Silpheed, 1993 Game Arts (20 From Sega/Mega CD #14)
4Absolutely DAZZLING color 3D polygons adorn this vertically-scrolling shooter that also provides lovely sprite scaling and rotation for this visual feast. As far as 3D polygons went, this was as smooth as it got for its time, and not only were they prevalent during gameplay, but in the cinematic cutscenes as well! You might however halfway expect the actual gameplay to suffer a bit in comparison, and you'd definitely be right.. I mean, the graphics on your ship and enemies are definitely disappointing, as is the fairly mundane weapon power up system (apart from being able to assign different weapons for each of your double shots) and kind of repetitive gameplay. But darn it, it's still so worth it for all the visual splendor you get shoved into your retinas! Your ship only has one life, but a shield system (shown at the upper right) allows for 5 hits and then 2 more when your shield is gone. Special items-- including those that can restore one or more of your shield units-- can be gleaned from orange diamonds when shot enough. They can also give bonus points, limited invincibility, or more power for your special weapon (useful against bosses). In between stages you'll be able to choose your different main or optional weapons, but only after you've reached certain point values. Point values gleaned may also factor in to how much shield you get restored before the next stage. The enemies move fast and furious (and herky-jerky) and can pop out from anywhere, upping the difficulty factor, but also remember most of their bullets are slow (enemy lasers, however, can be very fast or instantaneous-- especially the last boss's!). And if the action is too fast and it's tough to avoid smashing into things, USE THE PAUSE BUTTON to catch your breath or plan where to move! Though other Sega CD shooters have better shmup fundamentals, this still belongs in your Sega CD library for its visual merits alone. Follow ups: SILPHEED: THE LOST PLANET and PROJECT SYLPHEED (?).