Raiden IV

The nerve-fraying shoot-’em-ups that once dominated arcades have long skirted the edge of extinction, but the Raiden series isn’t ready to hit the airplane graveyard just yet. This fourth chapter faithfully reproduces the five appealing levels of the arcade game, and adds a couple more for good measure. Rigidly choreographed waves fire scads of bullets, huge bosses trot out multiple modes of attack, and eight difficulty levels will challenge experts without driving away amateurs.

The weapon system isn’t terribly flexible, but its options are enough to allow for some small amount of personal style. Upgrade a spread-shot cannon or one of three different lasers by grabbing colored orbs, and swap between three missile subsystems of questionable utility. Scrub areas raw with undulating streams of energy or plentiful projectiles, dodge tricky enemy firepower, and trigger screen-filling bomb blasts. It’s always been critical to memorize attack patterns if you want to survive more than a few moments in this environment, so Raiden IV’s attempt to reward you with simple point multipliers for quickly downing foes falls a bit flat.

Though the game’s basic mechanics are competent, the only inspired element that distinguishes this schmup from its peers is the return of Double Mode, which enables a single player to control two ships simultaneously. It’s an absorbing gimmick for a while, testing your mind and reflexes in unique ways, but ultimately you’ll wish you could trade it in for online co-op, more varied weaponry, image-rotation settings that let you adjust the directional controls, and a retail price tag ($40) that doesn’t amount to daylight robbery. Raiden IV could’ve been a genre godsend for a devoted fanbase; instead, it proves merely adequate.