i’ve waited years to be able to say that genetos is finished. that may be appropriate, because genetos is about the history of the shooting game, from its inception as a digital analogue to mechanical shooting galleries to its current manifestation as a colorful bullet lightshow with systems upon systems for players to learn.
the game uses the structure of the shooting game to tell that history. the power-ups that have become such an intrinsic part of shooting games here represent design trends. the first power-up, for example, is the ability to move vertically. the game’s stages represent different phases of design: from the static screen of a space invaders game to a simple scrolling shooter like xevious to a narrative shooter like rayforce to something that evokes both ikaruga and rez.
what’s interesting is that by framing the history of shooters like this, genetos suggests that this kind of game may have reached an evolutionary cul-de-sac. in contemporary shooters, contrivances are piled on top of what is one of videogames’ simplest formulas (a message is sent; if the player is skillful, it is received) to cater to an audience that has played this game a thousand times before and demands a more difficult experience, alienating everyone else.
genetos is in fact not a hard game. although the stages are appropriately difficult to reflect the trend of complexity in shooters, the game on its default level of difficulty is generous with extra ships. it’s an acknowledgement that seeing the whole story, here, is more important than manipulating systems, and possibly a suggestion to other authors if they’re interested in there being a next generation.
16 comments
That’s a brilliant game, I love it when a designer takes you through history through gameplay.
Okay, that was pretty cool on the whole!
I’ll be playing this a lot!
Doesn’t Space Invaders Infinity Gene do something similar?
yes.
i think genetos had the idea first. it was first released in 2007. i like to think that someone at taito played it.
I feel about puzzle platformers pretty much the same as you do toward shootans, but people like Edmund keep cranking them out.
Hmm, i dont know – even though arena shooters have been there since robotron, dual stick controls added a significant new aspect to the genre – so much, that any non-dualstick shooter which i play feels very different. Then, there are games like neon wars, which add a significant strategic and longterm aspect, by the game no longer being so much about how you perform -now-, but how you plan ahead and how you manage your concentration ressources (neon wars feels much more like an “endurance war” than whats going on in the typical shooter).
I find it interesting that i am interested in these kinds of shooters, because normally, i’m not a fan of shmups at all. If you give me a typical vertical or horizontal scrolling shooter, i walk away desinterested after 3 mins. I also no longer am much interested in 3d shooters.
So, what is it about tactical dualstick arena shooters which keeps me interested, considering that i’ve left the rest of the shooter genre behind me?
It’s particularly apropos that the final version of Genetos is released several days before 2010, as each stage of the game corresponds to a decade – 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, and, finally, the soon-to-be-present.
I’ve been playing this a lot.
It’s skillfully designed for replay value. Depending on the manner of how you play the game or what secrets you find, your ship’s abilities change along with the power-ups. The basic ship shoots lasers, has a short range bomb power, and has a multiple lock-on homing laser power. Both the bomb and lock-on power can change drastically, and the basic laser shot can have extra shot types layered onto it.
In one game, my ship could generate a huge pair of swords to swing/scissor around while setting itself on fire and slowing down time. In another game, the ship summoned orbiting plasma, had a quick screen-clear ability, and could teleport while destroying everything in its path of movement. There’s apparently 5 variations of each weapon/ability type, some of which are harder to trigger than others. The huge blade, for example, is triggered by staying at the top half of the screen as much as possible.
So the future of shmups is some pseudo-artistic evangelion BS? fun times
Sorry bout being snippy. I just have much love for the shootans but not the jumpmangames. Gonna bake one up for bakedown, I’m thinking.
this game is really great, thanks
oh so its a shitty space invaders infinity gene
OOPS SORRY THE PROS GOT THE JUMP ON PRESENTING THE HISTORY OF A GENRE THROUGH THE GAMEPLAY OOPS OOPS maybe they should have waited a bit longer so it wouldnt be as obvious who they ripped off
oh man taito are idea theives
MAN I AM SO TIRED SO HERE ARE MY COMMENTS
er the pros got jumped hurrr
anyway yeah i infinity gene has newalone and zuntata and those wireframe graphics i dont even want to play this
poor thing
I’ve been waiting for this game to be finished as well, and I owe it to myself to leave my two cents. Very late on this… but just for fun, here goes.
“it’s an acknowledgement that seeing the whole story, here, is more important than manipulating systems, and possibly a suggestion to other authors if they’re interested in there being a next generation.”
Way to undermine the driving force of the entire genre, which has always been manipulation of increasingly complex systems. Don’t ignore the value of games meant to be games.
Similarly, I think there were some points where the game faltered a bit. For one thing, I felt like the graphics in the first levels could have been a little truer to their inspiration. The fact that the game shoved lives and bombs down your throat led to some of the bullet and enemy patterns being a little sloppy.
In general, though, the game’s pretty good. The way that different playstyles lead to new skills and abilities encourages experimentation, and the little throwbacks like the inclusion of a slow-shot sub-weapon, graze effects, and a last level blatantly ripped o…uh, “subtly inspired by” Rez pleased and surprised me.
To anyone reading, I would very much recommend playing on harder difficulties than “standard”, however. One staple of the genre is sadly absent from “standard”: The thrill of fighting for your life against unbeatable odds, and succeeding after multiple failures.
post a comment