Please login to submit a screenshot

"Square performs a surgical strike on shooters."

If you ask me, Einhander is the best thing to come out of Square Soft's momentary exploration of other genres during the midlife of the PlayStation. The company's since moved back to creating RPGs and adventure games almost exclusively, probably because ''experiments'' like Bushido Blade and Chocobo Racing met with little critical or financial success. Here's hoping we'll see some more shooters from Square in the future, though, since Einhander turned out pretty good.

Video: 10/10
While at its core it's no different than the classic 2D side-scrolling shooters of the 16-bit days, the 3D graphics of Einhander are excellent on both technical and artistic levels. The robotic forces you'll be up against have plenty of style, from the little police drones complete with siren and light bar, to the hulking mech bosses, bristling with weaponry. A lot more gouraud shading and less texture mapping than you typically see in a PSX game is used on the enemies, which gives them an almost anime-styled look that's very unique. The unusual graphical technique pairs well with the unconventional designs--one boss doesn't have arms in the traditional sense, but rather just a huge, articulated mace that it flings at you. Another boss leaps out of the cooling tank of a reactor, alternately swimming on the surface of the water and using its insect-like appendages to grip rafters and swing around the room.

The backgrounds are just as amazing too, especially the first stage's downtown area complete with destructible neon signs and billboards (ostensibly advertising the products of the 23rd century, I suppose). Evade the local constabulary via the interstate out of town, and the second mission finds you in a midnight chase, pursuing an enemy supply train across the blasted and bare countryside. Texture warping mars some of the backgrounds, but the unconventional graphical technique, and boss and enemy design, set Einhander apart from the generic look of a lot of PlayStation games.

Audio: 9/10
I don't think I'd be stretching too far to say that Square games are known for their soundtracks. Einhander's techno/electronica music isn't by Nobuo Uematsu or Yoko Shimomura, but it's plenty suitable in its own right. I don't suppose I could call any of the tracks particularly memorable, but that's not the point: the moods are set, and there is plenty of variety in the tunes to match up with the different stages. Some stage themes go for the easy-listening feel, but build up in energy as the stage goes on, and bosses almost always come out to a thumping, menacing accompaniment. The instruments that are used sound obviously synthesized, adding to the game's technological feel and perhaps skirting the problems that might come from attempting ''realistic'' timbres (no RayCrisis-esque tender piano solos here).

Sound effects and voices are vicious. The entire spectrum of sound is used, especially the lower end, when the huge mech bosses land with great thuds and clomp around trying to swat you down. An incredibly cool touch is that most bosses taunt you, in German, as they make their entrance: ''Ich schicke dich zur Hoelle!'' (''I'll send you to Hell!'') barks the second stage mid-boss, as it catapults itself off the train and into your path.

Control: 6/10
It's unfortunate that analog control isn't supported in Einhander, since there's some very precise bullet-dodging necessary when the game gets into its intense later stages. There's also a certain amount of drift to a lot of the weapons once they're captured; your ship's motion back and forth can affect the angle at which a lot of weapons fire, which is annoying when you're trying to deliver firepower to a specific weak-point of a boss whilst moving to dodge its attacks. But the digital control is responsive otherwise, button settings are completely customizable, and there are four different speed settings for your ship, which are very helpful.

Gameplay: 9/10
3D graphics aside, the basic idea of Einhander is the same as it's been ever since classic shooters like Gradius on the NES: fly left to right, struggling to survive against the massed enemy forces and destroying as many as possible. While you can take a few close calls or hits to your attached weapons, one direct hit will down your fighter and send you back to the last checkpoint (or to attempt to tackle the boss again), so the stress never lets up. As a pilot for the forces of the Moon in their war against the Earth, your job as an Einhander pilot is to disrupt the Earth army's bases and supply routes; so deep in country, so to speak, you won't be seeing any allies running in to assist you. The feeling of isolation can get palpable in the later levels, as your command orders you to undertake riskier and riskier assaults, the intensity ramping up steadily as larger and meaner squadrons of enemy drones and fighters defend their home turf more and more fiercely, until the game's last stages hurl you into scenarios you might not have even thought it capable of.

The Einhander's name (meaning ''one-handed'' in German) comes from its equalizer: a manipulating arm that can grab enemy weapons (Earth's forces use a standardized modular weapon paradigm known as ''Gunpods'') and attach them to the ship. Usually the enemy will need to be disabled rather than utterly destroyed for you to cannibalize its weapon, so it's a must to attack the cores of the larger enemies rather than trying to knock off every section of their armor. Along with the captured weapon comes ammo for it; use it all up and the weapon is discarded. Of course, you could just capture another of the same weapon to fill up your ammo stocks. A combination of quick tactical wits and long-term strategic thinking is necessary in deciding which Gunpods to take and which to let float by--taking the weak but rapid-firing Vulcan will help you against small peon enemies, but something with a little more punch, like the ungainly Grenade, is necessary against bosses. Running and gunning becomes unavoidable in the hectic later stages--grab something, anything, and empty its magazine into the oncoming squadrons, because your little machinegun isn't enough.

There are twelve of these Gunpods in all, four of which require special circumstances to be unlocked. Fortunately, once you've captured at least one Gunpod of any type, you can bring it along with you the next time you play the game (I guess your pals back at base reverse-engineered and manufactured it). You'll start equipped with your chosen weapon each time you die. Thus the game, which seems very daunting when all you can bring to it are the limited basic weapons, becomes much more manageable when you can equip yourself with the mighty Juno tri-barrel cannon or Flash railgun from the beginning. It's a nice feeling to see your stock of weapons increase, as well as know you're becoming better at the game. Also provided are three different ships to choose from, each with slightly different capabilities (though it sure is hard not to always choose the one that can use two Gunpods simultaneously). Two more ships are unlocked by beating various difficulties within the ten continues you're provided, or obtaining the Secret Bonuses.

The Secret Bonus feature is a nice touch--hidden at three points within each stage are tasks that you can perform to get a point bonus: destroy a mid-boss in a certain way, take out an elusive regular enemy, destroy a certain part of the scenery. Going for the Secret Bonuses livens up the gameplay a bit, especially the ones that make the game harder. Secret Bonus earnings, as well as score, survivability, and other stats, are tracked by the sophisticated graph system that pops up after a finished session. Also present is an art gallery, pictures in which are unlocked by finishing the game on its three difficulty levels. The rewards of exploring and conquering, combined with the high challenge factor (Easy will seem easy... eventually) add up to a great package.

Overall: 9/10
Square didn't set out to retread any ground when creating this title. It's as if they jumped into the fray of shooter design with a decade of experience already amassed, and applied it towards making the most challenging, replayable, and visually and aurally pleasing shooter they could. I'd love to know what happened to the folks that created this fierce but well-paced masterpiece, because it seems a shame to have stopped here.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/23/01, Updated 06/23/01