Gradious Galaxies

Visuals: 4/5
First off, the graphics are top notch, with great looking backgrounds, and some nice looking enemies. Everything has a good amount of detail to it, and the game even looks good when blown up on a big screen, when using the GC adapter. The only complaint about the graphics is that the game is really dark, but if you are using the Advance SP, or if you have a good lighting addition to your GBA (and there are hundreds out now, so you should), it's not a problem at all.

Sound: 3/5

Nothing spectacular here. Better sound effects than III or IV, but not by much. Instead of going "BOP" when a baddy gets shot, it makes a small crush sound. The lazer shots don't quite sound as annoying either, but the music score is a little annoying sometimes.

Gameplay: 4/5

Everything you'd expect from a Gradius game, except for one thing: In previous Gradius games, if you pumped the difficulty up as high as it would go, and you died in the middle of a stage and lost all your power-ups, it was extremely difficult to come back. That does not hold true for this game. You can continue from just about any part of the game and make a comeback fairly well, as the designers usually place a significant amount of powerups at each respawn portion of the game. The only time that the game is next to impossible without powerups is when you've beaten the game several times through, and are playing on a high loop setting.

Extra: 4/5

It's great that you can continue from any respawn point that you have reached on any difficulty setting! This allows for gamers to pick up, play for a few minuettes, and when they die, put it away so that they can play later at almost the spot they died. I also like the hint section, even though it doesn't do any good if you are playing on anything higher than normal difficulty.

The reason I gave 4/5 for extra, is because in previous Gradius games, the player could customize the ship more. In this one they have a bunch of presets that are fairly well balanced out.

Overall 4/5

It's a great game for gamers that are new to shooters and shooter fans alike. The lower difficulty settings, good respawn points, and hint modes, make the game pretty eassy for beginners. The ability to continue from spots after looping through the game allows for advanced shooter gamers to play at extremely difficult settings. I'd call this game a must have for GBA owners, unless you're really not interested in intense gameplay.

Gradius gives lots of cool and customizable options, but your ship's starting speed is so slow you can't even avoid being hit by enemies with 2-3 seconds to react! Once you can get a speed power up things balance out, but seriously the game is complete frustration trying to dodge slow moving enemies with a sluggish ship and still not being able to do so.

Avoid this game unless you are a Gradius freak and need to re-live the old days.

However, what it really set this game aside from the rest of the shooter games outside is that this game is based on over-decade time testsed formula, which let you power up your spaceship according to your need. Choosing your ships and powering up certain part becomes very crucial throughout the game and that really adds alot to the not only the game but also replay value. Graphic was what anyone would've expected from Konami (just like castlevania) and some BGM were familiar since they were rearranged from previous Gradius games. Control wasn't as smooth as previous Gradius games (especially Saturn version with import games) because of the GameBoy Advance D-Pad itself, which is sorta difficult to move your ship in diagonal direction with ease. However, that little problem will be overshadowed by high qualities of Gradius.

I really hope that Konami would keep certain games like Castlevania and Gradius series the way they are right now, 2D with crisp graphic, gorgeous BGM, and old but the best game play you can find. This game will definitely satisfy Gradius fans and it is the best shooting game you can find from GameBoy Advance. [...]