This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on August 3rd, 2019. The initial review missed the paragraph about the game's sound design, but it has been re-added here.
Good evening and welcome to another PlayStation Basement! PlayStation Basement runs every Saturday with a review of an obscure or odd game for PS1. I don't like numerical reviews too much, so the games are rated Good, Neutral, or Bad. Let's go!
Thinking about the anniversary of Apollo 11, today we're talking about RayStorm (aka Layer Section II), an epic shmup from Taito. A sequel of sorts to 1994's RayForce/Galactic Attack (the games share the same gameplay but have a seemingly unrelated storyline), RayStorm was released to arcades in 1996. It was ported to the PlayStation January, June, and September of 1997 in Japan, North America, and Europe respectively. The excellent Working Designs did the North American port under their Spaz label. RayStorm was also released on Sega Saturn in October 1997 and on PC, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Android in later years.
RayStorm is one of my favorite games of all time. It takes place 200 years in the future from tomorrow (August 4th to August 7th of 2219). In the game, space travel has existed for 100 years, and humans have established space colonies in that time. Unfortunately, the federation that controlled the planets ruled them with an iron fist, leading the colonies to join together as the Secilia Federation against the Earth. The player controls one of several experimental R-Gray fighters, built from the remains of 13 Secilian starships, to defend the Earth from the rebel attack. Hopefully, the battle will lead to a just and equal peace in the future, but we'll have to play and see.
The cover art for RayStorm shows two R-Gray fighters flying over a city as explosions and lasers erupt around them. The American and Japanese covers show the same image, but the American one is zoomed out and tells the viewer about a contest. Since it’s a Working Designs game, it also has some nice foil effects. The European cover art is the same idea, but the image is different. The ships are depicted with some different designs and from a different angle. Also, the text has changed to resemble something from the Wipeout series. I like the North American art the best.
Graphically, RayStorm is more impressive than it might appear at first glance. Unlike RayForce, RayStorm features polygonal graphics in a beautiful and bright color scheme that looks the party of sci-fi. There are tons of different enemy types throughout the game's eight levels: odd spinning machines, sea serpents, small ships of various types, and even some massive battleships. The bosses are impressively big as well, and, like the battleships, have numerous destructible components. The levels themselves are varied, all cool in their own way. From the watery Old Gaul City to the Carthage Base in Secilia's orbit, there is a lot to see. You may have caught on - there is an analogy to ancient Rome here. Hannibal is at the gates.
The sound in RayStorm is entirely excellent. Just like the game itself, the soundtrack is one of my favorites ever. Zuntata is always excellent (another great one of theirs is Night Striker), and RayStorm's OST features awesome prog/jazz fusion/city pop tracks that all fit the levels they correspond with nicely. The sound effects are snappy and spacey. I love the sound of the lock-on weapons firing, the explosions, and the short clip that plays when you pick up a powerup. RayStorm will not disappoint in the sound department.
The gameplay in RayStorm is excellent. It's a vertical space shooter (shmup) with three selectable fighters: R-Gray 1, R-Gray 2, and the unlockable R-Gray 0. R-Gray 1 is a beginner ship with a medium attack strength burst shot and eight lock-ons. R-Gray 2 is much stronger with a solid laser beam weapon and 16 lock-ons. R-Gray 0 is a weaker prototype of R-Gray 1.
The main idea in RayStorm is the element of different layers and capability for the player to lock on to distant enemies. By moving a crosshair over any enemy on screen, a target will appear on them and remain until they are destroyed or leave the screen. With the press of a button, the player can attack all of the enemies, leading to massive score multipliers with each enemy destroyed. The lock on weapons can hit enemies in the distance while the main gun just shoots straight ahead. There's also a screen-clearing special attack with limited uses.
Otherwise, RayStrom shares similarities with many other shmups. Your ship is small and destroyed with one hit. You gather powerups to boost your ship's capabilities, but unlike Gradius, these are somewhat minimal. Your weapons never change, but you can boost their power. A red crystal boosts the main weapons power, a yellow crystal boosts the lock on weapon's power, and a green crystal adds an additional lock on (up to the maximum discussed above). A blue star increases the ship to the highest capabilities all around. It usually appears when you continue or lose a life making this game a bit kinder than Konami's series. My only criticism of RayStorm is that the player's ship is kind of slow. That's not the biggest issue, as the powerful weapons make speed less required and planned, tactical movement more necessary.
Some extras round out the package. The game offers two-player simultaneous play and two bonus modes: Extra Mode and 13 Ship Mode. Extra Mode mixes some stuff up, changing some enemies, enhancing the graphics, and changing the time of day of each level. The 13 Ship Mode is for experts, allowing only 13 lives. After every few lives lost, the player must use a different ship. Each mode has its own ending. There's even a remixed soundtrack, though I prefer the original. Finally, if you were lucky enough to own this game when it came out (and have a complete version unlike the copy I got at Funcoland in 1998 or so), you could participate in Working Designs’ contest to win $10,000. Seemingly because of this mode, you can't adjust the difficulty of RayStorm below the normal mode without putting the game into a training mode that stops after stage 4.
Since my first PlayStation demo disc (Interactive CD Sampler Disc Volume 4), I have been fascinated by RayStorm. From attack ships on fire off the shoulder of the Earth’s orbit, the 3rd fleet of the Secilian Federation led by Hannibal, to beams that glitter in the dark depths of the Juda Central System within Secilia itself to the soundtrack and the anti-war, anti-imperialism storyline, RayStorm is a masterpiece. If you haven’t played this game, I heavily encourage you to do so.
RayStorm receives a Good.
Good evening and welcome to another PlayStation Basement! PlayStation Basement runs every Saturday with a review of an obscure or odd game for PS1. I don't like numerical reviews too much, so the games are rated Good, Neutral, or Bad. Let's go!
Thinking about the anniversary of Apollo 11, today we're talking about RayStorm (aka Layer Section II), an epic shmup from Taito. A sequel of sorts to 1994's RayForce/Galactic Attack (the games share the same gameplay but have a seemingly unrelated storyline), RayStorm was released to arcades in 1996. It was ported to the PlayStation January, June, and September of 1997 in Japan, North America, and Europe respectively. The excellent Working Designs did the North American port under their Spaz label. RayStorm was also released on Sega Saturn in October 1997 and on PC, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Android in later years.
RayStorm is one of my favorite games of all time. It takes place 200 years in the future from tomorrow (August 4th to August 7th of 2219). In the game, space travel has existed for 100 years, and humans have established space colonies in that time. Unfortunately, the federation that controlled the planets ruled them with an iron fist, leading the colonies to join together as the Secilia Federation against the Earth. The player controls one of several experimental R-Gray fighters, built from the remains of 13 Secilian starships, to defend the Earth from the rebel attack. Hopefully, the battle will lead to a just and equal peace in the future, but we'll have to play and see.
The cover art for RayStorm shows two R-Gray fighters flying over a city as explosions and lasers erupt around them. The American and Japanese covers show the same image, but the American one is zoomed out and tells the viewer about a contest. Since it’s a Working Designs game, it also has some nice foil effects. The European cover art is the same idea, but the image is different. The ships are depicted with some different designs and from a different angle. Also, the text has changed to resemble something from the Wipeout series. I like the North American art the best.
Graphically, RayStorm is more impressive than it might appear at first glance. Unlike RayForce, RayStorm features polygonal graphics in a beautiful and bright color scheme that looks the party of sci-fi. There are tons of different enemy types throughout the game's eight levels: odd spinning machines, sea serpents, small ships of various types, and even some massive battleships. The bosses are impressively big as well, and, like the battleships, have numerous destructible components. The levels themselves are varied, all cool in their own way. From the watery Old Gaul City to the Carthage Base in Secilia's orbit, there is a lot to see. You may have caught on - there is an analogy to ancient Rome here. Hannibal is at the gates.
The sound in RayStorm is entirely excellent. Just like the game itself, the soundtrack is one of my favorites ever. Zuntata is always excellent (another great one of theirs is Night Striker), and RayStorm's OST features awesome prog/jazz fusion/city pop tracks that all fit the levels they correspond with nicely. The sound effects are snappy and spacey. I love the sound of the lock-on weapons firing, the explosions, and the short clip that plays when you pick up a powerup. RayStorm will not disappoint in the sound department.
The gameplay in RayStorm is excellent. It's a vertical space shooter (shmup) with three selectable fighters: R-Gray 1, R-Gray 2, and the unlockable R-Gray 0. R-Gray 1 is a beginner ship with a medium attack strength burst shot and eight lock-ons. R-Gray 2 is much stronger with a solid laser beam weapon and 16 lock-ons. R-Gray 0 is a weaker prototype of R-Gray 1.
The main idea in RayStorm is the element of different layers and capability for the player to lock on to distant enemies. By moving a crosshair over any enemy on screen, a target will appear on them and remain until they are destroyed or leave the screen. With the press of a button, the player can attack all of the enemies, leading to massive score multipliers with each enemy destroyed. The lock on weapons can hit enemies in the distance while the main gun just shoots straight ahead. There's also a screen-clearing special attack with limited uses.
Otherwise, RayStrom shares similarities with many other shmups. Your ship is small and destroyed with one hit. You gather powerups to boost your ship's capabilities, but unlike Gradius, these are somewhat minimal. Your weapons never change, but you can boost their power. A red crystal boosts the main weapons power, a yellow crystal boosts the lock on weapon's power, and a green crystal adds an additional lock on (up to the maximum discussed above). A blue star increases the ship to the highest capabilities all around. It usually appears when you continue or lose a life making this game a bit kinder than Konami's series. My only criticism of RayStorm is that the player's ship is kind of slow. That's not the biggest issue, as the powerful weapons make speed less required and planned, tactical movement more necessary.
Some extras round out the package. The game offers two-player simultaneous play and two bonus modes: Extra Mode and 13 Ship Mode. Extra Mode mixes some stuff up, changing some enemies, enhancing the graphics, and changing the time of day of each level. The 13 Ship Mode is for experts, allowing only 13 lives. After every few lives lost, the player must use a different ship. Each mode has its own ending. There's even a remixed soundtrack, though I prefer the original. Finally, if you were lucky enough to own this game when it came out (and have a complete version unlike the copy I got at Funcoland in 1998 or so), you could participate in Working Designs’ contest to win $10,000. Seemingly because of this mode, you can't adjust the difficulty of RayStorm below the normal mode without putting the game into a training mode that stops after stage 4.
Since my first PlayStation demo disc (Interactive CD Sampler Disc Volume 4), I have been fascinated by RayStorm. From attack ships on fire off the shoulder of the Earth’s orbit, the 3rd fleet of the Secilian Federation led by Hannibal, to beams that glitter in the dark depths of the Juda Central System within Secilia itself to the soundtrack and the anti-war, anti-imperialism storyline, RayStorm is a masterpiece. If you haven’t played this game, I heavily encourage you to do so.
RayStorm receives a Good.
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