Back when I was much younger, around 5 years old or so, I often played games with my brother and his friends, because they had cool video games and a nice TV, and they were rather skilled as well. Out of all the games we did play, one title sticks out forever in my mind, a shooter game that I replay regularly to this day – Darius Twin. Looking through websites, I see that the game gets generally “okay” reviews, and I can understand some of the complaints they had, but this game sank its claws into me like few others have.
The game is one of many in the Darius series, which is seeing a rebirth in Japan on the PSP next year with Darius Burst. Like the other games in the series, you play as the fighters Proco and Tiat, trying to save the planet Darius from the advancing army of the evil Belsar. For some odd reason, Belsar’s army has a weird aquatic theme going for it, which I always thought was cute.
The gameplay is as straightforward as it gets; you hold down your primary and secondary fire buttons, and try to destroy everything that comes your way. No switching weapons or anything like that, you just blast your way through the seven stages you choose to go through. On that note, the game has a total of twelve levels to play through, some of them having a few similarities between them, and you go for whatever path you prefer; depending on what you choose, powerups may vary, bosses may differ, and the entire level could change.
As I mentioned before, people have had some criticisms with the game; the major one is that the game is too easy, and that if you know what you’re doing you can easily plow through most of the game without losing a life. This is true up to a point; playing through on the harder of the two difficulties, I don’t have much trouble getting to the last level most of the time. It’s made easier by the number of powerups they throw at you over the course of the game; if you take the correct path, you’ll power up your Silver Hawk into the Destroy Everything 3000, pictured below.
This only applies if you haven’t reached the final level yet, though. Once you reach the final planet of Darius, the difficulty skyrockets, as normal enemies are replaced with large quantities of the four minibosses you’ll find in the game. The transition is rather jarring, and even if it weren’t, it’s pretty hard to get yourself prepared for the insanity that is Darius. If you can get to the final boss, though, you’re most likely home free.
So what makes this game so very entertaining? It is pure visceral pleasure. Slowly watching your Silver Hawk turn into a machine of destruction, literally mowing down waves of enemies with a single blast, is greatly amusing, and a nice break from other shooters that thrive on intense challenge. This is not to say you’ll breeze through the game, because you probably won’t, but the challenge is scaled back a bit and it’s quite refreshing. Difficulty scales nicely, as well, until the last level of course.
Another great game element is the music. Oh god, the music. Darius Twin sports one of my all-time favorite soundtracks. Take a listen to the music from the first level, Rilair, which sets the tone for the great music to come. Here’s another sample for you, from the third level, Lankus. I play many games with the sound off, but Darius Twin is not one of them, ever.
Probably the best part of the game, as the title probably indicates, is the co-op play. If you read the site regularly, you’ve probably seen me touting co-op play as one of the great contributions in the history of mankind, and this game is no exception. While the game does overpower you if you go it alone, a nice balance is struck if two players take on the challenge, as there aren’t quite enough powerups to get both players to maximum. The game is generally designed to be played by two players due to things like this, with the powerup distribution, the way enemies are spread out all over the screen, and I imagine it can make Darius a bit less of a nightmare.
I end up replaying through this game about twice a year; I just get that Darius Twin itch. I need to plow through giant lobsters with my wave beam of ultimate death and destruction while listening to a SNES-era synth-rock soundtrack. It may not be as fondly remembered by the populace, but I give it my highest possible recommendation. If you ever get a chance to play this one, do not pass it up. And if you like it, you should do what I do and bother Nintendo until they put it up for download on the Virtual Console.
