Mobile Light Force 2

Burgeoning developer XS Games has been releasing shooters over the last few months on PSX and PS2 to almost no success (which sucks, but whataya gonna do?). Along with the PSX port of Sol Divide are ports of the original Gunbird (yay!) and this game, Shikigami no Shiro, renamed Mobile Light Force 2 for American shores (which is confusing since Gunbird was renamed Mobile Light Force when the two games are unrelated). Setting aside the name discrepancy, the two games are absolutely excellent. Gunbird is obviously a kick-ass shooter, but Shikigami no Shiro (I will henceforth use the game's Japanese and American names interchangeably) holds it's own as well. Here's moi review...

In releasing Shikigami no Shiro stateside, XS Games butchered the game somewhat. All of the animated cutscenes from the Japanese version were sacrificed, leaving North American gamers with nothing but a shooter and some music suggestive of themes. Although it is unfortunate, there is a good reason for it. The plot centers around a sadistic killer not unlike Japan's own Tsutomu Miyazaki that carves his victims neatly with a knife over a 20 hour period, while they're alive. Kind of grim - make that very grim, and definitely unsuitable for an audience that is quick to strike on any game that tackles mature themes. It's a shame that the entire gaming populace has to suffer because of a certain few groups that refuse to accept games as an artistic medium not unlike film, that appeals to everyone, not just kids.

One slight innovation in Shikigami no Shiro is the Tension statistic, which awards points based on your character's proximity to the enemy. There are eight levels of "tension" in all. Whenever you destroy an enemy, a message will appear right above them stating how close you were to the enemy when it was destroyed. The closeness is then multiplied by the typical number of points for that enemy.

Shikigami no Shiro pits one from six selectable characters (Kuga Koutaru, Yuuki Sato, Hyuga Gennojo, Fumiko Ozet Vanstein, Kim De Jon, and some mysterious character without a name) against hordes of enemies that encase the screen in energy beams. The playing field (which is framed by two vertical borders that give it that arcade-shooter look) can get so chaotic that the player is forced to waste a Bomber just to clear the screen. This overwhelming excess of fire is, of course, a problem with many shooters and not just Mobile Light Force 2.

Shikigami no Shiro offers three types of attack - a regular stream shot (that increases in power and range as levels increase), the Mobile Light Force 2 Attack, and the obvious Bomber/screen-clearing super attack. The MLF 2 attack is almost like a second super, only it's power is somewhat weaker and it does not clear the screen or shield your character. One of my favorite MLF 2 attacks is a guided-bombing from a secondary character, that the player can direct, which inflicts a nice amount of damage on any enemy. The Bombers are extremely useful most of the time, although unlike the other two attack types these are limited to, at most, five per life. Certain Bombers can even kill a boss with full-life in one shot, which is cheap, but thankfully you can't have more than two of those per life.

Collecting certain amounts of coins (dubbed "Items") in Mobile Light Force 2 levels up your character. Higher levels bring a wider range and increased power for the player's basic attack and a slight increase in the other two. Incurring damage (thus costing one life) sets you back a level, and using a continue resets the character to Level 1. Overall, it's a noble idea that should be adopted by future shooters.

Enemies range from robotic ballet dancers to green skulls, all of which shoot some kind of energy beam/projectile/bullet at the character. The bosses mostly suck, with a few exceptions. The boss in the Dock level casts an electric net around the player that morphs into several different shapes. This field cuts the amount of screen you can access in half, which makes for a tough and memorable boss fight.

The gameplay in Mobile Light Force 2 is a mix between bullet-savvy madness of a Giga Wing or Mars Matrix and the more modest Raiden Fighters or Silpheed. When it does get frantic, however, there is still a good chance you can escape without losing a life. The character on-screen is really small, and because of a slight leniency offered by inaccurate collision detection, you can usually squeeze through little spaces between bullets and emerge unscathed.

MLF 2 doesn't break ground visually. The graphics are a bare-bones combination of 2D and 3D. Certain objects are 2D (enemies, your character, every bullet on-screen) and others are 3D (the background, some enemies, bosses). From a technical standpoint, it's somewhat mediocre (it could easily be done on Dreamcast). But the visuals are serviceable, if unspectacular. Those chaotic moments where the screen is littered with bullets tend to look mighty impressive. The problem is, whenever that happens it takes a significant toll on the speed of the game. I don't mind basic graphics, but slowdown irritates me, especially when it's on a powerful console.

In the course of it's five levels, which are each separated into three sub-levels, MLF 2 provides the player with an excellent gameplay experience that tests their reflexes quite well. Although it cannot be compared to more hardcore shooters like Zero Gunner 2 or Mars Matrix, it's still a pretty good shooter. Get it while it lasts - in other words, get it now, as the game is in low supply and has probably been discontinued by the time you read this.