Official Website

Platform: PSP

Genre: Retro Action

Number of Players: 1
 

If you don’t know the name Vic Viper, chances are that you’re a part of the new generation of gamers, but those of us who have been long time players remember it fondly. Vic Viper of course was the name of the character whose ship you were in control of in a series that has become a legend; Gradius. Over 20 years ago the first Gradius hit arcades and revolutionized what could be done with horizontal, side-scrolling shooters. While Defender might have the honor of being the first game of this type, but it really was Gradius that paved the way for games like R-Type and a lengthy list of others. We all know that retro gaming is incredibly popular these days, and Gradius is back again, but not as a whole new game, but instead a collection from yesteryear.

The Gradius Collection brings together five different entries into the series, not counting some of the offshoots like Parodius (unfortunately), all on one handy little UMD. Gradius, as far as the name, is the planet that you will be defending. This beautiful world as become the target of an evil race known as the Bactrian, and Vic Viper has taken on the mission to stop them.

In 1985 the very first Gradius was released and that led to a franchise. All of the games play very similar to one another, and just like any other shooter for that matter, but that doesn’t mean that Gradius is a simple game. This is a series that’s all about shooting as fast as possible, though the PSP version does allow you to have a turbo mode and save those fingers. As you blast ships out of the sky you will often times find red orbs to collect. These will allow you to power up your ship and increase your speed, upgrade your type of fire, add missiles, throw some options around your craft (these also will fire), and add in shields. You can upgrade yourself or allow the game to do it for you, and some versions of Gradius give you the choice of manual or semi-manual upgrade. Others still will give you the ability to play around with editing the upgrades prior to gameplay, making a much more unique experience. The game also feature blue orbs that destroy everything on the screen, though they are few and far between.

Survival is the key here, and when you’re not dealing with enemy fire, missiles, odd spacecraft, and avoiding crashing into something, you have bosses to contend with, and some of these can bring a quick end to your mission. Defeating some, particularly in the earlier Gradius games, will require you to shoot the core, but as the series progresses, this option is done away with much of the time in favor of shooting various parts of a boss, and it’s not always a piece of cake either.

The Gradius Collection includes five different Gradius titles included the first four as well as Gradius Gaiden. The game allows you to customize just about everything for the difficulty, the number of lives that you begin with, and you also have original arcade mode and enhanced, which is a full screen version of the titles. You also have some bonus content available to you such as the music from the series, once you’ve at least reach a given stage of course, as well as movies from the games. If you’re wondering the “the code” works (and if you don’t know what that is, you really haven’t been playing game long enough) there is a variation of it, though I found a few games where it seems that it can only be used once. And no, the code in this case is NOT up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A start, only because the PSP has no A and B buttons, but trust me, there is a similar code that is in the game.

As you may have guessed, with five different games, there is a definite difference in graphics. The original Gradius looks rather primitive in some regards, but it’s still incredibly addictive to play through and still remains a classic. The graphics begin to improve in look as you play the other sequels, and Gradius Gaiden is a very enhanced and gorgeous version a the series that many of us have known and loved for quite a number of years. The original Gradius though still remains my favorite with Gaiden following close behind, but to be truthful, there really isn’t such a thing as a bad Gradius, and I still find myself playing the PS2 version periodically.

Like many retro collections, there really isn’t anything wrong with this game in the least, and while long time gamers are going to HAVE to add this into their collection, the new school of “next gen” gamers is going to find that Gradius is actually quite a bit more challenging that some of the new games that you see on the market. They might make shooters of this breed prettier these days, but they certainly aren’t as addictive or, at times, frustrating, and the Gradius Collection brings together the original and greatest shooter of all times in a handy, on the go release that is going to bring the good old days back into the palm of your hand.
 

-mike-