Raiden IV x Mikado Remix Review
Raiden IV has been through quite a few revisions starting as an arcade game back in 2007. A year later a home console conversion was made for the Xbox 360 and in 2014 a version titled Raiden IV: Overkill was released later for the PS3 and PC which serves as the foundation for this version.
Raiden IV x Mikado Remix takes the original Raiden IV adds the later-released Overkill and features a quite frankly awesome soundtrack from various artists curated by Game Center Mikado, Hence the name.
Story
As with most shmups, the story takes somewhat of a back seat. Just like in the previous games, the invaders known as the Crystals have once again invaded earth and it’s down to you to stop them once again. It’s not much of a story but still serves as a great motivation for the game and takes us to some nice locations later on in the game.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Raiden IV is what you’d expect from a traditional vertical shmup, you shoot stuff. Lots of stuff! However, Raiden IV feels like more of a refinement of the genre rather than doing anything new, which is fine as the gameplay is great. You have tight and responsive controls paired with a great weapons upgrade system.
The control scheme in Raiden IV x Mikado is quite simple needing only two buttons with one being for firing and the second to launch a bomb. This simplicity allows you to enjoy the game rather than being bogged down with system upon system making things too tedious, that said, the weapon upgrade system has a little more complexity to it.
You upgrade your weapons by collecting crystals dropped by enemies. These crystals cycle through three colours each corresponding to a different weapon type which can be powered up by collecting more of the same coloured crystal type. The weapons are as follows: –
Vulcan Cannon (Red Crystal): a split shot that fires many projectiles in a cone shape in front of your ship, perfect for dealing with smaller popcorn enemies.
Ion Laser (Blue Crystal): A concentrated beam that delivers focused heavy damage, albeit, with an extremely narrow area of effect, this is great for dealing heavy damage to bosses.
Plasma or Proton laser (Purple Crystal): This is somewhat of a speciality item that you get to choose between before starting each run. The Plasma laser is a giant purple bean that auto locks onto enemies delivering a stream of destruction although can be a little difficult to get it to target individual enemies. The Proton Laser, on the other hand, comprises three separate beams in a trident-style pattern and you control them by moving your ship left or right as they have their own physics properties. Challenging, yet rewarding. There are also three missile-type sub-weapons to be collected in your run that auto-fire along with your main shot.
You have three main ships to choose from this time around all with their unique play styles: –
Fighting Thunder ME-02: The beginner-friendly default ship, shot strength and movement speed are balanced and your bomb can clear the whole screen of enemies. I would recommend playing with this ship unless you are after more of a challenge.
Raiden MK-II: This is the series’ classic ship. Damage output is high but its movement speed is slower. With this ship, you’ll have to time your bombs as they take a few seconds to detonate.
Fairy: The fairy is what I would consider hard mode and plays a lot differently from the two traditional ships. Instead of a bomb, the fairy calls others of its kin to attack onscreen enemies.
Levels are around 5 minutes long each culminating at an end-of-level Boss fight. These boss fights are a lot of fun and you’re usually up against a large screen-filling enemy or numerous medium size enemies with large health pools and fast attack patterns, almost verging on bullet-hell levels at times.
Depending on which mode you choose to play, you’ll either be headed through 5 levels or 7 each with increasing difficulty. The gameplay modes are as follows: –
Arcade: The classic Raiden IV experience, very similar to the real arcade machine. A lot of fun but only 5 levels long. You’ll get the choice between two different difficulty settings with light mode offering a great entry point for beginners. In light mode, bullet patterns are altered and slower which is perfect for practice. Completing Arcade mode will unlock Boss Rush mode, which as you can imagine, will be a very handy tool if you are playing for high scores.
Overkill: My personal favourite, this mode is for people who love scoring mechanics. Once you defeat an enemy you can continue shooting them to fill up the overkill gauge, each of the 5 points on the gauge will reward you with extra point pickups. This is a lot of fun and adds a level of risk/reward as other enemies attack you while trying to get a level 5 overkill gauge. This mode has an additional 2 levels bringing the total to 7 and arranged enemy placements.
Additional mode: Similar to Arcade but adds an additional 2 levels at the end of the game.
Score Attack: This gives you the ability to choose an individual stage and try to rack up as big of a score as possible. This mode is a lot of fun, and you even get to choose your own load out before starting. This is a great mode for those who wish to study enemy bullet patterns etc without having to play through the whole game.
Other features offered by Raiden IV x Mikado include a large gallery and world ranking modes where you can submit your scores to the global leaderboards. You can even save replays of your run which gives you a chance to see where things went wrong for you, you can also use this to see other people’s replays and study routes and patterns from someone in the top ten.
In terms of performance, this game ran flawlessly on my PC as expected and the same went for the Steam Deck, even when I played it with high vertical resolutions on my LG Dualup display (A must-own for shmup fans). I own the Switch version and side-by-side both versions look and play great.
One last thing I should probably touch on is the presentation, the graphics of the game are good but they are nothing to write home about. Sometimes some of the background textures can look a little muddy for lack of a better term, but overall I think the art direction is pretty good, especially in some of the latter stages and the enemy design is top-notch.
Conclusion
Raiden IV x Mikado Remix is a must-have for any shmup fan and is a better game than its sequel Raiden V. The gameplay is tight with easy-to-grasp controls and a natural feeling progression in terms of difficulty, very firm but fair. The value offered here with all the different game modes in the package is well worth the asking price and it’s a game I would recommend to anyone.
The Overkill mode is my personal favourite and I often find myself thinking about it outside of playing the game which is always a good thing in my opinion. I have high hopes for the upcoming Raiden III x MIKADO MANIAX and look forward to it.
9
Steam review code kindly provided by NIS America. Also available on PS4, PS5 & Xbox