A CLASSY, FUN SHMUP FOR ALL HARDCORE SHMUP FANS (LIKE ME LOL)

Firstly, an apology. I know its been A.G.E.S. since I last updated this blog space. But I have very good reasons why....
(1) I have a life outside of the Internet.
(2) Ive been really sick...really sick. But I'm better now.
(3) Study and work commitments.

So, to all those people who have been nagging me about "When are you going to update that blog of yours already huh??' Then, let me say I'm back in the game, and ready to explore, analyse and divulge the mysteries and wonders of Popular culture.  Right,with that done, lets get busy with this weeks Pop cult corner blog.


The other day, I was having lunch with some mates at the local food court (we had just finished watching Captain America: The First Avenger..I'll do a review for this later...) and somebody raised the topic about classic (i.e. 1980-1990 era) video games that they liked...One mate said for him it was Capcom's arcade classic beat em up "Final Fight" (Three heroes band together to save the daughter of one of the heroes from corrupt gangsters) that has a special place in his gaming heart.



Cody, one of the selectable heroes and the boyfriend of the kidnapped girl, Jessica, does his special ''Spining Kick"attack on a group of thugs and the stage one end boss...Meet my leg to your face fighting style...Heyayyyaaa!!!



 

Another mate said it was Namco's 'Splatterhouse' beat that was responsible for eating up most of his lunch money at the local arcade, everyday after school.




The main protagonist laying into the forces of evil on the first stage with a cleaver....Have Cleaver, will chop!!


 When my turn came, I calmly told them that the video game that I was really addicted too was called "Rayforce''.  This immediately gave rise to a few raised eyebrows as well as a few "never heard of that before...whose in that??" (Ha, and you call yourselves video gaming connoisseur , rookies..I thought to myself). So, then the history lesson began....

RAYFORCE is a vertical shmup (abbreviation for shoot em up) game first released by game developers TAITO back in the mid 1990's.  Taito game developers are better known for other video gaming titles like BUBBLE BOBBLE, ARKANOID, and the epitome of classic shoot em up gaming, SPACE INVADERS.



The Granddaddy of all shmups...You cant really call yourself a serious shmup gamer without at least knowing what this is...

Basically, you are the pilot of an awesome revolutionary spacecraft that blasts off into the unknown depths of space to save the Earth from an artificial super-computer that has gone insane, wiped out all humanity and is now using Earth as a mobile space station to seek out and destroy surviving humans now leaving on other colonies.  (Yeah, storyline is very convoluted and ultimately takes a backseat to the action to come).



The Rayforce spacecraft engages with the enemy on the first stage. What you don't see is just how fast and sudden these bad guys come at you.  You really have to stay focused on this one.

The space craft is called the RVA-818 X-LAY that has been costumed fitted with two types of weapon systems.  One is a primary weapon in the form of a straight laser used against air based enemies that gradually increases in power and size when you get power ups that the enemy drops.  The other is a nifty lock-on homing type missile based useful in taking out annoying ground based enemies.With each power up, the lock on increases in speed and number of missiles fired.



The Rayforce spacecraft about to engage with the first stage end of level boss in the background..Nice!

Apart from the frantic game play and action, another standout feature about this game for me was the in game music.  It is often said that the OST (original soundtrack) of a game can help to make or break it.  In my view, it is the thumping, up-tempo electronic synthesizer inspired music coupled with the fast pace nature, makes this a truly memorable and exciting shmup experience. The OST track that stands out for me is  on level 3 entitled "Vision", composed by gaming music maestro Tamayo Kawamoto-The ethereal, melodic eletronica track will have you cranking up the sound volume to maximum, and (if your like me) will be stuck in your head lol, that eventually you will try your utmost to find the mp3 file for it...trust me. Anyway, here is a sample of  that aforementioned music tack I was talking about.

Well, I couldn't find the track for the arcade version of Rayforce...dang.  Rather, here is version that was released for the Sega Saturn home console version.  It was given a different name, but gameplay is exactly the same as the arcade version...If you want an mp3 version of this, then google search is your friend :)

To sum up. Rayforce is a fun, sassy shmup that will satisfy any hardcore shmup fans appetite. A rockin head nodding sound track, gorgeous graphics and frantic gameplay. make this a quintessential addition for any shooter em up fan's collection.  

And because I'm sure your all curious about what it looks like, here is some video footage of Rayforce's stage one. (Props to Youtube for the footage). There is a PC version of this and If you want to find the game, again google search is your friend....

 

You'll come back now..ya hear!!!