Update: February 17, 2004
«©NCSX» Join a motley crew of characters in vertical shooting action of the old school sort. There's no buzz gimmickry, polygonal special effects, or cinematic interludes here. Gunbird is all about shooting steampunk robots and metal-heavy bosses while graceful streams of return fire threaten the player. An screen-clearing bomb attack allows for a few seconds of invincibility while also paving the way for your passage. Power-ups may also be picked up to enhance firepower and add oomph to a character's attack.Atlus collects both Gunbird games on a single CD-Rom and slaps a JPY4800 price tag on top of it. The first Gunbird features a cast of five characters to choose from as follows: 1) Ash, the Rocketeer wannabe
2) Marion, a blonde witch
3) A cantankerous robot named Valnus
4) Busty redhead Yuan Nang - she's a ginger with moxie
5) Tetsu, the old codger on a wooden ship First off, Gunbird is an fair shooter. The shots that stream out from normal enemies are avoidable by sufficiently skilled players and this rule applies to all of the end level bosses as well. The enemy shot velocity, pacing, and distance are all designed to give good players an escape route if they're deft enough to map out split-second steams of buckshot. Sure, the game was designed to munch quarters in it's original incarnation - the arcade coin-op - but skilled players will be able to attack the game and fly through it without catching a bullet. One may also go so far as to memorize the shot patterns in Gunbird since boss attacks are fairly routine and follow recognizable sequences. Gunbird 2 features another 5 characters to control as follows: 1) Alucard the Vampire with swishy cape
2) Marion from Gunbird 1
3) Valpiro, who looks like Valnus Deluxe
4) Tavia, a schoolgirl
5) Hei-Cob, the corpulent carpet rider Similar to the original Gunbird, G2 is all fair. It is entirely possible to go through the entire game and twitch your way to the final boss without losing a single life. To add to the fun, there are spots we affectionately call "null zones" during boss attacks or heavy fire situations where skilled players will be able to stand still for 4-5 seconds at a time and watch as streams of fire zip and zoom past without making contact. You'll have to wag the ship every once in a while but even then, only by a centimeter or two at a time, all the while blasting away at the boss. To test this for yourself, try using the schoolgirl Tavia as your "ship." Her graphic/sprite is the smallest and thinnest of all the five characters and she's a breeze to use if evasion is your prerogative. A dazzling level to watch a skilled, evasive player in action is level 1-4 when the Queen Pirate's ship blows up and the metal bird begins spitting out radial bursts of fire. Like all good shooters, the Gunbird games give elite players an escape route from the swarms of firepower onscreen if they're twitchy, coordinated, and good enough. View the back cover on the main NCSX website. Jan Code: 4984995111261 This document is ©NCSX 2004. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of this document may be made without express written consent of National Console Support, Inc.
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