Review by: Phil Shen

Well fellow Saturn Owners, we've stuck this long together, and even 
with the demise of our beloved system happening RIGHT NOW, we can at 
least appreciate the fact that there are some gems of games out there 
still.  Maybe not on this side of the Earth, but good games are 
definitely out there. 

I'm of course talking about Soukyugurentai... perhaps the most 
Impressive 32-bit shooter out there (aside from TFV and Layer Section, 
which I will elaborate later). I'm sure you've all heard the hype from 
this site and Saturnworld and from shooter fanatics, but, believe me, 
this isn't just hype anymore--IT'S A LIGHT FROM THE HEAVENS ABOVE. 

Well, let me give a little background. This is a shooter game. It's 
called Soukyugurentai in Japanese, and though SaturnWorld translates 
that to "Blue Sky, Crimson Earth", my Chinese translation of it is 
"Space Battle, Red Ship Fleet". Oh well, there's an English name too, 
and no one uses it: Terra Diver. Believe or not, this game is produced 
by Electronic Arts. I thought they only made sports games? It's 
developed by Raizing, and if they keep up the good work on their next 
products, I'm sold already. Yes, the storyline is very unoriginal. You 
must pilot a lone ship against an evil armada (or company this time) 
and save the day. Well, that's not why we play shooters now, is it? 
Okay, now to the goodies. 

Graphics: 9.5/10 

2-D graphics at it's best. There are PLENTY of mode-7, rotation, and 
immitation transparency effects, and only a teensy bit of slowdown. 
The graphics are on par with Layer Section, and maybe even a little 
better.  But this is fairly standard stuff for shooters, having good 
graphics that is. 

Music: 8.0/10 

Most of the music sounds reminscient of a military march, except for 
the bosses, when suddenly the music changes to a more metal beat. Not 
the best music in the world, but it's pretty good. I'd say they are at 
most memorable after you play a couple of times, but not immediately 
catchy like many other shooters out there. Still, it's nice. 

Sound: 9/10 

Pretty distinct and clear explosions and shot sounds. In fact, 
sometimes they pack a whallop. Play this in surround sound to know 
what I mean. 

Control: 9/10 

Very precise--I can dodge bullets with ease. Oh yes, it also has 
analog control, but I myself never bother using it. This is the first 
shooter I know to take up all 8 of the Saturn's buttons, and in the 
end I still have two left over options I cannot control! Well, don't 
worry, it only takes up 8 buttons if you unlock a secret (some of the 
buttons zoom in and out--very neat!!!). 

Gameplay: 9/10 

You have choice of three different ships to choose. Each ship differs 
in their speed, main shot and their "web weapon". You have one main 
shot that can be powered up many many times. You also have two 
secondary "web" weapons, where if you hold onto the button a web will 
expand out from you (depending on which web it is) and any enemies, 
above, below, or on par with your ship caught in the web will be 
targeted. Release the button and a barrage of lasers/flame/missles 
will discharge from your ship at hit the targets. Layer Section, 
right? Almost. Your web range is huge, and you can fire more than 8 
web shots. Plus, you have a choice of two web formations. One is 
usually one that covers a "cone" area in front of your ship, while the 
other covers a hemisphere around your ship (and is subsequently 
weaker). Then again, depending on what ship you choose, each web span 
and weapon will be different. Each ship also has an arsenal of three 
mega bombs, which do mass destruction and allow your ship to be 
invincible for a few seconds (like Darius). Overall, even if 
the concepts of Layer Section are used over again, it is done to a new 
level. Now you don't have to aim only on on enemies below you AND in 
over a small crosshair. You have huge potential for destruction. 

Level wise there are six relatively lengthy levels. It ranges from 
hovering above a bustling city to flying in space to going back down 
right above Earth's oceans. It lasts overall about 35-40 minutes of 
play to complete the game, and while that seems short I found it very 
convienient with my schedule. I mean, I'm a busy man, and when I play 
shooters, I like to play in series--after completing one game I play 
another. This way I can max out on three shooters within two hours. Oh 
well, that's just me. Even if 35-40 minutes, you're gonna want to play 
this over and over again! 

Challenge vs Fairness: 8.5/10 

I decided to add this here because I like shooters to be challenging, 
but not so unfairly impossible to dodge bullets at times. The problem 
with Darius, Gaires, and a whole crapload of other shooters was that 
sometimes it is impossible to avoid certain objects and shoots, and 
that brings frustration. Shooters should be challenging but FAIR too, 
like my favorite examples of Layer Section and the Thunderforce 
series. I mean, in those games, there may have been a buttload of 
bullets swarming at you, but it WAS POSSIBLE to dodge them all, if you 
are skilled enough.  Well, Soukyugurentai does a very good job with 
being fair, but the challenge needs to be boosted up a small notch. In 
other words, play on the more difficult settings. Sometimes there are 
instances where the barrage of bullets is just too great, but those 
instances are rare, so the game is pretty fair on you. 

Overall: 9/10 

I really love this game. I've played a lot of shooters in my time, and 
this one has all the elements that just is dying to be called 
perfection. Basically, this is one of the funnest shooters I've played 
in a while. Graphcially impressive, musically good, and also really 
fun and challenging. It simply kills most other shooters out there, 
hands down. Well, except for Thunderforce V and Layer Section I. Maybe 
it's just me, but those two other games had something EXTRA EXTRA 
special about them, maybe not to the person looking only for eye 
candy, but to the hardcore shooter player who knows what makes a good 
shooter. Soukyugurentai will probably win over more people than the 
other two games, simply because of it's mechanics and killer graphics. 
But TFV has it's surrealism, music, awesome bosses, and adrenaline 
rush. And Layer Section had it's insanity, it's innovation (the first 
to use that laser lock on!), and it's overall clean-cut appearance. Oh 
well, maybe that's just me. 

Other Notes: 

The game might "glitch" on some converters, but don't let that 
frighten you. All that's screwed up is some Japanese text that appears 
before each level. The game itself has no glitches. 

Oh yes, I've heard there's a version of this on the Playstation. Keep 
in mind I have nothing against the PSX, but for Soukyugurentai... keep 
it on the SATURN!!! The reason is that I've heard the other version is 
no match for our Sega part here, so this isn't some biased thing--the 
Saturn Version really is better! 

Bottom Line: 

This game is an instance masterpiece of a shooter. If you love 
shooters, you MUST GET THIS GAME. If you don't, then I'm surprised 
you're reading this review still.