(www.konami.com/otomedius) Rated T for Teen by ESRB. Dodging enemy lasers; flying through space; pounding those arcade buttons at the pizza parlor as if your life depended on it. Those were the days of the classic space shooter arcade games. While gamers have drifted from these simplistic games to more complex shooters and action games, seeing a release of a fresh new space shooter is a truly wonderful thing.

Presentation:
Otomedius Excellent is a classic space shooter--just like those old arcade ones--inspired by Konami franchises and the hit space shooter, “Gradius”. However, instead of just flying space ships, you get to choose one of the female characters who ride their own spaceships as they blow away enemies. Each female character is designed after a Konami franchise, which is a cool and nostalgic touch. The campaign doesn’t really feature much of a story, but instead, presents you with some incredibly difficult boss battles, along with some great fun side scrolling stages to fly and laser your way through.

Graphics:
Otomedius Excellent features a heavy Japanese anime influence, since it was developed and published by Konami. The girls you can choose to pilot are all different primary colors to help individualize them, and they each have a different style as well, since they are each intended to represent a different Konami franchise. The style of the game is cute and bright throughout, from the cities down to the underground caves. Even in the caves, nothing ever seems dark or grim. The plus is that Otomedius Excellent does present a unique and individual style, but the downside is that the graphics themselves are pretty basic. It would have been nicer if the developers had put just a bit more polish on the quality of the graphics. They get the job done, but make the game feel like it’s a couple of years old, versus a game that was made in 2011. But, then again, maybe that was the point in making a retro type shooter. Regardless, Otomedius Excellent’s style shines brightly.

Sounds:
A lot of the voice acting itself is done in Japanese, which is a really cool touch to add to the overall Japanesque style of Otomedius Excellent. There are subtitles that scroll across the bottom corner of the screen during gameplay so you’ll know what’s being said; unfortunately, it’s a little hard to read and dodge the mass multitudes of lasers coming at you at the same time. Thankfully, all of the missiles and lasers being fired don’t blow your sound system, and are toned down a little bit to allow focus on the music being played, as well as the Japanese dialogue being spoken.

Gameplay:
While there isn’t a tutorial mode, the game’s controls are very easy to pick up and learn, and can be referenced in the game manual if needed. This is a space shooter, so the controls are not very complex--you’ll just need to be quick on the trigger to destroy enemies and also evade their attacks, as well. Otomedius Excellent does allow for up to 3 players to play through levels together on the same system, and also play with up to 3 people online, too. While the games levels are limited, since there are only 8 of them, the real challenge is with the boss battles. They are, admittedly, very hard, but also very rewarding once you do succeed.

Innovations:
Space shooters are rarely seen these days, and Otomedius Excellent is a great game to satisfy those looking for a fresh take on that classic gaming genre, especially since it’s mostly done as a homage to Gradius and past Konami franchises.

Conclusion:
Otomedius Excellent isn’t a very long game, and there are only 8 levels to play, but each level concludes with an incredibly hard boss battle at the end. While the game is fun and rewarding, it does feel a little dated with its basic menus and simplistic graphics. However, the game’s Japanese style does shine brightly here, and you won’t find another space shooter like Otomedius Excellent to transport you back down memory lane.