Karous

Karous
Karous
Karous DC cover.jpg
Developer(s) Milestone Inc.
Publisher(s) Sega (arcade)
Milestone Inc. (DC)
Platform(s) Arcade
Dreamcast
Release date(s)
  • JP 15 November 2006 (arcade)
  • JP March 8, 2007 (DC)
Genre(s) Vertical scrolling shooter
Mode(s) single player
Rating(s) CERO: A (All ages)
Media/distribution GD-ROM (arcade, DC)
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system Sega NAOMI
Display Raster, standard resolution
vertical orientation

Karous (カラス, karasu, "raven") is a video game by Milestone Inc. intended for the Sega NAOMI. The game is a vertical scrolling shooter, similar in this fashion to Radilgy. A Dreamcast version was released in March 2007. It's the last official game released for the Dreamcast in Japan.

Contents

Gameplay

The weapon system is based on Radio Allergy, but it uses a unique D.F.S. bomb system.

Bombs can be used when SP gauge is full. When a bomb is activated, a barrier surrounds the player, which can damage enemies within the barrier. For the duration of bomb activation, the player is invulnerable. Enemies destroyed by the barrier provide more experience points to the player.

The player's shot, sword, shield can be upgraded by using experience items dropped from enemies, with a maximum of 100 levels. Weapon levels also act as score multipliers.

Items

  • Point item: Player gains score. Amount gained depends on the size of item.
  • Change item: Turns all enemy bullets into item.
  • Experience item: Gains experience for 1 player attribute. Blue changes shot, Green changes sword, Yellow changes shield. The chip's level depends on the type of attack used against enemy:
    • Level 1 when hitting enemy with normal attack.
    • Level 2 when hitting enemy with DFS wyrm.
    • Level 3 when destroying minor enemy with normal attack.
    • Level 4 when destroying enemy with DFS wyrm, or destroying enemy formation with normal attack.
    • Level 5 when destroying enemy formation with DFS wyrm.
  • Life recovery item: Restores player's life point. Small and large item recovers 1 and 5 points respectively.
  • Shield item: Shield automatically appears in front of player for a period of time.
  • DFS item: Fully charges SP gauge.
  • Level up item: Gains 1 level for 1 player attribute. Blue changes shot, Green changes sword, Yellow changes shield. Level up item can be obtained by destroying enemy captain first when fighting against enemy formation.
  • Speed up item: Players moves faster by 1 level.
  • Speed down item: Players moves slower by 1 level.
  • Large life recovery item: Greatly restores player's life point.

Characters

  • Karous (カラス) - Player's ship pilot.
  • Shigi (シギ) - Navigator.
  • Akahara (アカハラ(赤原))
  • Hakugan (ハクガン(剥眼))

Milestone Shooting Collection Karous Wii

Main article: Ultimate Shooting Collection

On April 8, 2008, a Nintendo Wii version of the game was released in Japan, titled Milestone Shooting Collection: Karous Wii. The collection includes both Radilgy and Chaos Field as extras.[1] This collection was released in the United States in February 2009, by UFO Interactive Games under the name Ultimate Shooting Collection.[2]

Reception

Famitsu has given the Dreamcast game a review of 6, 6, 6, 7[citation needed], while Edge gave it 6 out of 10[3]. This game marks the last official 3rd party release for the Dreamcast platform.

References

  1. ^ http://www.cubed3.com/news/7482/
  2. ^ http://shootthecore.blogspot.com/2008/07/ultimate-shooting-collection-for-wii.html
  3. ^ Edge issue 175, dated May 2007

External links

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