Monday, December 7, 2015

DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours Review (PlayStation Vita)

"A legend revived!"

Game Title: DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours
Genre: Shoot 'em up
Developer: Pyramid, Chara-Ani
Publisher: Degica
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours


DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours is a Shoot 'em up or Shmup in today's terminology, it is one of the best and long running shmups in history. With a story that takes you across the entire Darius history, that's right from the start up until the end, and that time will be the least of your worries.


It is an enhanced release of the PlayStation Portable game, Dariusburst by Taito. DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours is developed by Pyramid in collaboration with Chara-Ani, and published by Degica in the west. Although the game was originally a Taito mainstay title, Kadokawa Games handled the publishing of the game in Japan. And by "enhanced" I mean "beyond recognition!" the game is studded with new content, enhancements, a story that now spans across the entire Darius history in which the original game would even pale in comparison.


The game is presented in a horizontal orientation, much like how Gradius and R-Type is oriented. It features two modes, namely AC Mode, where you can play Dariusburst Another Chronicle, and CS Mode, where the entire history of Darius awaits you. What's best about the game is that the player has the freedom to choose what path they should take due to levels having different branching paths. Additionally, the game is also famed for its unique bosses that resembles sea creatures, and can range from fishes to crustaceans.


AC Mode in particular stays true to its 32:9 aspect ratio, thus making the view-able area to be letterboxed to match the arcade's original aspect ratio. I for one am not pleased with this, its great that they've maintained a "standard" of sorts but they could've at the least added a way to stretch the screen to fill the entire screen, I know that it's not ideal but I literally can't read what's on the screen. Unlike AC Mode, CS Mode is a full blown marvel, with the story spanning the entire history of Darius, new and old bosses from across each era of the series, all the current ships featured throughout the game plus a new one, and hours of high-speed action fun.


Graphics wise, it concisely delivers what the game should have, as the game is presented in a high-quality and vivid environment, each bullet can be seen quite clearly and is still by far noticeable. The soundtrack is really exotic, the tracks lacks proper categorization making such tracks a unique piece to hear, the game also features blips of orchestra that, in additional, is so pleasant to hear.


The game is not without flaws, apparently I've encountered several instances where during gameplay, I would just get a notification saying that the game has crashed, a message that will leave players in bewilderment. Loading times and severe lags also rid about during the summary of results that are presented to you after a stage.

OVERVIEW:
Quality ◆◆◆◇◇
Gameplay ◆◆◆◆◇
Replayability ◆◆◆◆◆
Execution ◆◆◆◇◇
Verdict:
DARIUSBURST Chronicle Saviours is the complete revival of the Darius franchise, featuring everything that the entire series has to offer. Though not perfect, each element in the game is worth the time to explore, the more you immerse yourself the game is the more you tend to feel the rush and excitement that it has to offer.
8.7
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Overall Score

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