"Like the arcade version, except annoying"
Heh, somebody released Raiden II for the PC and I bought it! Is it as fun and furious as the arcade version? Does it have all the levels and weapons? Can you play 2 players at the same time? Yes to everything, but it does have one thing that will drive you mad. This game stops when it needs to load data into memory from the CD! Is that crazy or what? Most PCs today have 64MB or more, and this game can only load half a level into memory? What are these programmers thinking?
Graphics: 6
Similar to the arcade version in every detail. Even the smaller explosions and flying ship parts can be seen. But one thing,
the resolution isn't very high for a game that was made only a year or so ago. You have 640x480 or 320x240. That's it! What happened to 800x600 or higher? I know the graphics didn't take up the entire CD so what's going on here?
Sound: 6
Same techno beat soundtrack that you hear in the arcade version. I think it's played right off the CD, but it's nothing special. The explosions and enemy ships crashing can be heard too, but once again, nothing special.
Playability: 5
Why give Raiden II such a low score if it's exactly like the arcade version? Because of the stop in action. This is extremely annoying when it's a shooter like Raiden. You have to stop right in the middle of firing while the CDROM loads more of the game into memory. And you know you have more than enough memory to load one level. So what are these programmers thinking?
Story: 1
This is a shooter and it's got a shooter's story, which involves you fighting endless waves of enemy craft and that's about it.
Difficulty: 7
You know how sneaky this game can be. Some of the enemy shots are slow, but every once in awhile, a fast enemy would come out of nowhere and fire one really fast shot. This happens in the computer version too. There's also the obligatory sniper guy you all hate as well as how the bosses seem to explode right after you die.
Overall: 6
This would have been much higher had it not been for the annoying stop in the middle of the game while it loads the rest of the level problem. All you game programmers, don't do this in the middle of a shooter!!!! Plus the graphics could have been cranked up a bit with today’s modern computers. But this is still Raiden, and if you can't get your hands on the much better Playstation version, than the PC version is not bad.
