This game is the predecessor to Parodius. The star of the show is a certain Vic Viper, who in his mighty spacecraft must vanquish his foes if he is to star in Parodius and its several sequels.
Not really much to say is there? Apart from the fact that Vic has been shooting his way through the Gradius games since 1985, when he first appeared in arcades up and around the world, and in the Famicoms of the Japanese, then the Game Boy. I believe they've rereleased the Gradius games on the PlayStation 2 now, I've seen the box in a local games shop the other day. Just thought I'd find something to talk about.
Graphics [8.1/10]:
If you've played Parodius before this then you'll be seriously disappointed with the graphics in this game, but the sprites and backgrounds are okay. The problem of slowdown in this game is back though, and is very frequent.
Sound and music [8.3/10]:
The music is quite good and well programmed, but the sound effects are a little dated. There are speech samples in this game and judging by the standards in 1991, they're quite superior to some games you get today.
Gameplay [7/10]:
There's not a lot to do in this game, just two buttons for the gun and power-up facility. The controls are quite responsive but the slowdown of the game throws it into question.
Challenge and replay [7.1/10]:
The game is a bit short, but it has a severely high difficulty curve that'll keep you on those levels for ages.
Conclusion/Overall [7.2/10]:
G3 is a good shoot-'em-up by any standards, but the slowdown lets it down quite a lot.
