Gradius X: A Space Odyssey (2018)

Name: Gradius X: A Space Odyssey

Developer: Davenport

Story: Eggman has created an army of clone aliens to invade the Earth. Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prowler soar into action in a state of the art space fighter to put a stop to Eggman's evil scheme. That's it: it's a typical space shooter staring the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog.



Writing: It's fine for this game. One thing I've never appreciated is a game berating me whenever I lose a level, but it's a thing and it's something this game does.

Gameplay: This has its good points and it's bad points. The game is beautifully designed with energetic music and set to a fast pace. The screen is always scrolling sideways so you always have to be ready for action, and programming a shmup in RM is not an easy task. The developer has managed to provide a game with diversified enemies and functioning system that works as advertised. When you shoot, you've got a cannon burst and when you hit your target, there's a flash of light and a satisfying explosion. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much of a combat AI. Enemies just sit there waiting for you to shoot them, or they move on predetermined paths and that's basically it.

Direction control is very sensitive making it a pain in the ass to get pods and powerups that are near walls. It would be okay if collision weren't dependent on the RM tile position, meaning you don't visibly touch the obstacles before you're destroyed, making it extremely hard to judge how close you can safely get. Enemy's you destroy leave their wreckage behind for you crash into for a moment, adding an element of irritation you really don't want in a space shooter. I'm not the biggest fan of space shooters, but I've still played plenty of them, and this is the first time I've seen a mechanic like that. Then again, since enemies already pose very little threat, they had to do something. That's a thing: gun turrets don't shoot at you. Standard attackers don't fly at you. Bombers don't follow you. Still, there's plenty of challenge in maze obstacles, and in keeping your ship on the screen. That's right. You're ship does not move with the screen. You have to make sure at all times that the ship doesn't leave the screen, or it'll be destroyed. That leads me to the one mechanic I simply cannot tolerate: in a game this cumbersome and hard to navigate, no matter where or how you die, you must start the level back from the beginning each time. I don't know of any space shooter that makes you do this, and it's definitely not conducive to inviting the player to keep playing the game. One thing that is noteworthy is that each time you restart the level, the enemies fail to return. Yes, once you've killed them, they don't come back, meaning you're basically navigating a maze until reach more enemies.

Powerups give you different weapons. It's a different animation, and the powerup weapons sure look interesting, but I couldn't tell you what advantage they give you. They don't seem to do anything different from your basic weapon. All of the enemies die from one hit and with all weapons, you can only hit one enemy at a time regardless. There's certainly a wide variety of enemies and obstacles, but the moving obstacles are more challenging than the flying enemies! Nothing darts. You don't have to chase anything down. Nothing shoots at you. What Gradius X does is it manages to make space battles feel boring and then adds aggravating mechanics that discourage you from playing an already lackluster game.



Graphics: Graphics are really very good. This game looks exactly like a space shooter should. The screen caps really speak for themselves. The developer has made a very nice looking game here.

Music: Fast paced classic video game music that fits the theme of a space shooter nicely.

Conclusion: There's potential for a really good game here, but this game has a long way to go. You might enjoy it if you don't mind dealing with some of the more unfortunate mechanics this game has to offer. The bad mechanics actually offer a bit of a challenge in their own right. In spite of the lack of challenge that the enemies pose, it is nevertheless very hard to stay alive, and pretty much every death was one that could have been avoided. Navigating the bad mechanics can become a game in itself. That's not a thing I enjoy, and I would say skip this game. Still, I know there are people who would feel differently. If you feel up to it, go ahead and download. The game isn't actually bad. There's just a lot of annoying quirks that I feel take all the fun out of the game.