really want to look at better examples to ensure you are really giving the game in question a fair shake. Since the TG16 is a haven for shoot 'em ups, a genre I enjoy but don't love, I decided to kind to go with a more "well renowned" title for the system. I did some research into some of the more well respected games for the system, and one came up on most of the lists.
Developed by Complie and published by Hudson Soft, Blazing Lazers was initially released in Japan in July of 1989. Originally released under the name "Gunhead," the game made its way to North America, with its new title, a few months later. As you might have guessed, Blazing Lazers is a shoot 'em up, a genre the TG16 is known for. This one is a vertical scroller, featuring nine levels full of baddies to blow away. If you have played a lot of these games you know exactly what to expect. You scroll vertically as enemies swarm you from all directions, bouncing around the screen and firing relentlessly. It's up to you to survive any way you can, whether its by fight or flight. While it isn't too far different from other examples of the genre, I think Blazing Lazers did enough different to stand out. While I'm not sure I would choose it over some other SHMUPS I've played, I definitely understand why it is so well regarded by TG16 owners.
I guess I'll start with the graphics and sound, which I found to be solid, if unspectacular. The enemies aren't super detailed, but they are well animated and they stand out against the backgrounds, well. That may sound a little ridiculous, but it can be a major factor in games like this and lead to a lot of unfair deaths. Speaking of the backgrounds, they also look okay. One can only do so much with a space theme, though there is some variety in locations here. The scrolling effect is pretty solid and it really adds to the sense of movement here. The music isn't spectacular, but it sounds nice and it's surprisingly fitting for the atmosphere.
When dealing with SHMUPS, I often find they fit into one of two styles. Either the player is incredibly overpowered but the there are an insane amount of enemies and projectiles, or the player is incredibly limited and there are a slightly less insane amount of enemies and projectiles. BL definitely fits more into the former category, for better or worse. Your ship can take a few hits, a relative rarity in the genre. The more powerups you have, the more damage you can take. Of course, taking damage will cause you to gradually lose your powerups, so it's still essential to avoid contact whenever you can. As I get to know the genre more, I feel like I prefer this style as it leads to far less frustration than dying in one hit. Of course, there are plenty of enemies bouncing around the screen, ready to fire off shots and crash in to you whenever they can. The levels are pretty open, though there are a few obstructions in some of the stages. Most of the time these are obvious, though I did occasionally hit things I thought were part of the background. However, I think the game is pretty fair overall. Enemies have erratic paterns, but they aren't overly ridiculous. Debris will fill the screen, but you always feel like you have somewhere safe to sit. Bosses are big and take up a lot of real estate, but feel reasonably challenging. I think it was fairly well balanced, though it was definitely on the easier side for the genre.
I thouched on it before, but I do think it's worth delving a little deeper into the powerup system here. First, you have your weapons. Destroying special spacecraft will sometimes release orbs numbered one through four. Each of these will provide a different weapon, with 1 for normal, 2 for a wave shot, 3 for a lightning bolt and 4 for a rotating shield. You can upgrade these up to three times each, with the top end providing some truly devestating attacks. But if you have one weapon fully powered up and you pick up another, it's back to the beginning. There will absolutely be times where you have to avoid powerups, which adds a surprising amount of challenge. But there will also be times where you need to change your setup on the fly to better fit the challenges you are dealing with, which also adds an additional layer of straregy. And that's to say nothing of the secondary powerups. The shield will cause you to take less contact damage, while the full shot powerup will further alter how your weapons behave. It's a simple but effective system that makes BL stand out a little bit in a genre that can feel fairly repititious at times.
There are quite a few flaws here, though none of them are especially glaring. The biggest one would have to be the difficulty, which I think was a bit uneven here. I've talked about this in previous SHMUP reviews, but games in this genre tend to live and die by their difficulty. Its fans tend to like their games on the challenging side, and I'm not sure BL really hits that mark. I wouldn't call it easy by any means, but it was a lot easier than most other SHMUPs that I've played. I don't know if it's because you can take so many hits, or because it feels relatively easy to earn extra lives, but I just didn't feel as hopeless as I usually do in these games. I really didn't feel challenged until level five, and I didn't really feel like I was in over my head until level eight (which I affectionately call bubble hell). While that was kind of nice for the purposes of this review, its kind of a problem in a genre where people like their games challenging. I guess I can't call the game too easy either, as the last two levels are truly beastly. But again, that kind of speaks to the difficulty curve not being properly designed.
The relative lack of difficulty also makes BL feel incredibly short. Nine levels isn't necessarily too few for a late 80's/early 90's SHMUP, but it kind of feels like it when so many of those levels are short and simple. Again, you aren't looking for a 40 hour epic out of a game like this, but you do kind of expect to have to play some of these levels multiple times before you are capable of beating them. I think level five is the first one I got a game over on, and I wasn't consistently losing all of my lives until I hit the last two levels. Again, I'm not particularly good at SHMUPs, so I shouldn't be blasting through even the early stages that efficiently. I was able to beat the game after about four or five playthroughs, which seemed a bit too few for someone as not good at these games as I am.
There are other little nitpicks here and there, there could be more enemy variety, the backgrounds could be a little more interesting, the locales could have had more variety, little things like that. But overall, Blazing Lazers is a strong effort and yet another great SHMUP in the TurboGrafx 16's library. That's saying a lot for a console that has quite a few strong examples of the genre. It may be a little on the easy side, but it was so well made, unique and fun that I think it is worth a playthrough. Heck, it might even be a good entry point into the genre for those that find it intimidating. Either way, Blazing Lazers is a good, fun, relatively easy to access (it's available on various online stores) SHMUP that's still worth playing today.
8.5/10
I've looked at a few games on the TurboGrafx-16 at this point, and I certainly plan on checking out a few more. But again, there's the question of how to pick which ones to try next. Do I try and stick with the more well renowned titles on the console, or do I try to keep looking at titles that are less well known. Looking at the better games ensures you are giving the console a fair shake. But at the end of the day, my purpose here is to look at forgotten titles and that means going the latter path. So, which is it.
Well, I guess I'll do a little bit of both. And besides, you could probably argue every game on the TG16 is "off the beaten path" in the eyes of a North American gamer, at least the ones that aren't ports. I also think that when you are looking at genres that aren't necessarily your favorite, you really want to look at better examples to ensure you are really giving the game in question a fair shake. Since the TG16 is a haven for shoot 'em ups, a genre I enjoy but don't love, I decided to kind to go with a more "well renowned" title for the system. I did some research into some of the more well respected games for the system, and one came up on most of the lists.
Developed by Complie and published by Hudson Soft, Blazing Lazers was initially released in Japan in July of 1989. Originally released under the name "Gunhead," the game made its way to North America, with its new title, a few months later. As you might have guessed, Blazing Lazers is a shoot 'em up, a genre the TG16 is known for. This one is a vertical scroller, featuring nine levels full of baddies to blow away. If you have played a lot of these games you know exactly what to expect. You scroll vertically as enemies swarm you from all directions, bouncing around the screen and firing relentlessly. It's up to you to survive any way you can, whether its by fight or flight. While it isn't too far different from other examples of the genre, I think Blazing Lazers did enough different to stand out. While I'm not sure I would choose it over some other SHMUPS I've played, I definitely understand why it is so well regarded by TG16 owners.
I guess I'll start with the graphics and sound, which I found to be solid, if unspectacular. The enemies aren't super detailed, but they are well animated and they stand out against the backgrounds, well. That may sound a little ridiculous, but it can be a major factor in games like this and lead to a lot of unfair deaths. Speaking of the backgrounds, they also look okay. One can only do so much with a space theme, though there is some variety in locations here. The scrolling effect is pretty solid and it really adds to the sense of movement here. The music isn't spectacular, but it sounds nice and it's surprisingly fitting for the atmosphere.
When dealing with SHMUPS, I often find they fit into one of two styles. Either the player is incredibly overpowered but the there are an insane amount of enemies and projectiles, or the player is incredibly limited and there are a slightly less insane amount of enemies and projectiles. BL definitely fits more into the former category, for better or worse. Your ship can take a few hits, a relative rarity in the genre. The more powerups you have, the more damage you can take. Of course, taking damage will cause you to gradually lose your powerups, so it's still essential to avoid contact whenever you can. As I get to know the genre more, I feel like I prefer this style as it leads to far less frustration than dying in one hit. Of course, there are plenty of enemies bouncing around the screen, ready to fire off shots and crash in to you whenever they can. The levels are pretty open, though there are a few obstructions in some of the stages. Most of the time these are obvious, though I did occasionally hit things I thought were part of the background. However, I think the game is pretty fair overall. Enemies have erratic paterns, but they aren't overly ridiculous. Debris will fill the screen, but you always feel like you have somewhere safe to sit. Bosses are big and take up a lot of real estate, but feel reasonably challenging. I think it was fairly well balanced, though it was definitely on the easier side for the genre.
I thouched on it before, but I do think it's worth delving a little deeper into the powerup system here. First, you have your weapons. Destroying special spacecraft will sometimes release orbs numbered one through four. Each of these will provide a different weapon, with 1 for normal, 2 for a wave shot, 3 for a lightning bolt and 4 for a rotating shield. You can upgrade these up to three times each, with the top end providing some truly devestating attacks. But if you have one weapon fully powered up and you pick up another, it's back to the beginning. There will absolutely be times where you have to avoid powerups, which adds a surprising amount of challenge. But there will also be times where you need to change your setup on the fly to better fit the challenges you are dealing with, which also adds an additional layer of straregy. And that's to say nothing of the secondary powerups. The shield will cause you to take less contact damage, while the full shot powerup will further alter how your weapons behave. It's a simple but effective system that makes BL stand out a little bit in a genre that can feel fairly repititious at times.
There are quite a few flaws here, though none of them are especially glaring. The biggest one would have to be the difficulty, which I think was a bit uneven here. I've talked about this in previous SHMUP reviews, but games in this genre tend to live and die by their difficulty. Its fans tend to like their games on the challenging side, and I'm not sure BL really hits that mark. I wouldn't call it easy by any means, but it was a lot easier than most other SHMUPs that I've played. I don't know if it's because you can take so many hits, or because it feels relatively easy to earn extra lives, but I just didn't feel as hopeless as I usually do in these games. I really didn't feel challenged until level five, and I didn't really feel like I was in over my head until level eight (which I affectionately call bubble hell). While that was kind of nice for the purposes of this review, its kind of a problem in a genre where people like their games challenging. I guess I can't call the game too easy either, as the last two levels are truly beastly. But again, that kind of speaks to the difficulty curve not being properly designed.
The relative lack of difficulty also makes BL feel incredibly short. Nine levels isn't necessarily too few for a late 80's/early 90's SHMUP, but it kind of feels like it when so many of those levels are short and simple. Again, you aren't looking for a 40 hour epic out of a game like this, but you do kind of expect to have to play some of these levels multiple times before you are capable of beating them. I think level five is the first one I got a game over on, and I wasn't consistently losing all of my lives until I hit the last two levels. Again, I'm not particularly good at SHMUPs, so I shouldn't be blasting through even the early stages that efficiently. I was able to beat the game after about four or five playthroughs, which seemed a bit too few for someone as not good at these games as I am.
There are other little nitpicks here and there, there could be more enemy variety, the backgrounds could be a little more interesting, the locales could have had more variety, little things like that. But overall, Blazing Lazers is a strong effort and yet another great SHMUP in the TurboGrafx 16's library. That's saying a lot for a console that has quite a few strong examples of the genre. It may be a little on the easy side, but it was so well made, unique and fun that I think it is worth a playthrough. Heck, it might even be a good entry point into the genre for those that find it intimidating. Either way, Blazing Lazers is a good, fun, relatively easy to access (it's available on various online stores) SHMUP that's still worth playing today.
8.5/10
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