Glory with the moon!

So you think you have what it takes to fight for the glory of the moon? Well, board your einhander (German, referring to a one handed sword) spacecraft and face the numerous enemies of the earth colony Sodom, as you begin a raid of their capital city[1]. Square delivers an incredibly ambitious shmup from a developer known for primarily rpgs.

Some would say the earth is our moon, but that would belittle the name of our moon.
Now, go forth and terrorize the capital of earth, show them our advanced ways.
Don't question it!​

To start 1997 (in Japan), Final Fantasy 7 was released. Say what you want about FF7, but you would think that would be enough success for a single year for any developer. Then that SAME YEAR Square released Final Fantasy Tactics (my favorite of all time) and more! [2] There was no stopping this rpg developing behemoth in 1997! Then towards the end of 1997 they release einhander?! A shmup? Were these rpg titans drunk on success and thought they could do no wrong in 1997? Or they knew they were a powerhouse that was seriously cooking and could break through any genre? Let's take a look at Einhander. And as you can see from the box, I played the NA release.

Gameplay​

Full disclosure, I am not the biggest shmup fan, nor that good at them. Silpheed on the sega CD is my favorite and I have played plenty of others, but it is not something I "go to", so feel free to correct me on my valuations of schmup mechanics. That said, I do think the mechanics are really innovative for the genre and makes this game shine!

Your "one hand" is able to use a variety of gunpods. Shown is a grenade gunpod firing
backward by changing arm position to pound this dino tank stage boss into oblivion.
​

Why the name einhander? Your "one hand" functions like the grappler arms from Outlaw Star and is incredibly cool! You pick up weapons (gunpods) from destroyed enemies and switch between them. On top of that, you are able to change the position of the arm which changes if the weapon is held on top or below your ship. Just like on the enemies, gunpods take damage so this can be a way to block attacks (your gunpod will be destroyed, not you). This also changes the attack direction of the gunpod: some are able to fire backwards when position is changed, for example. Another major control you have is the speed of your ship: accelerating to move fast, and decelerating in situations when you need finer control, for example in tighter spaces more treacherous to maneuver.

An example where slowing down for finer control would have saved me >_<
Or maybe I should have been going fast?​

Altogether, it makes for a varied and intense shmup experience. You are constantly looking out for gunpods you want, switching around gunpods based on situation, and changing speeds. However, all this doesn't feel overwhelming even under the pressure of numerous enemies, a nice balance. Wonderful gameplay design!

Atmosphere(Graphics, Music, Story)​

The graphics are great for psx and are very memorable. It's really cool when the camera moves at times. Some call this a 2.5D shmup due to that, but it is not like you gain an extra axis or plane of movement, so I would still call this a 2D shooter (again, maybe my ignorance of this genre). Anyway, I don't see how anyone could complain about the look/feel/presentation of this game, and the cut scenes are great too! Not much more to really say. The story is not that impressive, but it is interesting, so I think it is pretty good for a shmup. No deductions for any of those aspects.

Sadly, the only stage with music that really stood out to me :( But the music is still very good!
​

I do have a problem with the music (sfx are great). Reading other commentators, you will see this aspect praised a lot. And yes, it is good, but I find the music underwhelming, maybe just me? To bring up silpheed again, most tracks are fire and I could just sit and listen through. For einhander? I really like the song during the penultimate boss encounter, but that is about all that is memorable as a single track, for me. I guess the music direction was going for a more overall ambient/synth feel, and that does work! I got serious Akira vibes during one section, and that is all well and good... But idk, for a shmup, I want more bangers :(

Experience​

Despite my slight music gripe, the atmosphere blends perfect with the gameplay: this is a well oiled machine! An incredibly intense and engaging experience.

Get ready to burn some lives here...
​

Now we get to my significant problem and deduction which is something that always pisses me off: difficulty spikes for the purpose of "padding" the play time. The game is very short in terms of content. I don't think anyone would dispute that. I can't help but think two sections (even on easy, and they are not a boss!) are purposely there to eat lives and continues. It's one thing to lose lives as you proceed through a game and maybe a last stage or boss is impossible, but a single "road block" in the middle of the game is infuriating... It's especially frustrating as both of those sections have no real quick gunpod pickup at the start to help out, while many other difficult sections do (one of the reasons that makes me think this was an intentional choice to pad the play time). Why do this to me Square? I wanted to have fun :( The penultimate boss fight is a nightmare, but that is understandable as you are getting toward the end.

My rubric, for reference :P
​

That's my main problem with this game. I don't have a problem with games that are short on content, but developers should know that expectations then get raised: you better be packing tons of fun and memories in those few hours! You can't just unnecessarily ramp up the difficulty in a few sections to pad the completion time! For the record, I spent +40 hours on this game and still needed save states for extra retries on those two SAME sections on easy; all the bosses I can handle (satellite one is still kind of hard for me). I feel bad being hard on only this aspect, but it is a serious problem imo. Did square think people would complain if easy was too short? Combine that with music I don't think is memorable enough for the short length (don't shmup fans want an intense soundtrack while blasting away enemies?) and I judge this a "flawed classic" (see above scale). But I give it a 0.5 bump: this game still does so much right! If you like schumps, give it a try! Even if you're just a Square rpg fan like me, go for it! Just be ready to get your ass kicked >_>

Nostalgia Society Love and Citations​

Shout out to all my friends in the nostalgia society thread for the month! <3 y'all and as much as this pissed me off it was fun!

RGT Nostalgia Society #3 - Einhander

Welcome to the Nostalgia Society! We are a group who gets together each month and plays through a retro game together. Last month was our most successful month yet, with nearly 25% more posts in the thread. There's no pressure to play through a game, since we just drop in and out of the thread...

retrogametalk.com

[1] Wikipedia entry for Einhander
[2] Wikipedia entry for "List of Square games"

 

[Dany28]

Nice game.

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

Without a doubt one of the best shoot 'em up games of ships on PS1 and in addition to being made by the same Developer Team of Final Fantasy Series that is worthy of surprise above all for having good gameplay, modular weapon systems although they are of different types that are attached to your ship, good graphics for the time and with a 3D perspective but in 2D movement system that that You have to take it into account, the music is quite good and the learning curve can be fair at the beginning But in the following levels it can be difficult and requires a lot of memorization in terms of enemy attack patterns and as well as the design of the levels as the obstacles well. But as a game it's well done and just like your review it's well done too .

 

[Netra]

It is one of the few games of this genre that I have played and enjoyed.

 

[Glossy Cat]

Good review of a good game. Thank you for your review.

 

[RETRO-VETRO RETRO-VETRO]

Noice!!!

 

[Kamako]

Terrific write-up! Especially loved your writing on the Moon's hostile perspective towards Earth.
What a wild ride playing through this game was! I think the only way in which our opinions differ on it is regarding the music. The soundtrack is pretty much non-stop ambience or outright banger imo xD I agree the penultimate boss theme is a stand-out though. but I think the dark synths at the start of level 4 will stick with me for life I reckon.
Once again thanks a great read, and for re-acquainting me with the word "rubric" as well.

 

[juanchikbzmusic]

I freaking love this game man. I'm 26, and I've NEVER heard of it before I got into the shmups genre, that was last year with Ikaruga. I was looking for more games of the genres in the platforms that I love, and in a lot of tops I started to see this game, that i've never heard of. Looked one video, and went crazy with the atmosphere and music (I love the ost so much, I listen to it from start to finish on my phone). Fell totally in love with it. This game, along with Ikaruga, and gradius 5, are on my top of the genre. Since I said that I've started with this genre last year, It's kinda stupid to say that, but I don't think that more games can achieve what this game achieved inside on me. The only one that I think will compete with those mentioned, is radiant silvergun, and probably thunder force and darius.

Oh I didn't finished yet, but because I want to finish it only on hard haha, In normal it's too easy for me, so It's kind of a way to extend the playing time on this game that's how much I love it. My only complain honestly, it's that it's a 1-player only, and this genre it's a coop genre for me, it's a genre that I don't play alone usually, because I play all of them with my brother.

 

[diapered]

Thanks for the comments everyone

I'm more of an rpg gamer, so I was a little nervous reviewing a shmup (I hope I was fair with einhander), but like I said in my pfp, I mostly just want to review games completed for the nostalgia society: I thought it would be fun to do after finishing a game. Vagrant Story (which was my guild application lol) should be next.

Terrific write-up! Especially loved your writing on the Moon's hostile perspective towards Earth.
What a wild ride playing through this game was! I think the only way in which our opinions differ on it is regarding the music. The soundtrack is pretty much non-stop ambience or outright banger imo xD I agree the penultimate boss theme is a stand-out though. but I think the dark synths at the start of level 4 will stick with me for life I reckon.
Once again thanks a great read, and for re-acquainting me with the word "rubric" as well.

You probably put more time into this game for the month than I did. YAY! Another nostalgia society poster! And yea, I completely understand disagreements on the music. Comparing to Silpheed's music may be unfair because, for all I know, that game had the most banger soundtrack of all time, I don't know shmup's that well, but that's kind of what I had to go off for that department... I've played shmups coop with friends and would sometimes immediately NEED to look up a song after a stage to listen to later , I rarely felt that with einhander :(

Also, it's funny you bring up my rubric. I actually (embarrassingly) spent a lot of time on it. I was thinking to maybe make a separate thread about how others judge retro games because I think there are many things to consider, and it is a complicated question... Do you judge strictly based on the time, or try to accommodate how a modern gamer would experience it? And then how do you come up with a score, do you base on US grading system where a 5/10 is failing grade? I went with kind of close to the UK system where a 5/10 would be "satisfactory". idk, that's what I came up with and would love feedback on.

My only complain honestly, it's that it's a 1-player only, and this genre it's a coop genre for me,

I also saw that criticism when researching. I didn't deduct for lack of coop even though I completely agree! Best times are playing shmups with friends! I think there was no coop because the "playfield" already feels kind of "small" so another player would be too busy? or maybe they just didn't have time? I didn't research that further... But my favorite shmup is single player anyway (but that was way before psx, so maybe it was a huge letdown for something on psx?), so I just took single player into account.

 

[RETRO-VETRO RETRO-VETRO]

Thanks for the comments everyone
View attachment 107471
I'm more of an rpg gamer, so I was a little nervous reviewing a shmup (I hope I was fair with einhander), but like I said in my pfp, I mostly just want to review games completed for the nostalgia society: I thought it would be fun to do after finishing a game. Vagrant Story (which was my guild application lol) should be next.

You probably put more time into this game for the month than I did. YAY! Another nostalgia society poster! And yea, I completely understand disagreements on the music. Comparing to Silpheed's music may be unfair because, for all I know, that game had the most banger soundtrack of all time, I don't know shmup's that well, but that's kind of what I had to go off for that department... I've played shmups coop with friends and would sometimes immediately NEED to look up a song after a stage to listen to later , I rarely felt that with einhander :(

Also, it's funny you bring up my rubric. I actually (embarrassingly) spent a lot of time on it. I was thinking to maybe make a separate thread about how others judge retro games because I think there are many things to consider, and it is a complicated question... Do you judge strictly based on the time, or try to accommodate how a modern gamer would experience it? And then how do you come up with a score, do you base on US grading system where a 5/10 is failing grade? I went with kind of close to the UK system where a 5/10 would be "satisfactory". idk, that's what I came up with and would love feedback on.

I also saw that criticism when researching. I didn't deduct for lack of coop even though I completely agree! Best times are playing shmups with friends! I think there was no coop because the "playfield" already feels kind of "small" so another player would be too busy? or maybe they just didn't have time? I didn't research that further... But my favorite shmup is single player anyway (but that was way before psx, so maybe it was a huge letdown for something on psx?), so I just took single player into account.

No problem!