Released: 2003
Price: £56
Bought from: videogameimports
What at first seems like a fairly standard horizontal shooter soon reveals itself as a fiendish and clever beast. The basic principle of the game is that there are 3 different 'Borders' - Green, Yellow and Red; Green being the easiest and Red being the hardest. At the beginning of the game you can select which border to start in and each time you die mid-level you automatically move down to the next border until you die in Red where you run out of lives. Hence if you start in the Green border you have 3 lives but if you start in the Red border you only have one.
If you die in a boss encounter you stay where you are until you expend three lives whence you are given the option to continue (if you have any continues left, that is).
Provided you hit the par score for each level, you can choose which border to start the next level on. If you don't hit the par score you start on the border you ended the last level on.
Finally, although the game gets harder (i.e. moving down a border) each time you die, ff you don't die on a level, although you start in the same border on the next level, it is harder than if you died on the previous level but hit the par score and chose the same border for the next level. This is because the game keeps track of how good you are and adjusts the following level's difficulty depending on your success even in the same border. Phew!
Simple then ;)
Don't worry, when you play the game it all makes sense.
Gameplay.....
Hmmmm. think I got carried away and covered the main gist of it above; to continue then..........
As with most modern shooters the game is as much about scoring as it is about killing, but don't worry, there's plenty of killing to be done. Each level throws wave upon wave of beautifully 3d rendered enemy scum at you and the explosions are very satisfying. The bullet count can escalate to epic proportions at times, particularly if you go through each level without dying (bordering down) as the game really starts to ramp up the difficulty. But fret not, the ship is a joy to control and there are always plenty of spaces to pull off some particularly spectacular dodging manouvres.
The ship has a choice of three speeds which can be selected at any time and this is one of the few shooters I have ever played where you need to change speed regularly. Generally speaking, set it to slow when there's truckloads of bullets coming at you, and fast when there are few fast bullets flying around the screen to avoid.
As for the weaponry, in a similar vein to ikaruga there are no different weapons to collect, you keep the same laser through the whole game.........but oh, what a laser! Your laser power gradually increases with time over five power levels. You can also jump up the power level by collecting power up icons left by certain enemies when they are destroyed.
Holding the fire button down gives you a constant stream of laser whereas tapping the button fires a load of homing lasers all around the screen. You also have an alternate huge red laser that does large amounts of damage and absorbs bullets, but using this reduces your normal laser level until it hits level one when you can't use it any more, so there's an obvious trade off here.
There's plenty of longetivity in the game, there are at least 6 levels to the game and once you get past level 2 there are 3 versions of each level (one for each Border). There is also a remix mode which completely changes all the levels and makes them all a lot harder, so you've basically got 2 great games in one. Plus the game is so good even when you've finished it you'll want to go back and play it again just for the sheer joy of playing it - it really is that good. There's also a practice mode so once you completed a level you can practice it to maximise your scoring tactics.
The Visuals.......
The visuals are excellent, very bright crisp textures and lovely 3d models abound in every level. the backdrops are superb and there's a bit in each level where the perspective changes as you fly across the landscape, which is nice. Highlights are Level 3 where the background is a big fire fight between massive hulking space transporters and the bosses on Levels 4 and 6, but I shan't spoil them for you.
A friend commented that whilst it looks lovely, it isn't as stylish as Ikaruga, and I have to say I agree. Border Down's visual style is, perhaps, a little more 'cartoony' than Ikaruga, however I do think it is equally as good, visually just in a different way. I recently had the pleasure of playing the arcade version on a Naomi DX deluxe cabinet at Funland, and the massive screen made it look even better.
This is one of the best looking shooters around, period.
Music.........
I wouldn't normally make specific comments about the music in a game unless it is either so brilliant it deserves mention or so awful it threatens to spoil the gameplay (Shikigami No Shiro 2 anyone?). Thankfully this falls into the former category. The music is a mix of cheesy dance and jazz fusion all expertly arranged and programmed/recorded. The tunes will take a long time to leave your brain and the soundtrack is so good I went to great lengths to track down the OST which has now become one of my favourite albums!
It was all done by Yasuhisa Watanabe (Yack) an ex-member of a group called Zuntata who recorded a lot of game music for Taito. If anyone knows more about the guy please mail me.
In Conclusion.....
When I pre-ordered Border Down I didn't really know what to expect, sure i'd seen the screenshots and the tiny movies on the sega site but these couldn't hope to convey the gameplay in all it's glory.
After it came through my letterbox, within the first 5 minutes of play I knew it was going to be good. After many more considered hours of playing it i'm pleased to say it is an absolute triumph. The simple gameplay, spot on handling, fantastic graphics and great music combine to make one of the most well rounded and engrossing gaming experiences money can buy.
Rarely does a game this good come along and I genuinely believe this to be the best game I have ever played (yes, even better than Ikaruga). G-rev, I love you.
