Ikaruga in the middle of administering a nice face punching.
I love shooters. Really, really do. Einhander, UN Squadron, Xevious, Galaga, 1942, Heavy Barrel, Tiger Heli.. you name it, I'll be happy blowing it up.
But my love / hate with them is that at a certain point I hit a wall. At some Boss somewhere, at some bullet minefield, at some crazy area that only some idiot savant can get through, I give up. And I must confess that that wall comes much earlier as I get older.
I want to see that next crazy boss, but I also want to be challenged -- to a point.
It's such a tough line for a game to walk, and I see some of these challenges reflected in the reviews I see particularly in 1942 and other shooters on XBLA / PSN. The other interesting thing is that XBLA and PSN are supposed to be a more casual forum... which is exactly what shooters are not. They're hardcore. They kick you in the nuts. Over and over. (Ikaruga or Metal Slug, anyone?)
I even see reviewers struggle to come to a consensus on the subject. Some mention how easy 1942 is "..it is seriously short, very, VERY easy.." writes Jason Nimer at Gamers' Temple, while long-time pro Andy Eddy writes from Team Xbox seems a bit frustrated: "1942: Joint Strike is a button-masher's dream...though perhaps your nightmare. There are lots of casual games on XBLA, but this isn't one of them." Ikaruga maintains a lofty 87.2% on GameRankings, but every shooter fan I talk to can only get halfway through the game on their best day.
So what is your idea of the difficulty of a perfect shooter? Do you have a specific game that encompasses the best ramping of difficulty? Can this love / hate relationship with these games be solved? It's like an abusive relationship that has to be addressed.


I too am a shmup lover and addict. While I admit to playing a bunch of the "bullet hell" allstars, I think my favorite shooter ever was Zanac:
s-killwww.vc-reviews.com/games/...
As the review mentions, it does adjust difficulty based on performance, but in a really organic way so even if you're getting rocked you never feel like the game is holding your hand. It also just never actually gets easy--if you do manage to play through without dying (so the difficulty doesn't go down), it's actually one of the hardest shooters I've ever played.
Re: the question, maybe there is a middle ground?
08:31 PM CST