dead girls and enchanted firearms

I see pal CJ has decided to continue what he started over at 8-Bit Gadfly, and I applaud his decision to do so. I’ve reached a point where I’d rather read about lousy old videogames than make the effort to play them myself. (This is not too far from my attitude regarding current superhero comics, actually.)

Elemental Gearbolt is a high fantasy-themed light gun game developed by Alfa System for the Sony Playstation in 1997 and localized for the American market by Working Designs. The game’s plot deals with a rebellion against an overreaching technology-based empire, and unfolds over a series of anime cutscenes which play between the levels. It’s all very confusing, as the plot sequences flip back and forth between different time periods, all of which are wrapped up in the framework of a scholar-narrator’s long extended flashback about the events in question. While it may be tricky to figure out what the heck is going on at times, I appreciate the efforts by the designers to aim higher than the default “kill everything that moves” shooter genre backstory.

The game’s graphics were excellent for its time, although judging the aesthetic merits of old polygon-based PS1 games has gotten more difficult as time and technology progresses. Sprite-based graphics tend to stand the test of time better, either through detailed 2D artistry (Chrono Trigger) or iconic design (Robotron: 2084). In contrast, even the most sophisticated polygon-based PS1 game from a decade ago looks like a rather crude precursor of the fully-rendered, high powered wonders to come. That’s probably why the old PS1 games I still play with some frequency tend to feature prerendered backgrounds (Parasite Eve) or sprite-based graphics (Valkyrie Profile, the Suikoden games, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night).

The gameplay is pretty standard on-rails light gun shooter fare with a couple of flourishes tossed in to freshen things up. The player can switch between multiple fire options (rapid, strong, and spread) patterned on the elements, and the genre convention of reloading by firing off screen has been replaced with preset rates of fire. The player also has the ability to level up and alter character parameters between levels, which adds a very limited RPG feel to the proceedings. It’s a fun game, and has a certain epic quality that no other representative of the light gun genre can match, but in some ways that works against Elemental Gearbolt. It requires an investment from the player that runs counter to the “pick up a gun and shoot stuff” quick and easy entertainment ethos of the genre, best typified by the Virtua Cop and Point Blank series of games.

The game’s soundtrack, composed by Kei Wakasuka is outstanding. It consists of symphonic arrangements with heavy use of choral and wind elements that lend the affair a suitably epic, yet mournful tone. (You have to expect “somber” in a game where the protagonists are executed sisters turned into reanimated angels of destruction.) While this style has become de rigueur for RPG games, rarely has it been done this well. I don’t regret the steep price I paid for the soundtrack at all.

From the Elemental Gearbolt OST (1998):

Shou

Sei

Bu