Gradius II (NES, 1988)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-8
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-(7) Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Good variation
Detailed and large bosses
4 different weapon settings pre-game
2-player coop (too much slowdown though)
Pretty intense at times
Mini-bosses
Sound test (hidden)
Pretty impressive sound quality
+/-
Much easier when fully powered up
Checkpoint system (the game sometimes teleports you a couple of screens forward if you die close to one)
-
Uneven difficulty (asteroid field, safe spot on one boss and some segments, beginning of levels, pathetic final boss)
Severe slowdown (fairly easy to control) and flicker (even on enemy bullets and your ship)
Trial & error (weapon system, boss patterns, speed tunnel and environmental traps)
Very hard to recover after death (sometimes poorly placed checkpoints such as before speed tunnel or second to final boss)
Weapon system is not very flexible (can't switch from double to laser when you need one or the other, need to plan the level ahead through trial & error, can't slow down after speeding up)
Sometimes odd pacing (boss rush in mid-game)
Weapon menu sometimes disappears from view
No difficulty options
Level Design-7 Frustration-9 Fun-(7) Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
Good variation
Detailed and large bosses
4 different weapon settings pre-game
2-player coop (too much slowdown though)
Pretty intense at times
Mini-bosses
Sound test (hidden)
Pretty impressive sound quality
+/-
Much easier when fully powered up
Checkpoint system (the game sometimes teleports you a couple of screens forward if you die close to one)
-
Uneven difficulty (asteroid field, safe spot on one boss and some segments, beginning of levels, pathetic final boss)
Severe slowdown (fairly easy to control) and flicker (even on enemy bullets and your ship)
Trial & error (weapon system, boss patterns, speed tunnel and environmental traps)
Very hard to recover after death (sometimes poorly placed checkpoints such as before speed tunnel or second to final boss)
Weapon system is not very flexible (can't switch from double to laser when you need one or the other, need to plan the level ahead through trial & error, can't slow down after speeding up)
Sometimes odd pacing (boss rush in mid-game)
Weapon menu sometimes disappears from view
No difficulty options