TAITO – SATURN

There are few things better than playing a sequel of your favourite shoot 'em up for the first time, as half the joy is comparing it to the original. Everything else was second priority when my importer called to say that my reserved copy of Layer Section II, Also known as RayStorm, finally arrived.

What some of you won't know is that besides the popular PlayStation conversion, it exists for the Saturn as well. Unfortunately, MediaQuest, the company who bought the rights to do a Saturn version, decided not to bother with a Western release. God bless the import stores... ;) The game, then. After a good couple of hours playing the game, I ended up feeling pleased. The switch from 2D to 3D graphics went remarkably smooth, although not without faults. I admit I was worried at first because polygonal graphics on the Saturn usually disappoint when compared to other machines. And yeah, most of the transparency effects have been replaced by mesh-patterns and there is the occasional frame-rate inconsistency, but otherwise than that they're very, very well done. For the most part, because some of the levels look somewhat "empty" and less pleasing than those of the original game. But hey, you only have to look at the city or space battle levels and everything is forgotten. The programmers also took advantage of the freedom that polygons offer, so expect camera viewpoint changes and the like as well. This only either happens in the background or at the beginning of levels, so it doesn't interfere with play, luckily.

Another problem though is that sometimes it can be hard to tell everything apart, what with textured polygons all over the place. Less vivid, more realistic colours don't really help either... but then again, what the game lacks in certain areas, it makes up for it in others - like, the bosses! Some of them are conventional larger-than-usual ships, but there's one that deserves a place in the top ten - a Macross style assault suit. Check out the way the plane transforms in a robot, then uses it's machine gun to spread bullets all over the screen! For 3D graphics, these are excellent designs...

Of course Taito is getting a name for itself for it's music, and once more Zuntata is on the case to provide beautiful music while you're trying to save the Earth. The tunes are more "dancable" than Layer Section's but they're every bit as good. Definitely put-it-in-a-regular-CD-player worthy!

Although I sort of miss the violent kabooms, the effects - and those communication voices again - are generally superb. It all sounds very Japanese, which is a good thing, believe me. New features in the game include a choice of three different ships. You can stick to the familiar but dependable R-GRAY 1, but there's also the R-GRAY 2, which has lasers instead of guns and purple lightning bolts instead of homing beams. This ship has less flexibility than the classic R-GRAY, but is capable of doing more damage. The R-GRAY 3 seems identical to R-GRAY 1, but then without the smart bomb function. That's right, smart bombs have been introduced - and it sort of works in the same way the Super Combos in Street Fighter Zero do. Every enemy you destroy fills up the energy bar a bit, and when it's full, you're all set to destroy anything that has the courage to show up on screen. Another addition is, that if you use all your lock-on lasers on the same target at once, it receives SERIOUS damage... and there's a nice fireball effect to go with it. The power-ups are the same as before, but there's a new blue one that powers up your ship to the max. It appears sometimes when you just wasted your last life, and therefore encourages you to use the continues... although that's inevitable if you want to finish the game. It's again very tough, but not quite up to the same hair-pullingly level as the first one. Good news for people who aren't too good at shoot 'em ups...

If forced to choose, I would pick Layer Section though. It play more precisely and is clearer to look at. There are no problems with the 3D perspective either - if you see a bullet coming at you, you know you have to dodge it instead of guessing whether you can fly over it or not. In short; slightly inferior yet worthy and respectable sequel to the legend that is Layer Section.