Under
Defeat is the latest Japanese shmup to see a European release thanks
to the fine fellows at Rising Star Games. Starting Life as a Japanese
arcade game in 2005 by newcomers, Grev ltd, Under Defeat was an
exciting military style vertical shoot-em-up that put you in the role
of a helicopter pilot facing waves of enemies. Nothing too original,
sure, but it stood out due to its excellent graphics, action packed
gameplay and the slightly unusual way of moving your craft. The game
received a home port on the Sega Dreamcast in 2006, but only in
Japan. Six years later a full HD version was released on the Xbox
360, again, only in Japan. Luckily Rising Star games worked quickly
to secure European publishing rights, and a mere nine months later it
saw a full PAL release, dubbed the 'Deluxe edition', it contains all
the DLC and patches, as well as a digital art book and soundtrack CD.
Forgoing
the usual animé madness that usually fills Japanese shmups, Under
Defeat sticks to a more current and realistic military theme. So
instead of bionic insects, samurai ghosts and witches on broomsticks
we have helicopters, tanks and gunships. It is certainly more
'Raiden' than 'Mushihime-sama Futari'. Like Raiden, it is a vertical
scrolling shoot-em-up which requires you to destroy waves of ground
and air based vehicles as you make your way upwards, towards the
large boss at the end of the stage. Familiar territory indeed, but
while the helicopter based shmup action on display may initially
resemble a modern version of Tiger Heli or Twin Cobra, as soon as you
begin manoeuvring your chopper around the screen, you immediately
notice something is different. Unlike most vertical shmups, whereby
your craft always faces up as you dodge and weave your way around the
play area, in Under Defeat your craft tilts at an angle to the left
and right, facing outwards, or inwards towards the enemies. By
default, this is achieved by releasing the fire button and moving in
the appropriate direction. Hold down the fire button and you stay
locked in that position until you let go again. It takes some getting
used to after years of playing the regular control system in other
games, but after several botched attempts it starts to make sense.
This Xbox 360 iteration has a brilliant alternative control method
(one of a multitude of options) that allows you to use the left stick
for movement and the right stick for aiming and firing (done
simultaneously). This is a much more natural way to play for those of
us used to the tight control system of twin stick shooters, and once
used it is very hard to go back to any other way.
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As
with all shmups the plot is utterly irrelevant. Here it is something
to do with a war between the incredibly generic sounding Empire and
Union. Of course none of this can be taken seriously since the main
pilot is a young girl with pink spikey hair. Visually the game is
impressive. The original 2005 arcade version, included here, still
looks great, especially as it is in HD. But the Xbox 360 'New Order
Mode' (fancy talk for wide-screen mode) looks phenomenal. It is a
rare treat to see an HD shmup in full wide-screen glory, rather than
a thin strip in the middle of the screen (usually surrounded by
terrible border artwork) and Under Defeat's wide stages are the
perfect candidate for such treatment. The 3D models look great, from
the chunky tanks which trundle convincingly across the landscape,
felling trees in their path, to the huge sea based warships that take
up several screens and are covered in aggressive gun turrets. Stages
also look authentic, with forests and military bases making way for
desert fortresses and snow capped mountains. The backgrounds are full
of little details and contain many destructible items such as fuel
tanks and ammo crates, which grant you more points should you spot
and destroy them. Explosions are particularly striking and
over-the-top, giving a real sense of impact and destruction. Tanks
explode, leaving burnt out shells, helicopters spin to the ground in
a ball of flames and gun turrets detonate in a huge pyrotechnics
display. It isn't long before the battlefields are covered in thick
black smoke from wrecked tanks, and craters from explosions.
Enemies
come thick and fast, but luckily their patterns are easier to
memorise and navigate than the on-screen cluster fuck usually
encountered in the bullet hell shmups. That's not to say that Under
Defeat is any easier than the wonderful retina destroying blasters by
Cave. In fact I find it harder than both Mushihime-sama Futari and
DoDonpachi Resurrection. With only three credits at your disposal it
is a real triumph just to get past the third stage, but each time you
progress a little further into the game it feels rewarding and drives
you on to another attempt. Soundtrack wise, the game consists of the
usual cheesey Japanese offerings of techno fused rock-pop found in
this genre, but it is fairly suitable and inoffensive.
One of
the main draws of the whole shmup genre is the scoring system. Many
of Cave's offerings have elaborate scoring systems that I never
really fully understand, even after multiple play-throughs. Under
Defeat keeps things simpler in this respect, with a score system that
is easy to grasp, and therefore easier to attempt to better the next
time you play. I don't want to bore you with dull explanations of
numbers, so instead the advice I offer (free of charge) is; destroy
everything you see, shoot the non-hostile ground items such as boxes
and oil drums, try not to die (obviously), and only use your smart
bomb when absolutely necessary as you don't get any points for
enemies destroyed with it. You also have an 'option' available. A
green bar fills up when you release the fire button, once it reaches
maximum a tiny craft appears in front of your ship and provides
additional fire. Anything killed by this 'option' gives you big
points, so it's a good strategy to stop firing when you can to build
up its bar.
The
game has a wealth of configuration options so players can fine tune
the gameplay to their liking. From difficulty selection (note –
easy mode really isn't) to screen and audio options (including an
arranged soundtrack)and fine tuning of your preferred control method.
It really does feel like a complete package.
It's
an excellent shmup, and one that may hold more appear to European
gamers than the overly Japanese games such as Akai Katana and
DonDonpachi. As a full price release it was only ever going to
attract the hardcore fans, but now that it can be purchased new for a
measly sum (£16 at time of writing) it is worth a shot for any
gamers who only have a passing interest in shoot-em-up games. Just be
warned that only skilled gamers will ever see past the first half of
the game.
The
Good
- High octane, action packed shoot-em-up
- Challenging and rewarding gameplay
- Fantastic visuals (especially in new wide-screen mode)
- Complete Under Defeat package
The
Bad
- Manoeuvring your ship takes some getting used to
- Very, very difficult
Developer : G.Rev
Also available on : PS3
Price : R.R.P. £29.99
Price : R.R.P. £29.99
