Gradius III and IV

If you're a fan of the side-scrolling-shooter genre, however, this edition likely will please you. It has almost everything that a trigger-happy arcade hound could want: rapid-fire framerate, lots of color and animation, and that wonderful '80s feel. It also has some of the glitz that younger video game fans demand, such as two completely new CG intro videos that look pretty dang cool.

Konami has pulled out all of the stops in revamping the look of the gameplay, too. The two games now are quite polygonally charged and texturally sophisticated. The graphics now use environmental mapping, and polygon morphing makes the animation very smooth. Another nice feature, especially for a game like Gradius is that a stage-selection mode and a continue feature have been added to allow players to go back to wherever they want to start over, revisit, and/or practice a tricky spot.

While it might not register in the minds of those of us who are addicted to high-profile launch games like Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, Gradius III & IV might be good to buy for casual gamers of all ages and skill ranges, since Konami has added modes for beginners and advanced players. Everyone from granny to baby brother should be able to pick up this title and thrash right out of the box. --Todd Mowatt

Pros:

• Enhanced gameplay nostalgia
• New stage-selection and continue features

• Appealing to casual gamers and fans of the genre only

First things first, i saw a friend play Gradius 3 on a SNES emulator, and i laughed on how stupid it was. I thought to myself, this is another ripoff of GALAGA, or somethin. Now that was a great game.

The graphics aren't bad, while the gameplay makes up for it. The gameplay,was, uhhh......Boring. U do the same stupid things all of the time. Its time to pull a word out of my vocabulary to describe this game. That word is REDUNDANT. The game isnt hard either. It is easily beatable in 45 mins. Thats why they formed two games into one, for the PS2. That means double the fun for Gradius fans, and double the HELL for me.

And my conclusion comes down to this. I read a review and this guy said that this was "the best jet game ever!" HAHA, dont make me laugh. I would rather have my ass kicked by ZABOOMAFOO, than play this game!
BYE


For fans of oldschool shooters, this is PURE GAMING HEAVEN!   January 10, 2004
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Gradius III & IV(2000). A PS2 collection of two classic arcade space shooters.

Back in the 80s and early 90s, space shooters were a very popular breed of arcade game. The first many didn't offer much more than just firing at endless ships over and over again, but several others opted to add something unique to the formula. 1985 saw the introduction of Gradius, a game where you controlled the Vic Viper space jet through many challenging levels full of aliens, robots, and varying terrain. What was unique about Gradius was the customizable power up system it had. At the bottom of the screen, a long list of various upgrades for the Vic Viper is shown, and the more powerups you collect, the more useful upgrades you can acquire. You can add anything to the ship such as increased speed, bombs, multidirectional guns, piercing laser canons, or even add a helper ship to battle alongside you. It's a very deep customizing system, and it only increased with each new game. There was the spinoff Salamander(1986) a.k.a. Life Force, and Gradius II(1988) which were both successful sequels over in Japan. Now we get to this incredible PS2 collection focusing on Gradius III(1989) and Gradius IV(1997). Here's a brief description of each of the games:

Gradius III offers the most levels, most upgrade customizing, and it's also the most difficult release yet. Since it was released back in the late 80s, the graphics are 16-bit quality with midi-sound effects and music. To date, I find this to be my favorite Gradius game of all. The levels offer plenty of variety ranging from sand pyramids, to warping bubble fields, to erupting volcanoes, to stone mountains containing those Easter Island statues, to crystal caves, and even a few bio-organic stages as well. In this game, you only get a limited number of lives, though you can select any part of every stage once you've cleared each one.

Gradius IV on the other hand, is slightly shorter and more simple, yet the graphics here easily blow away the games before it. The sound quality is also much improved backing the gameplay with an awesome cd-quality soundtrack. Most of the stages here represent ones from previous Gradius games, such as the sun-sphere stage from Gradius II. However, thanks to the improved visual quality, Gradius IV takes these stages and adds brand new elements to them, such as the wavering lava in the volcano stage. In this one, there is no stage select, but you can continue as many times as you wish, though it still doesn't help make the game any easier.

The best way to describe the Gradius series is by a phrase I've heard before by another amazon reviewer: "Easy to learn, difficult to master". And it's VERY difficult to master at that. Anyone can easily pick up the game and quickly learn how to balance flying the ship around enemies and managing the powerups at the same time, but it takes great patience and a truly dexteritous gamer to actually make it through to the end. Never before have I played a game that's so challenging, but at the same time a game that I love so much. Even with the deep upgrade customizing system, THE SOLID GAMEPLAY HERE IS UNRIVALED. Remember back in the old days when you got the shivers playing your favorite oldschool game, such as Super Metroid? Well, that's the same feeling I got when I popped in this collection as the rocking title theme kicked in. Pure nostalgic bliss for older gamers. There are a few extra modes as well, and you can unlock them if you beat each game on different difficulty levels.

Despite its genuine nostalgic appeal, this game has received nothing but downgrading reviews. It's just too bad that this game was released right at the launch of the PS2 because it was seriously overlooked in favor of newer games with better graphics. A system launch is the absolute worst time to release game collections like this because most people will only buy the games that utilize a new system's graphic capabilities. It was automatically pushed aside because it didn't "take full advantage of the PS2's cpu processor". Whatever. To me, graphics don't matter much if the gameplay is very shallow. You may think differently, but I play games because of how fun they are, not because a character model has 43 million polygons. Gradius III & IV Collection is a prime example of substance over flash.

PROS
-Fun, frusterating, and challenging gameplay for the fan of shooters.
-2 classic games in one.
-Great music

-many modes of difficulty.

CONS
-may only appeal to the fans of shooter games.
-some may be turned off by its high-curve difficulty

The verdict is that if you like or love oldschool shooters and grew up with them when you were younger, then you should absolutely love this Gradius collection. On the other hand, if you don't like shooters, then stay away. Of course you can always rent the game if you have trouble deciding whether you like it or not. I consider this to be the best $20 I've ever spent on a game. Give it 5 stars if you love this type of game, and 4 if you find it to be too difficult. Also look out for the new Gradius V coming soon. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO FANS OF THE GENRE.

Other games which are similar to Gradius III & IV:
-'Life Force' for the NES
-'Gradius V' for the PS2
-'Ikaruga' for the Gamecube
-'Layer Section' for the PC
-'Radiant Silvergun' for the Sega Saturn