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X-Play takes a look at the latest in a long line of shooters with a classic pedigree. Gradius V is the newest to bear the name, and this shooter series that started in the '80s is certainly aging well. Konami did fans of the classic genre justice, particularly by having shooter artists, Treasure, take on development duties. The resulting game provides nail-bitingly hard, stunningly gorgeous, fast, fun, and playable action.

To Space…and Beyond!

Gradius V takes all the greatness of this series and churns it into a more modern day 3D stew, without compromising the solid 2D gameplay. Much like the recent (and also terrific) R-Type Final, it’s high end graphics with old-school action all the way. And that action is as hard and precise as ever. Old style shooters come and go, but the Gradius games (including the Lifeforce and Salamander offshoots) have always ranked above the rest. Why? Try the innovative power-up system, variety of levels -- from the standard deep space theme to truly bizarre locales like the innards of a giant space creature -- and incredible variety of both standard enemies and gigantic bosses.

It's a standard theme. Once again, evil aliens are trying to annihilate the humans. At times, Gradius V tries to pop a story in, even attempting to tie-in the original game. Unfortunately, it seems as if they just gave up after a while and decided to let the action speak for itself. Thankfully, that works, too.

The Pure Craziness of Space

Shooting certain bad guys leaves beyond power-up icons. Gather these and you can essentially buy power-ups on your ship’s weapon list. Speed up, missiles, special fire, shields, and orbiting protectors called multiples can all be yours if you gather enough of the icons. There are four different weapon configurations, though the differences are mainly the special weapon and how the multiples work. Admittedly, you’ll need all the weapons you can get, as the odds are overwhelming and the levels are filled with environmental dangers.

Most shooters -- especially those from Treasure -- are heavily bent toward level memorization, and Gradius V is no exception. Don’t expect to breeze through the game. It requires time, patience, and experience. Even in the easiest difficulty setting, this shooter is anything but actually easy. Thankfully, the developers know their genre so well that they took this into account. The more you play, the more continue credits you’ll earn, which is a nearly brilliant nod of compromise to the old-school sensibilities of the game.

Another great addition is the two-player cooperative mode, which has been a long time coming and worth the price of admission for fans. Finally, and also for diehard fans more than anyone else, there is the weapons edit mode to unlock. This lets you customize your fighter with weapon systems from the previous Gradius games, along with some new tricks as well.

New and Classic!

All this classic action is made new again thanks to a bright, explosion filled, gorgeous 3D engine. The game looks great while still being instantly identifiable as a Gradius game. The bosses are huge and imposing looking, most of the old standby enemies are back, along with plenty of new (and often bizarre) minions. The soundtrack offers perfectly suited sci-fi styled tunes, and the sound effects have a nostalgic coin-op quality.

Admittedly, all this gushing is a moot point if you either never played (or liked) the original Gradius games, or simply don’t like old-school, 2D shooters. While Konami and Treasure honor the excessive difficulty level of the genre, this is likely to cause an absurd amount of frustration to gamers. The necessity for memorization to get through the levels is also a questionable design philosophy that hounded the Radiant Silvergun series.

While the action is always constant and involving, the lack of variation and the need to be in an exact spot at an exact time is simply not going to strike everyone as fun. One saving grace is the hit detection, which is exceptionally tight. A shot has to hit your ship directly to affect it, making for nearly constant, edge-of-your-seat maneuvers.

'80s Cool…Today

Treasure and Konami have done a marvelous job of bringing this series back to fans. While non-fans probably won’t dig in as much, this is still an exceptional example of the side-scrolling shooter. It looks great, plays better than ever, and the addition of a two-player option gives it significant staying power.