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PS2
Homura
- New Import |
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NCS Synopsis
©NCS:
Countless games have been set during the Warring
States period of Japan when clans fought for control
of the entire country. Taito's vertical shooter Homura is
also set in the fractious period with but the historic
backdrop is secondary to the shooting action which
is reminiscent of Psikyo's Sengoku Blade where the hero is
capable of blasting shots and attacking with a
sword. The original arcade hardware was based on a
Taito Type X which sports a Celeron running at
2.5GHz and pipes video through a stock AGP Radeon
9200SE with 128MB of onboard ram. Overkill specs for
a 2-D vertical shooter? Absolutely... but Homura
shows no slowdown despite the amount of enemies and
shots that roll, rotate, and swirl on screen. Even
on the PS2 conversion, there's no slowdown for an
excellent home conversion of the coin-op original.
The game
mechanics are fairly routine with players
controlling a hero who battles wicked generals who
all morph into mighty demonic alter-egos.
The "O" or "SQUARE" button blows out shots while the
"X" or "TRIANGLE" button swings a sword. The sword
may be used to reflect and deflect enemy shots right
back at them for a added bit of strategy and high
scoring tactics.
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NCS Game Notes™
* There is no cinematic intro but little
images of the characters from the game flip and flick
in the title screen. The main hero is a masked ninja
who swings a sword and blasts shots while he flies vertically upwards.
The sword serves a dual purpose - one to attack foes
and another to deflect bullets.
* Upon pressing START, the options are as follows:
1) START New Game
2) GAME Configuration / Set the amount of lives,
amount of bombs, difficulty level, sound mode,
continue capability, monitor aspect ratio, the score
upon which another "Continue" is gifted, controller
settings, and ranking reset.
3) SAVE/LOAD game data and set AUTOSAVE mode if so
desired.
4) GALLERY / View five pages of character artwork
and sketches. Only three pieces may be viewed at the
outset but an additional 52 pieces of artwork may be
unlocked as one battles through the levels.
5) RANKING / Check out the top 25 scores in the
game. The default initials in this are HMR but we
soon hit 8th place and replaced HMR with NCS. The
top score is at 1000000000 and 25th place
scored 4000000.
* After starting NEW GAME, a short tutorial teaches
the different attacks and systems that are in
effect.
When the game starts, the sun is setting
amidst a hazy cloud-filled sky and the color is
fiery orange. Our hero flies downwards through the
clouds with cape fluttering and onto a level where
temples and buildings lie underneath. He's en route
to Osaka Castle for a fight against a boss named
Kobayakawa. The movement of the hero may be
controlled through the D-pad or L-analog but the
L-analog is preferred.
Red
circular objects attack first and they fire off slow
motion bits of laser fire. Hit either the O or
SQUARE button to shoot while the
X button swings a sword but once swung, it is
not available again for a 5 second interval. Listen
for the sharp
ping sound and wait for the greenish hue to swirl around the
hero before swinging again. After the red enemies, robotic
machines with propellers attack followed by blue
warriors who shoots out a distinct patter of fire.
To set off a screen clearing blast, hit the L1 or R1
trigger.
The first level boss is a laughing caped fiend
named Aki
Kobayakawa who battles with a massive
tank-like robot as a backup partner. The tank fights
first and it seems like it's not much of a boss.
Then it starts shooting out star shaped buckshot
bursts that radiate outwards to confirm that its not
much of a fighter. The starburst shots which are
followed by slow-moving snowball shots may look
impressive but they're easily avoided with proper
timing and twitch maneuvering. At
the beginning of a starburst shot from the boss when
the shots are tightly compacted, and before they
radiate, try swatting them back with a sword attack. Our highest shot hit-back was 245 but we're sure that higher numbers
are possible.
Once the tank is destroyed, the caped Kobayakawa enters the screen, mumbles a few words,
and
transforms into a massive demon
with sharp toenails and leathery green skin. Added
accessories include lengthy pincers which are
attached to its shoulders and a gnarly tail. It
shoots out closely compacted red and blue shots that
aren't too difficult to maneuver but then it shoots
out a laser beam and alternates tightly spaced shots with
fast moving streams of red fire that converge on your
location. Then there's the bluish-white blobs which
all conspire to fill
up the screen with a maze of shots. The demon's a
little tougher to beat but conservative use of the
deflection slash and copious amounts of fire will
eventually bring it down. When beaten, it sprays out
a foggy haze of green ichor and crumbles to
its death. A few seconds later, it blows up in a
powerful cloudy green explosion.
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* As mentioned earlier, enemy shots may be smacked
right back at them by swinging the sword.
When smacking shots back, there are times when
you'll swat back 100 shots and be rewarded with
1000x100 points.
To put the shot-smack move to the test in the first
level, wait until there's a bunch of blue warriors
on the screen. They'll release a conglomeration of
blue shots. Just as they're about to hit you, press
the X button and you'll see many of the shots
quickly shot back at their shooters to wipe them
out.
* The second level takes place
over a forest and a
craggy mountain area in Iga Ueno and the boss is Hattori Hanzo aka Devil Hanzo.
His namesake is proven when he changes from ninja warrior
into a dark winged demon.. Enemies in the
level include big bats and
smaller winged enemies. The early part of the
level is tricky mainly because there's loads of
enemy fire mixed with cascading gold coins
for a visual overload of little objects on screen
simultaneously. The mid-level boss blasts out a nifty flame effect and also
shoots out a veritable constellation of shots and a
literal web work of firepower that requires herky
jerky joypad action to maneuver through. There are a
couple of chances to earn 1000x100 shot-whack bonuses
in this encounter. Later in the level, the bats
shoot out a thick arc of red shots that require even
more shot-whacking. The end level boss Hattori is a doozy with a
fast moving attack where he shoots out shots and
quickly moves from location to location to mix it
up. Similar to the first level boss, it will
eventually transform from a ninja to a dark demonic creature
that spits out streams and streams of fire. Streams.
*The sword attack has a different effect when it is
used directly on the body of an enemy instead of
their shots. Hitting an enemy with the sword will
cause every object on screen at the time of the
attack to freeze for a split second. A ray of destruction
then passes between the frozen enemies to destroy
them all. For an added wrinkle to the gameplay, try
going through the entire game by only using the sword
attack to swat back shots and to trigger the
freeze-attack effect. It is possible to battle the
bosses with just the sword attack also. Enemies that
are destroyed in this manner will release coins that
will fly to your player
directly without you having to claim them.
* When coins are collected, a clattering sound
effect may be heard. It's reminiscent of old school
shooters if you're into nostalgia.
There's a little attraction between the player and
the coins although it's not strong. While the coins
won't be drawn into the player, they will gravitate
towards him when he's close to them. If they are
far, they'll just drop downwards out of the screen.
* In each level, there are two paths to the left
or right that may be chosen by moving underneath
either scroll that appears on either side.
* Homura is a highly enjoyable shooter with
interesting sights and a gimmick that works well.
Instead of unlimited swats to beat back shots, the 5
second
interval
moderates the difficulty level. The bosses put up a
fairly good fight and skill is required to flit from
area to area in order to avoid their attacks. The
first level is simple and introduces the player to
the mechanics but the subsequent levels bump the
difficulty up a notch. The game also doesn't give
unlimited continues - only a few are allowed before
the game ends. There are extends however if you
reach certain scores to allow for an additional
continue. The first extend is earned when you reach
150,000,000 and the second extend at 300,000,000.
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This document is ©NCSX 2005. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
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Title screen |
Enemies converge |
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Wait for the green hue to appear... |
Then smack a foe to trigger freeze attack |
Tank boss from the first level |
Early part of level 2 |
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