The iPhone and iPad have proven in recent months
being excellent machines for shoot'em ups, the maneuverability of this type of
game adapts wonderfully to the touch screen. While we count
several legendary shots made in Cave (Bug Princess, Dodonpachi, Espgaluda
II), Taïto, to whom we owe the excellent and essential Space Invaders
Infinity Gene, counterattack with a surprising adaptation of DariusBurst,
already released on PSP. And the iOS version surpasses that on the Sony console in
everything!
The Darius series instantly became a reference as soon as the
first episode in 1986. Atari ST, Amiga, PC, Master System, Game Boy, Saturn,
TurboGraphx, ...: there is hardly a gaming machine, which does not have
had his version. Released exclusively on PSP and only in Japan at the end of 2009,
DariusBurst is the last episode of the saga. After an arcade adaptation
released at the end of 2010, here it is in its iPhone and iPad version (app
universal).
The “SP” trailing behind the title of this touch version means “Second
Prologue”, a way for the developer to notify the owners of the
PSP version that there is something new here. Beyond graphics at resolution
superior to that on the old Sony laptop, this DariusBurst SP offers
in addition to the “normal” mode a new “SP” mode where everything has been redesigned in terms of
level design and more precisely the behavior of the enemies: we do not
no longer find the same ones, they move differently and attack in a different way
unprecedented. In short, shooting fans will have understood: it is no longer at all
the same game and DariusBurst SP actually offers two in one.
The game itself is pure Darius, that is to say a shoot'em up
horizontal scrolling whose environment is made up of scenery and enemies
made in 3D in a metal-aquatic style. Understand by this that the enemies
look like fish or shellfish robots, a trademark of the
series. In absolute terms the difficulty is not very high, even in “hard” mode.
and we quickly arrive at the end of the journey, except that as for all Darius
who respects himself, we must choose our path through forks
of levels offered at each end of them. In short, there are a total of 11 levels
to explore and you will have to replay several times to finally do them all. If we
adds the famous SP mode, offering concretely 11 other levels, there are
what to do!
Pretty and superbly rhythmic, this Darius SP does not escape maneuverability
adjusted to the hair. We can criticize a rather obscure management of weapons,
the absence of a VF allowing Anglophobes to better understand the
tutorial, but from the general care of the game, its consistency and its lifespan
important, this DariusBurst Second Prologue is certainly worth the detour.
We like:
– Pure and exhilarating shoot’em up.
– SP mode, a second game within the game!
– Increased graphics definition compared to the PSP version.
– Other levels to discover by restarting the game.
– Plethora of options and possible configuration.
– Runs very well on 3GS.
– Universal iPhone/iPad application.
We like less:
– Lack of clarity in weapon management, very random.
– Not very hard, even in Hard mode: turning infinite continues prolongs
the lifespan.
– No French (but it’s not that important)
i-nfo.fr - Official iPhon.fr app
By : Keleops AG
