![]() ![]() It certainly gives both games in Complete Edition plenty of longevity, particularly as Revision not only remixes the game mechanics, it also features different enemy layouts and bullet patterns for each level, too. The more challenging stages are, of course, much more rewarding in terms of scoring potential, but you’ll have to gamble on whether you can survive the onslaught of enemies and bullets you’ll have to face. What this means in practice is that Psyvariar has a pyramid-like structure somewhat akin to something like OutRun, whereby you always start with the same stage, but have the potential to end up somewhere very different according to how well you’ve been doing - and how highly you rate your own skills. If you don’t meet the (unrevealed) prerequisite, however, you’ll go straight to the default option, which features a more gradual difficulty curve throughout the course of a complete playthrough. Unlike many shoot ’em ups, which feature linear progression through a series of levels and perhaps a more challenging second loop if you perform well enough, Psyvariar features a dynamic difficulty level of sorts, whereby at the end of a stage your ship’s current level is checked, and if it’s high enough you’re offered the choice between two stages to proceed to next, one of which bumps the difficulty up somewhat. It’s a little easier to do this with Revision’s redesigned (and largely more conventional-looking) ships, whereas Medium Unit’s odd-shaped vessels can sometimes prove a little confusing. This actually presents one of the more challenging aspects of Medium Unit in particular while in typical danmaku fashion, the hitbox of the ship is tiny, working out where it actually is on the model is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself. At various level milestones, the ship will “evolve”, too, changing its appearance and often its firing configuration. ![]() ![]() Levelling up your ship, as you might expect, causes it to become more powerful, primarily through its default spread of weapons covering a larger area and its focused “roll” shot becoming more powerful. This also tends to mean that by the end of a Revision game you’ll doubtless be a much higher level than the end of a Medium Unit playthrough we’re talking level 70+ versus mid-20s for a player of my level of (in)competence. Herein lies one of the main differences between Medium Unit and Revision: in Medium unit, each bullet may only be grazed once, so levelling is quite slow in Revision, meanwhile, you can continue grazing one bullet for as long as it is on screen, potentially allowing you to set off enormous chains of level-up invincibility. Doing so awards you with experience points, and levelling up your ship by filling the experience meter causes it to become more powerful, with a temporary (albeit brief) period of invincibility every time this happens. Psyvariar’s core mechanic is the “Buzz” system, whereby you build up a counter by grazing against bullets without being destroyed. Given that the standard speed of movement in Psyvariar is quite slow, rolling becomes essential not only to deal significant damage to enemies, but also simply to get around the screen. Doing so, either by rapidly moving from one direction to another or by pressing the dedicated button (which purists refuse to use, because you know what purists are like) causes your ship to focus its fire dead ahead rather than spread it out as is the default configuration, and also move slightly faster. Psyvariar is relatively straightforward to understand, with no complicated weapon systems to worry about - all you have here are standard shots and bombs, though an interesting twist on the formula is provided by the option to “roll” your ship. The version we’re concerned with here is the PS2 port of the game, brought to Sony’s system by Korean developer Skonec, who we last saw here on MoeGamer with VR lightgun shooter Mortal Blitz. This incarnation, known as Psyvariar Complete Edition, includes both a straight port of the original arcade game ( Psyvariar Medium Unit, to give it its full title) and a remixed version known as Psyvariar Revision. Both games play quite similarly, though Revision, as you might expect, adjusts things somewhat and actually ends up being quite a bit easier as a result. Psyvariar by Success Corporation, a company today primarily known for its Cotton series and puzzle game Zoo Keeper, is a particularly solid example with some interesting mechanics, and a game that remains eminently playable today. The early years of the 21st century were no exception, offering us a wide variety of top-notch shoot ’em ups of all types, including bullet hell, traditional side-scrollers, vertical scrollers and full 3D efforts. ![]() Shoot ’em ups, being one of the oldest genres of gaming there is, have been a pretty constant presence in every major generation of gaming hardware. ![]()
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