Raystorm

Although StarFox 64 will gather son as the year's best shooter, RayStorm for the PlayStation is worth a look. Flying in the classic Taito top-down mode, this shooter is exactly like others from the bygone genre (including StarBlade Alpha and Xevious 3D), but the graphics are a step above the others with multilayered background targets and cool transparency effects, especially underwater.

The gameplay is dated, however, and the techno-driven soundtrack tries to impress but comes up short. Fans of classic shooters will have a good day with Ray-Storm--but gamers expecting anything more than Cradius flipped sideways will probably want to rent this one just for the weekend.

The olden days of shooters that caused gamers' hands to sweat because of the intense action are about to return-in one game at least. Spaz Games, a division of Working Designs, makes their PlayStation publishing debut with RayStorm.

In the future when space travel is commonplace, colonies start and prosper on other planets. To maintain order. Earth lays down martial law. Many of the inhabitants of the colonies revolt and plan to take back control.

The revolution turns ugly and the leaders of the revolt want to destroy Earth, after removing all of the people from it.

A special attack force was formed within the revolutionary community just in case this happened. After all. they can't just go around destroying planets. So. it's one gamer against an entire fleet.

These gigantic odds are what shooters are all about and are what gamers can't help but love.

RayStorm features two modes of play: Arcade Mode and Extra Mode. Arcade Mode gives players the opportunity to play RayStorm as it was in the arcade, while Extra Mode gives players a chance to go against even greater odds and see some enhanced graphical effects.

All of the graphics are polygonal-even in the cinemas. The hi-res look of the game could very well be the best graphics on the PlayStation in a while.

There is no weird polygon breakup at all. Along with these great graphics come lighting effects to die for-explosions never looked so intense!

The game features huge Bosses with multiple hit areas. For example, the first stage Boss, a large spider-type vehicle, has different segment and legs that explode and blow off if hits are concentrated on them.

After each level, a percentage meter appears letting gamers know how they scored. By hitting more enemies, a higher hit percentage is achieved, thus a higher score. If players use lock-on missiles to take out the ships, then this percentage is higher.

Ray Storm also has large background effects that players can blow up. In one level, large battleships can be destroyed by locking on and shooting them with missiles. Even though they're far in the distance, the ships explode. This can increase gamers' scores.

The sound effects are electrical with plenty of speaker-thrashing explosions and hearty laser effects. The soundtrack is fast-paced, perfect for a shooter.

First released in Japan by Taito, RayStorm is a sequel to RayForce (aka Galactic Attack on the Saturn).

If you feel it's about time we get a good of' fashioned shooter back into our mits, it might be a good idea to look for Sony's latest shooter Ray Storm-published by Spaz, a new division of Working Designs. This title combines classic elements of shooter excitement (multiple weapons and power-ups) with beautiful graphics and stunning sound. Ray Storm uses an auto-locking feature on its ships for those elusive enemies. This gives your ship extra potency against enemies that are up-close and personal. Just run the crosshairs over an enemy and watch a missile target the lock you have on him. Ray Storm doesn't have a whole lot new in terms of originality, but the combination of great shooter elements is what really make this one favorable. And you thought sprite-based games were all but gone in a time when polygons reign supreme.