E3 2003: Gradius V Hands-On

Konami unleased Gradius V at the show, and here's what we think - but be warned, this reporter is a tad biased.

Earlier in the year when the announcement of Gradius V was made, I nearly dropped to my knees and gave thanks to the gaming gods. After playing the amazing Ikaruga for countless hours on end and just adoring Treasure's totally awesome shooter, I was quite ecstatic over the news that not only was Gradius V in development and set for a Fall release in Japan, but also that the brilliance of Treasure would once again shine as its developer.

Entering E3, I prayed and prayed for Gradius V to be there and in the end my prayers were answered beautifully. Almost giving up at first as I walked through Konami's booth and saw no signs of Gradius V, I sighed and began to exit Konami's booth. As I was rounding the corner to leave I was stopped in my tracks and literally speechless as I bore witness to two playable Gradius V setups on the outer areas of the booth. Apparently, the look on my face was priceless, while my verbal reaction will have to remain censored.

In Gradius V, the Vic Viper returns to the classic horizontal scrolling shooting world with new weapons and option controls, 12 upgradeable power-ups, wicked level designs, intense gameplay, cool music and fabulous graphics. The biggest and newest addition to the series is the cool new 2-player co-op mode, where you and a friend can blast off together and take on all types of enemies throughout the Gradius universe.

Gradius V contains seven stages of intense shooting action, there's so much going on that you'll probably never stop moving throughout the entire game. Blink once and you're dead.

The difficulty and gameplay of Gradius V is just pure madness at times. Gamers who complained about Ikaruga's high difficulty will surely CRY over the difficulty of Gradius V and think Ikaruga was easy. Unlike Ikaruga and other shooters where they start off easy and then become more difficult as your progress through later levels, Gradius V starts off hard and just works its difficulty level up to INSANE, and that's just the first two stages. Non-stop hordes of enemy ships are out for blood and are relentless in their pursuit of your destruction. Constant enemy bullets, laser beams, energy beams and space objects are thrown your way, putting your evasive maneuvering skills to the ultimate test.

The graphics of Gradius V are quite gorgeous! Highly detailed and beautifully rendered 3D graphics with horizontally scolling 2D gameplay mechanics. Blazing lighting effects with some very nice explosions throughout the game. And smooth animations with plenty of other nifty graphical touches that makes the game's visuals just a feast for the eyes.

Despite initially being ecstatic over the news of Treasure developing Gradius V, I have to admit that I was worried about them handling the game's soundtrack. As much as I love Treasure, I only have faith in Konami's Gradius sound team when it comes to providing music for this beloved series.

Unfortunately, with all the other games turned up loud at the show I couldn't hear whether the game's soundtrack had the trademark in-house Konami sound or whether Treasure handled that aspect as well. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that Konami did the music as I feel they're one of the top three developers in the game music department besides Sega and Falcom, and are the only ones who could provide it with the most appropriate Gradius style tunes.

For now, the only downside is that the game seems to be a Playstation 2 exclusive, which means I have to play it with the cursed Dual Shock controllers I dislike so much. Playing the game at E3, the almost detached design of the Dual Shock's D-pad made maneuvering around smoothly a little harder than it would be on a fully connected D-pad but luckily I managed. Fortunately Gradius V has both analog and digital control support and despite the controller issues, which I'll rectify by purchasing a Saturn style pad for the PS2, the game is just a marvel in the gameplay department.

Gradius V releases this Fall in Japan and a U.S. release is expected for Winter 2003. Expect some massive Gradius V coverage then as I'm getting an import PS2 just so I can enjoy Gradius V immediately after its release.

Joseph Jackson
Staff Writer, Kikizo Games