Mobile Light Force 2

For those that do not know, this game is the 1st in the CASTLE OF SHIMIGAMI series. Unsure why they named it Mobile Light Force and =also put that cheesy artwork. This is a SHMUP (Shoot em Up) and its part of a great series in this genre. I've got Castle of Shimigami 2 & 3. I purchased this when I found out about it.

Let's resolve something right from the getgo; this game is actually "Gunbird". Some people may have heard of it via its sequel, Gunbird 2, which saw some life over in the US via the Dreamcast. While Mobile Light Force is certainly worth the few bucks it usually commands and is a competent shooter there are a few things I must get across since it's vital to the game itself. First of all the game and manual are poorly translated. You can't really expect much more for its original $9.99 MSRP but, honestly, SHMUPs do not typically contain that much text and to make mistakes like these speaks volumes about XM Games themselves. More important than that, however, is that it seems like there are major cuts in the game itself. It feels as if there should be story segments for each character between each stage but they are non-existant here. Overall, this is more or less a barebones release but that shouldn't necessarily stop people from buying it. If you find it for cheap it does tend to be a competent shooter that's worth about $4 or so. If you're a huge fan of the SHMUP genre, however, you are much better off finding the original game and importing it instead.

I'm writing this review because of the false information in the other review (" A Rose By Any Other Name..."). This game is NOT Gunbird and has NO relation to Gunbird. This is the US port of Shikigami No Shiro. That guy was probably confused because Mobile Light Force 1 released on PS1 was a Gunbird port. But this game even though in America released as the sequel to that game, has no relation to the Gunbird series and is a completely different game. In terms of the game itself I really enjoyed this game for what it is, a classic arcade shmup with great music and tough bullet patterns. The bullet grazing mechanic a lot of fun because your shot gets a huge power upgrade when close to enemy bullets. Is it a perfect port? No. Is it on of the best shmups on the PS2? No. But there's definitely a lot of fun to be had here, especially if you're a fan of old school arcade shmups.