Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony (PC, 2011)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8.5 Control-8.5 Challenge-8 Story-6
Level Design-8* Frustration-8 Fun-8* Originality-5
Overall Score-8
*1-player
+
Nice art direction overall
Unusual setting (alternate history Martian colonization+steampunk theme)
Vaunt mode (destroy nearby bullets for a bit with a shield then do 50% more damage+2x points until the meter runs out - fueled by the bolts and cogs picked up from destroyed enemies so you can often keep it going if you play aggressively) - good risk/reward mechanic if playing for score as you want to hold on to one vaunt for as long as possible instead of spamming the shield for a bigger point bonus after it ends
Shop (get money by completing levels (not the gold bolts during levels); alternate ships (gunner/aimed reverse shot, charge, bomber - manually detonate fired shots, etc.; 15 ships in total split into 3 groups - if including the DLC otherwise 5), weapons - armada ships only)
Unlockables (gauntlet mode (cheap) - play every level in one go like a regular shoot 'em up, bonus levels (beat the main levels on hard to unlock the first set then beat enough of those to unlock more; timed survival segments with new enemy patterns - pretty fun, touch the rings challenges - pretty fun, scoring challenges - hard, beat a (shorter than normal) level using one life challenges - still very hard), hardcore mode - coop without auto respawns (expensive though), alternate comedic version of the story - expensive though)
4-player coop (local only though, quite forgiving in the sense that everyone has to die at once to actually lose a credit)
Level select map screen
Intense and pretty varied action
Can use KB&M or a controller (button config)
Aim lock for the ship with the reverse secondary attack (good solution to improving this kind of weapon though another method could be twin stick controls)
Very good-great bosses (multiple phases and sometimes destructible parts, often backed up by unique enemies, intimidating)
Difficulty options (normal-"judgement"/expert+, five levels including the unlockable judgement mode - see below however)
Respawn on the spot (good besides at one point*)
Some revive ally power ups in coop
+/-
Saves after each beaten level
Linear structure?
Donpachi-inspired gameplay (bullet hell gameplay in most levels and at the required difficulty, small hitbox, wide secondary attack (for the first ship) which is stronger but slows your ship down, item magnet near your ship, bullet hell gameplay) - wider playfield however
Non-interactive tutorial (short though)
Very different art style during the cutscenes
Can't pick up new weapons during a level - you choose your ship between levels instead
No speed adjustment - feels just right for normal and hard but a tad slow at very hard/legendary
Some levels have no level hazards (walls, breakable objects and such)
No smart bombs (the brief vaunt mode shield sort of works like a more limited one though)
Can't buy additional HP or weapon upgrades
Can't gain any lives or credits in either gauntlet mode or the regular one level at a time mode (3 credits w/ 3 lives each, pretty brutal for gauntlet mode)
No option for a less wide mode in 1-player
-
Have to beat lvl 1-3 on hard to play level 4 and lvl 1-4 on very hard/legendary to play level 5 - Normal might as well have been called practice+it's more like an easy mode
Some control/interface issues (menus could've sometimes been better optimized for a controller as they make you move an icon towards the button to confirm or go backwards, somewhat loose horizontal scrolling when moving towards the edges of the screen, game immediately goes to the continue countdown after losing all lives - could've delayed this for just 1-2 secs)
The cutscenes are a bit bland (mostly artwork stills and text)
Trial & error (boss patterns, level 5 - somewhat overly dark at times+some really visually busy moments, in one or two spots the horizontal scrolling leads to cheap hits)
A few long pauses in the action (pre-level 5 boss for example)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (spike at level 5 and lvl 4's boss on very hard which is the required mode, some bonus levels like the luge and endurance)
No speed shifts (see Thunder Force II or Air Buster)
*At one point in level 5 the game respawned me in a spot where I would just die again due to being stuck
The bomber ship kinda sucks?
A bit short unless you get Jamestown+ which includes 2 more levels
Bugs:
-Sometimes if you press any buttons while a level is loading the controls get screwed up so you can only move in one direction
Level Design-8* Frustration-8 Fun-8* Originality-5
Overall Score-8
*1-player
+
Nice art direction overall
Unusual setting (alternate history Martian colonization+steampunk theme)
Vaunt mode (destroy nearby bullets for a bit with a shield then do 50% more damage+2x points until the meter runs out - fueled by the bolts and cogs picked up from destroyed enemies so you can often keep it going if you play aggressively) - good risk/reward mechanic if playing for score as you want to hold on to one vaunt for as long as possible instead of spamming the shield for a bigger point bonus after it ends
Shop (get money by completing levels (not the gold bolts during levels); alternate ships (gunner/aimed reverse shot, charge, bomber - manually detonate fired shots, etc.; 15 ships in total split into 3 groups - if including the DLC otherwise 5), weapons - armada ships only)
Unlockables (gauntlet mode (cheap) - play every level in one go like a regular shoot 'em up, bonus levels (beat the main levels on hard to unlock the first set then beat enough of those to unlock more; timed survival segments with new enemy patterns - pretty fun, touch the rings challenges - pretty fun, scoring challenges - hard, beat a (shorter than normal) level using one life challenges - still very hard), hardcore mode - coop without auto respawns (expensive though), alternate comedic version of the story - expensive though)
4-player coop (local only though, quite forgiving in the sense that everyone has to die at once to actually lose a credit)
Level select map screen
Intense and pretty varied action
Can use KB&M or a controller (button config)
Aim lock for the ship with the reverse secondary attack (good solution to improving this kind of weapon though another method could be twin stick controls)
Very good-great bosses (multiple phases and sometimes destructible parts, often backed up by unique enemies, intimidating)
Difficulty options (normal-"judgement"/expert+, five levels including the unlockable judgement mode - see below however)
Respawn on the spot (good besides at one point*)
Some revive ally power ups in coop
+/-
Saves after each beaten level
Linear structure?
Donpachi-inspired gameplay (bullet hell gameplay in most levels and at the required difficulty, small hitbox, wide secondary attack (for the first ship) which is stronger but slows your ship down, item magnet near your ship, bullet hell gameplay) - wider playfield however
Non-interactive tutorial (short though)
Very different art style during the cutscenes
Can't pick up new weapons during a level - you choose your ship between levels instead
No speed adjustment - feels just right for normal and hard but a tad slow at very hard/legendary
Some levels have no level hazards (walls, breakable objects and such)
No smart bombs (the brief vaunt mode shield sort of works like a more limited one though)
Can't buy additional HP or weapon upgrades
Can't gain any lives or credits in either gauntlet mode or the regular one level at a time mode (3 credits w/ 3 lives each, pretty brutal for gauntlet mode)
No option for a less wide mode in 1-player
-
Have to beat lvl 1-3 on hard to play level 4 and lvl 1-4 on very hard/legendary to play level 5 - Normal might as well have been called practice+it's more like an easy mode
Some control/interface issues (menus could've sometimes been better optimized for a controller as they make you move an icon towards the button to confirm or go backwards, somewhat loose horizontal scrolling when moving towards the edges of the screen, game immediately goes to the continue countdown after losing all lives - could've delayed this for just 1-2 secs)
The cutscenes are a bit bland (mostly artwork stills and text)
Trial & error (boss patterns, level 5 - somewhat overly dark at times+some really visually busy moments, in one or two spots the horizontal scrolling leads to cheap hits)
A few long pauses in the action (pre-level 5 boss for example)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (spike at level 5 and lvl 4's boss on very hard which is the required mode, some bonus levels like the luge and endurance)
No speed shifts (see Thunder Force II or Air Buster)
*At one point in level 5 the game respawned me in a spot where I would just die again due to being stuck
The bomber ship kinda sucks?
A bit short unless you get Jamestown+ which includes 2 more levels
Bugs:
-Sometimes if you press any buttons while a level is loading the controls get screwed up so you can only move in one direction