With One Arm Tied Behind You: Retro review of Einhander

Overall Score: 4.8

B++

Gameplay: 5
Now who expected this? Who expected a company that made their name making RPGs coming out and making one of the best side-scrolling shooters ever?

The action is fast paced and frantic at times, and the controls are smooth and seamless. Game mechanics center around the use of gunpods seized from enemy units. These weapons come in a variety ranging from machine guns, to homing missiles, to large bore cannons, to lightsaber like blades that can be used to slash across the screen. Several of these pods can be used in a different manner depending on if they're mounted on the top or the bottom of the fighter. For instance, when mounted under, the Wasp pod fires as homing missiles, while mounted on top, the missiles become rapid fire unguided missiles.

All together there are 12 gunpods that can be collected though the game. Once collected they can be equipped at the fighter select screen when you start a new game. The player has the choice of three fighters (with two secret unlockable ships) that each operate a little differently from each other. The Endymion Mk.II has one internal machine gun, can equip one gunpod and keep two in storage, and can be rotated in and out as the player sees fit. The Endymion Mk.III can only equip one gunpod, but it features two instead of one internal machine gun. The Astraea Mk.I has one internal machine gun and can simultaneously equip two gun pods. Doing the math, I get 66 different loadout combinations for the Astraea. Additionally, the speed of each ship can be adjusted to suit the player's preferences and needs of the level.

While the game is definitely aimed at the hardcore audience, Einhander is also much more fair and forgiving than other games in the genre such as R-Type III. Level obstacles that require trial and error to navigate (like that goddamned Forge level in R-Type III...) are non-existent, so cheap deaths caused by deathtraps don't happen in Einhander. Additionally, while the game does not have infinte continues, it is generous with the amount of lives (3) and continues (10) the player gets for a total of 30 lives. There are 7 levels, so you can die 4 times per level and still have 2 lives to spare.

As with other games in the genre, the bosses follow a pattern that can be memorized and exploited. Though one boss fight in particular stands out as it takes place on an a lift, and the lift rocks and tilts as the boss moves around, slightly altering the terrain each time it moves. Stay too close to the floor or to the ceiling, and the lift might tilt and cause the player to crash and die. This is one of the few instances where the terrain might kill you.

Given that a touch screen interface has problems processing multiple button presses when a single thumb/finger is trying to "push" two buttons at the same time, the game is semi-playable on a smartphone emulator, as the gameplay is frantic and fast paced and you will be hitting multiple buttons at once. However the game does play very well on the PSP via streaming from the PS3 or though PSP Custom Firmware, and on the Vita though streaming.


Graphics and visuals: 5
The graphics are very good by PS1 standards. Good enough that on one occasion at my former employ as a QA tester, I had a co-work ask if it was a PS2 game, while I was playing at the office after hours. While the game certainly looks like it came from a past generation, the graphics still look nice even today. Einhander is one of the first shoot'em ups, if not the first to make use of 3D polygon graphics as opposed to sprites like R-Type III from the previous 16-bit generation (SNES). An HD graphical update would likely look quite good, and it would certainly be nice if Sqaure-Einx got around to doing that.

The Imperial Capital Gestez features a vivid skyline complete with bright neon lights and flashy signs and billboards.

There are several moments in the game where the camera will pan to showcase the game's polygon graphics.

 Along with the nice visuals, the graphics also remain stable. We don't see much if anything in the way of graphical glitches. No weird tearing or objects just popping up out of nowhere or other graphical glitches. Einhander certainly lives up to SquareSoft's reputation for amazing graphics during the PS1 and PS2 eras.


Stability: 5
Having played this game on multiple platforms, I haven't had a single glitch, freeze, or crash. The game ran perfectly.


Plot: 4
While compared to other games, the plot is rather weak, but for a side-scroller shoot 'em up, the plot in Einhander is actually pretty deep. Definitely a step above the other games in the genre at the time.

The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic era following a massive war between Earth and colonies on the Moon, called Selene, where Earth was left a wasteland (with possibly only Germany being left intact given that Earth forces speak German) ruled by a totalitarian theocracy simply referred to as "the Empire", and Selene was critically low on vital resources, namely nitrogen. From there Selene decides to reignite hostilities against Earth in an attempt to secure the needed resources. Though there is a discrepancy, while the instruction manual mentions the shortage of resources, the in game text mentions that Selene demanded the return of the "Holy Land", which triggered hostilities. This may just be a cover by Selene to hide that they were on the verge of starvation as the Earth then would just need to wait it out and they win by default.

Since both armies have apparently already fought to exhaustion and have retreated to lick their wounds, Selene sends small groups of suicide pilots on kamikaze missions to cause as much havoc and destruction on Earth until they're killed, presumably to hamper their rearmament efforts, and also clear the way for Selene's main forces.

The story is told though in game voice overs, in between levels and issuing the player's next set of orders, as well as scrolling text in some places.

Towards the end though there is a very Orwellian 1984'ish twist. As it turns out the government of Selene had been lying to it's population the entire time and telling them that the Earth was a utopia (and likely hogging all the resources and starving them out) and not a burnt out wasteland. Perpetuating an endless war to stay in power, possibly to keep a gradually starving populace from turning against them ("war is peace"). Or it could be that there isn't a shortage of nitrogen and the Lunar "Inner-Party" elite only wants to hog all the nice things to themselves and dominate the populace, keeping them docile and distracted by being "always at war" with Earth. Ar any rate, the player, having supposed to have died on Earth but instead made it back into space, was ordered to be summarily executed in a weapons test. Can't have him coming back home and telling everyone the truth about Earth. So now the player finds themselves fighting their former government to bring an end to the war.

Any other genre in contemporary times I would score the plot 3 points, but given the era in gaming and the genre I have to give it a 4.


Music and art style: 5
Einhander has an amazing soundtrack, befitting of the frantic gameplay. The soundtrack is comprised of several styles of electronic music, namely progressive house, trance, keyboard based, and opera. They range from fast tempo tracks that sound like aggressive electronic fight music, to softer more serene tracks. A personal favorite of mine is the track that plays in the first level that opens with drums and chanting. The soundtrack is certainly good enough to listen to on it's own.

The art style of the game is varied as well with each level being something different, and the enemies in each level being different. The first level features the imperial capital Gesetz. The city looks very much like LA in the movie Blade Runner, with tall lit sky scrapers, and bright neon signs and animated billboards. Even the enemy units, police/civil defense forces (come on, that big walking tank is a "police" unit?) are brightly colored. Looking at the capital city, one wouldn't think the Earth was a charred wasteland. Then we see the next level...

The next level we see is a blasted landscape with the ruins of a major city here and there (possibly Berlin). The entire level is badlands and only the few ruins of highways and buildings remind you that there was a major city there.

As nice as the capital looks, it seem the environment is still screwed up.

The fight with the first boss happens outside the city in the badlands, and leads into the second level

The following levels after that are underground industrial factories. Though even here, rather than looking like the cold industrial sci-fi setting of something like Aliens, the factories, while looking industrial still make use of a bright color palate.

The level after features a large military base, where in the background you can see rows and rows of combat vehicles parked out on a tarmac, and even what appears to be some kind of warship in dry dock. While the first and second levels take place at night, when you leave the underground factories and emerge back outside, you see the dawn sky.

Flying though the underground factory.

Back outside under the dawn sky.

The final levels take place high up in the atmosphere and then into space as you go from storming though Earth's defense lines, to storming though Selene's defense lines. As your never ending mission continues, you'll find yourself in the upper atmosphere in the middle of the day.


Along with different settings each level has different enemy designs, so you never really see the same thing twice. The enemies of the levels also match the setting. In the capital you see brightly colored police units, in the badlands you'll see dusty looking tanks, in the factories you'll find units that look more like they belong on an assembly line, at the base you'll find more advanced looking weapons. This keeps the game from getting dull and killing the same things over and over. Along with looking different the enemies in each level behave differently as well.

The design of the three Einhander fighters also feature a unique design that some what resembles a wasp or a hornet rather than a conventional looking fighter plane such as the fighters in Raiden. With the engine units being the wings and the manipulator arm being the stinger.

The Mk.II is capable of equipping one gunpod but can store 2 spare pods that can be switched out at will.

The Mk.III can only equip one gunpod, but features two internal machine guns.

The Astraea is capable of equipping two gunpods simultaneously for unparalleled firepower.

Final Verdict: Definitely Worth Owning 

Even if you aren't a big fan of the genre, Einhander is still a game worth having in any gaming library. The game is forgiving enough that it isn't controller throwing hard, and while challenging I wouldn't call it "Nintendo Hard". Even the causal player would have fun with the game, and by today's standards the gameplay still stands up and playing it today shows that old school arcade style gameplay is still fun to play. Einhander can easily be considered one of the pinnacle games of the side-scrolling shoot'em up genre. Unfortunately the price of the game has gotten steep going used for around $60 on Amazon. While I can't condone and encourage piracy, digital rips of the Western release are widely available on the internet. However if you are savvy enough to set up a Japanese PSN account and navigate the Japanese page you can purchase a legitimate copy of the game from the Japanese PlayStation Store for 600 yen, or about $6 USD. 

Originally posted Aug. 16, 2016