I wore out a button on my controller playing this game.

Lately I’ve been really getting into arcade shooters thanks to MAME. As a genre, things haven’t changed much over the years, but the games are so much fun to play. Sure the graphics have improved, and the games are able to support a million things on screen without slowing down, but at every shooter’s core are two things: shoot things without being shot. Maybe I’m oversimplifying that a little (or a lot), but I am trying to finish this review as fast as I can so I can go watch American Idol.

I’ve gotten my hand on a lot of shmups, and ESP Ra.De. is on of the best. From wikipedia:

ESP Ra.De. is an arcade game developed by Cave and published by Atlus in 1998. It is a vertical scrolling shooter, set in Tokyo in the year 2018. It, unlike most other shmups, has a fairly involved story and fits nicely into the manic shooter genre.

It has two sequels, Espgaluda and Espgaluda II.

ESP Ra.De. features a trio of high school students who are out to destroy a stereotypical mysterious organization with high technology and waves of explosive mook. Each one uses their ESP in a different way and gets their own power-ups as the enemies fall. As each level is completed, the characters receive a little more fleshing out. The paragraph of text does not advance the story too much, but is more of an effort than a lot of shooters.

For a great review of the game, head over to shmups!, but if you want my in depth analysis that resembles what Vito Jr. dropped in the shower, read on…

As for as graphics and music and all of that jazz, ESP Ra.De. does a great job. For a game nearly 10 years old, it has aged well. Gameplay is superb. Unlike a lot of shmups where it is humanly impossible to dodge everything on the screen, I found that this wasn’t the case in ESP. And at the moments where it is impossible, ESP gives you the ability to create a shield that will temporarily make you invincible. I really don’t see why more shooters don’t great you this ability because the majority of them have become cheating ass whores who only want to take your quarters.

Now I’m not saying that at times ESP won’t frustrate you, it’s just rarer than the majority of shooters (which might be one reason why I like this game so much…). I found the levels and enemies to have enough variety so that you won’t think you’re playing Galaga all over again. I’ve gone through it 3 times with all the characters and I do have to say that each time it got easier and easier.

Overall, I recommend it. I’d upload it on the site so that you guys can try it, but I’m sure you guys are resourceful enough to look for it.

Score: 7.5

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