The next title in the G.G series opts to go once again into the shooter genre, and the interesting gameplay manages to set G.G Series SHADOW ARMY apart from its predecessors in a meaningful way. While some aspects of it may be dull and somewhat uninspired, the continuously variable and fast paced nature of its gunplay make it an experience that's both enjoyable and interesting.
The premise sees players take control of a soldier in futuristic power armour as he storms a compound and clears it of hostiles. Character sprites are detailed and well animated, though the environments are admittedly bland and uninspired. Most levels look almost exactly the same, with the only noticeable difference being the occasional palette swap every few levels. On the other hand, the enemies that you engage are suitably diverse from one another, with a new type being introduced every few levels. While things unfold mostly by just following a linear path through a series of hallways, there are occasionally other choices for you to explore that hold ammo upgrades and health pickups.
Gameplay will be familiar to those of you who've played through the Uncharted series; it's the same cover based shooting mechanics, though here it takes place from a top down 2D perspective. You have a machine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher and grenades at your disposal, and it's up to you to decide which weapon to use in which situation so as to keep ammo levels at an acceptable level. Scattered about the hallways are boxes and objects that the player can crouch behind for cover, occasionally popping up to get in a few shots when there's a brief and fleeting cease fire.
Firefights unfold in a fast paced manner and later stages see the enemies constantly trying to flank the player, keeping you on your toes as you dance around the environment in a desperate struggle to gain the upper hand. Levels come in sets of four; at the end of each of the first three stages there's a firefight with a large group of enemies in an isolated room, and the fourth stage is a battle with a boss enemy with a significantly longer health bar and machine gun that can fire a near constant stream of bullets. These larger encounters help to shake up the occasionally repetitive experience and also force the player to employ new tactics to adapt to the enemies.
Conclusion
G.G Series SHADOW ARMY is a somewhat repetitive, though overall enjoyable, 2D shoot 'em up. While the environments and generally slow gameplay progression may sometimes become dull, the shoot-outs with enemies inject some much needed variation and exciting action. The solid graphics and tight gunplay save this from mediocrity and make it one that we'd suggest you look into picking up at some point.
Comments 10
Thinking about getting this because I really enjoyed Assault Buster.
Ah yes, forgot about this one (too many G.G games lol). I'll add this to Assault Buster and Altered Weapon.
Are there any plans to release this series in EU-territories? These games look good for that price.
Lol to stealing Master Chief's character design. XDD
I enjoy this one for what it is, but I think it's one of the weaker G.G. games due to the slow, plodding gameplay and repetive level design. More of a 5 or 6 for me. Some of the G.G. games are true 2 dollar gems (Ninja Kara Kuri Den, Dark Spirits, Black X Block, All Breaker, Assaultt Buster, Air Pinball Hockey, Wonderland, etc. are some standouts) so I'd only recommend this one to ardent fans of the genre.
I found Shadow Army incredibly boring, but I'm glad that others are enjoying it. DSiWare keeps plugging away.
This looks like it would just make me want to play the GBC Metal Gear Solid game, so I think I'll pass. I really need to get that MGS game someday though.
Nintendolife, THank-you for doing these reviews for these games. I really appreciate it. I know they're games most people don't care about, but I appreciate it especially where some of them are turning out to be decent games that I wouldn't be willing to try if nobody was reviewing them.
Sounds good. Add to Wishlist...
the banner looks like bad HALO fanart
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