This game already kicks Raiden III‘s butt simply by reintroducing the classic purple “toothpaste” beam of death, and it looks awesome on the Taito Type X engine. The American Xbox 360 release comes with a bonus disc of the game’s music. Much of this game’s BGMs are actually remixed from the first two Raiden games, with the two boss fight tunes being particularly noticeable in this regard. While the graphics look pretty danged good, arguably the greatest quality about Raiden IV is its fantastic OST, modern synth rock more suiting for a shoot-em-up than the decidedly generic Raiden III soundtrack. The stages are what you would likely expect from the series at this point: An open farmland, a dark valley, the requisite ocean base cluster (this time featuring what seems like a travel bridge), a spooky ancient ruin leading into an underground base, an asteroid field, a spaceship armada and a massive satellite, and a gigantic missile of which you must stop its eventual destination. Running off of the exact same hardware as Raiden III (the Taito Type X board), Raiden IV looks improved, with the textures appearing somewhat more authentic and the overall tone of appearance being brighter and clearer. The Xbox 360 version is the way to go, as it offers two more levels to bring the total up to seven, the same amount of levels from Raiden III. Strangely (and somewhat lamely) enough, the game only has five stages, but that’s only for the original arcade version. It may not feel precisely like the classic games or match the high intensity of the Raiden Fighters series, but it stands over its predecessor as a more competent shoot-em-up. That being said, could Raiden IV still manage to keep the series relevant to fans of the genre? It would seem that MOSS has learned from some of their mistakes and have most certainly made a more enjoyable game than Raiden III. shoot-em-ups are considered a relatively niche genre in the modern-day, so any chances of the series reaching its heyday of popularity are admittedly low. After the somewhat diminishing return of Raiden III, the revival of the classic series would get another shot with Raiden IV.
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