Darius Gaiden

Darius Gaiden is a sprite based shooter that is a graphical masterpiece. It has 28 georgeous levels, tons of powerups, and a two player coperative mode. It had all the right features so it should've been a real winner.

Here is yet another example of what Acclaim does best. They produce great (bordering on amazing) graphical games that fall way short in the gameplay area. Why did it fall short? Well, it's hard to put your finger on it. It just didn't translate well into an enjoyable experience. It felt repetive and boring to me. They did include some features that I would like to see more often. Like the ability to choose your next level. It was layered in a pyramid sort of way to give you the option of one of two paths. This would generally give a game like this a great replay value, but in this case all the levels felt the same. Like I said, it just wasn't an enjoyable experience.

The sound was good, Acclaim is real good at putting on a a big production. They seem to have almost mastered the graphical and sound elements in games. They are always on the forefront of technology. At first glance most of their games have you eager with anticipation. You always think you'll be playing the next best game to come along. Unfortunately with Acclaim, you are usually left dissappointed with the gameplay.

I don't necessarily say these things to bash Acclaim. I just want them to improve in the gameplay area. If there ever was a company with the ability to produce the best games in the industry it has to be Acclaim. Look at Turok if you don't believe me. It shows how far advanced Acclaim is in the technology end.

As another example of what Acclaim is capable of, look at the bosses in Darius Gaiden. They are large, great looking, and awesomely animated. The giant fish of the first level really caught my eye (That one was fun too). It was one of the finest examples of a boss in a game that I have seen. The others were generally the same, but most didn't have the playability of the first boss. See what I mean Acclaim, you have great potential!

In closing I'll just say that in an Arcade, this game does well. At home, it falls way to short to keep you playing long. Pick it up if it's cheap enough, otherwise pass.

Editor's Note:
In a recent letter to Xcessive Gamer, a reader came down on us pretty hard for the beating we game Acclaim on this review. The primary complaint of this reader was the fact that the game was developed by "Taito" rather then "Acclaim", and therefore if we did not like the game it was the fault of the developer and not the producer because the producer doesn't have much to do with the game creation.

To our knowledge, this is not true. At least not entirelly true. Although it is true that the game was created and developed by Taito, it is not true that Acclaim has nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Generally, the producer of a game has the final say as to when a game will be released, and what fine tuning that game will require before it is "fit for human consumption" so to speak. The quality control rests with Acclaim, far more then it does on Taito with this one. If the game was not ready, Acclaim should've made sure the lacking elements were fixed before it was released to the public. Therefore, our decision to bash Acclaim, rather then Taito was based on the fact that they had final say as what the game would be when finally released (Much the same way that Sony must approve any game before it can be released on Playstation. If they don't like it, they say what the problems are and send them back before they are approved for the PS).

Another reason we choose to bash Acclaim, was because so many of their games have similar problems. We feel that Acclaim is just not putting enough into the final outcome of most of the games they produce. Had they made Taito tweek the gameplay in a few areas, and made them add a few more modes or options, this would've been an awesome home shooter. It's still a decent arcade game (with a few minor gameplay flaws), but it really doesn't have enough variety to keep you playing very long. Hence, it's not that good of a home game. I will say however that since this review was written, Acclaim has done a 100% turnaround with some of their games. Turok  is a prime example.... It's AWESOME!!!! (Notice how Acclaim is getting the credit here, when the game was developed by Iguana). I think Acclaim has learned their lesson, and is making the correct moves on it's current lineup.

Anyway, the point is this. We know the game was developed by Taito. Look at the box though... Doesn't Acclaim appear to take most of the credit!!??? Look how big the words "Acclaim" are on the box, and how little "Taito" is. Apparently if the game succeeds, they want the credit. If it fails, they should get the bad press. Actually, the main problem was, that it appears to be developed as an arcade shooter. If this game was slated for home release, it should've been tweeked for home release. Gamers expect to be playing home games for months, and if the variety and tweeking isn't there, they are wasting their money. Heck, I loved this game the first few times through. Wasn't enough to justify the expense to buy though. Acclaim should've done a little more on their end. They picked up a good game, but failed to deliver to the best of their ability for the home market.
 

RATINGS
GRAPHICS 92%
SOUND 90%
GAMEPLAY 65%
ORIGINALITY 60%
REPLAY VALUE65%
OVERALL 74%