Chaos Field: Expanded

Shooter fans rejoice as Sega's vertical scrolling shooter, Chaos Field, hits Japanese Cubes in 'Expanded' form - with PS2 and Dreamcast versions also available, believe it or not! Kikizo's verdict and direct videos.

	Version GameCube, PS2, Dreamcast	Developer Milestone, Inc	Publisher Sega	Genre Shooter

By Joseph Jackson

Sadly, with each passing console generation, it becomes more obvious that the shoot-em up genre is a dying breed - which is probably why almost every 2D-styled shooter released nowadays has hardcore "shmup" fans scrambling to grab a copy as quickly as they hit the market.

Chaos Field, the latest arcade to console shooter release, first saw a Dreamcast release back in December, and according to several import shops, was pretty well received. We've been blasting through the import Dreamcast version since its release almost three months ago, so when the GameCube version finally hit Japanese stores - sporting an additional play mode and the Expanded subtitle - we just had to get our hands on it for review treatment.

While Chaos Field doesn't stray much from the tried and true mechanics of traditional shoot-em-ups, it does a fine job of borrowing ideas from various shooters of the past and bringing it all together to provide quite a frantic shooting experience.

As a vertically scrolling shooter, Chaos Field's gameplay doesn't really need much explanation outside of the basic shooting and evading mechanics. At the start of the game players can select between playing the standard arcade mode or the newly added Original mode. When playing Arcade mode you're provided with a choice of three fancy-looking ships to choose from at the selection screen - each represented by their respective humanoid pilots: Hal, Ifumi, and Jinn. The balance between speed and firepower differs from ship to ship, so it's up to players to settle on which ship best suits them.

Of course with fast paced, chaotic shooters of the like speed and maneuverability are of the utmost importance, and we're happy to report that Chaos Field is no slouch in that department; all three fighter ships control quite well allowing for easy maneuvering through the barrage of enemy fire they'll encounter.

The weapons arsenal of the three ships get the job done, although those looking for tradition screen clearing megaton bombs or super weapons will have to look elsewhere as there are none here. Each craft is locked and stocked with weapon systems containing three types of offensive & defensive type weapons as well as a shield system that allows them to take some damage before being blown to smithereens.

Standard shots - which vary from vulcan shots, lasers and bombs - are fired by tapping or holding down B; lasers that can home in on destructible bullets and enemy weakspots are activated by holding down and releasing the L trigger; while hitting A activates some sort of energy sword that can be used both offensively and defensively to swipe away at weak spots and enemy fire with a windshield wiper-like motion, absorbing the destructible bullets and lasers while evading the indestructible ones. While not all of what gets thrown at you can be absorbed, being able to eliminate a good many of them gives you more of a fighting chance to successfully navigate through the non-stop swarm of enemy fire.

The gameplay interesting to say the least, as is the number of enemies you do battle with throughout the entire game. Unlike other shoot-em-ups there's no armada or swarms of enemy ships to ward off, Chaos Field's standard arcade mode plays like the Boss Rush sections of the Gradius games where you just face off against different bosses, one right after another, without having to deal with any lower level enemies. As a result of this type of gameplay design the 4 levels - also known as phases - feel incredibly short but are by no means easy as you'll have to utilize all of the weapons in your ship's arsenal in order to survive. And therein lies one of the more challenging aspects of Chaos Field, coordinating well enough to effectively utilize everything in your ship's arsenal to blast away at bosses while dodging and swiping away at bullets.

As players continuously blast away at bosses, building up their score and combo counter in the process, they'll be rewarded with Meta Stock, items that are released after destroying different sections of the enemies you encounter. Fortunately with the amount of enemy bullets you'll get inundated with during these encounters, you won't have to risk getting yourself killed trying to collect Meta Stock as simply ceasing fire for a short while will cause them to be drawn towards your ship like a powerful magnet! The advantage of collecting Meta Stock is that additional offensive & defensive attacks will become available with every ten you collect - and a total of ten Meta Stock enabled attacks can be stored and used when the situation calls for it.

So far Chaos Field sounds like your standard every day vertically scrolling shooter, one that borrows heavily from great shooters of the past - but there still has to be a twist, right? Every shooter released within the last few years contained some unique feature or gimmick, and that's where the Chaos Field mode comes into play.

By hitting the X or Y buttons players can toggle between the game's two field modes, "order" and "chaos" fields. You begin each phase in the normal mode, also known as the "order" field where the action flows by at a smooth pace and enemy attacks are frequent but easily avoidable most of the time. However, switching over to the "chaos" field not only produces the effect of the bright backgrounds changing to darker more crimson colored backdrops but also intensifies the action in the process.

In Chaos mode not only are your weapons enhanced but enemies attacks become more intense, making for a tougher game while in this mode. So why bother switching over to Chaos mode at all then? Aside from increasing your ships' firepower you also become momentarily invincible while switching between order and chaos, adding even more strategic play to the game.

While the standard arcade mode appears to be identical to the NAOMI/Dreamcast edition, the newly added original mode attempts to add a little more meat to the game's thin bones by providing a handful of lower level enemies for players to battle through before taking on the boss characters from the arcade mode. Despite the bosses being the same however, players will need to utilize different battle strategies against the bosses in the original mode since they attack differently, rendering any pattern recognition learned from the arcade mode useless here.

So in a nutshell, Chaos Field is a pretty short game with only four phases to complete, only a handful of enemies to battle throughout the entire game, and nine continues at your disposal. Piece of cake right? NOT a chance! This game is tough and unless your shooter skills are top-notch, you won't be seeing the end credits of this bad boy anytime soon unless you get lots of practice. The challenge level of Chaos Field is moderately high as enemies inundate you with almost endless of gunfire, putting your coordination and maneuvering skills to extreme test as you're kept in constant motion all throughout these hectic battles.

Graphically Chaos Field is a decent shooter that's on par with the Dreamcast version - but without the nasty slowdown that rears its ugly head early on. But still, there's nothing here that's really going to make you sit up and take notice. Player ships are no doubt the most impressive of the bunch, with their large sizes and detailed designs giving them a more mech-like look.

Enemy ship designs are a sharp contrast to that and are a little underwhelming, as it appears as if the designers took no risks in that department and just went the safe route, resulting in enemy designs that are a bit too common and generic. The 3D backgrounds are also a bit bland and repetitive in a lot of areas, but do look nice with the sweeping camera angles providing more dynamic views (reminiscent of Ikaruga). On the bright side (pun intended!) the lighting effects are pretty solid and are close in quality to those of Ikaruga making for some big, bright, beautiful explosions.

Audio wise, Chaos Field sports some upbeat, albeit generic techno tracks that help drive the frenetic shooting action experienced throughout the game. Sound effects are also serviceable although not as varied as I would have liked.

Overall, Chaos Field is another solid shooter release on the almost shooter-baron GameCube. It's not gonna go down as a classic but its well designed and a worthwhile experience. Utilizing familiar gameplay paradigms of shooters past, Chaos Field doesn't really venture out of the norm, doesn't try to innovate or bring anything new to the genre, instead what you get is a collection of already well-established ideas brought together into this hybrid blaster.

What we liked were the sweeping camera angles, some of the hard driven techno music, and the chaotic shooting action with swarms of bullets filling the entire screen. What we didn't like so much were the generic enemy designs and the boss-to-boss battle design of the game. While the brand new original mode is a welcomed addition, it honestly does very little to differentiate itself from the "boss rush"-like experience of the arcade mode, and often feels like a bit of a half-assed effort.