Video games’ most direct form has always been found in old school shooters; its most stately and spectacular form may be found in the side-scrolling subgenre. In 1982, Taito’s three-screen spectacular Darius introduced a theatrical scale to the genre, while Konami’s Scramble ignited the form and eventually developed into the atmospheric classic Gradius. These games are spaced out thrill rides because the action is joyfully simple and the pure-hearted sci-fi landscapes perfectly balance off the lack of care for intricate scoring mechanisms. Anyway, that’s the reason I adore them so much.
It is always a pleasure to run into fellow fans, and developer Team Ladybug’s love for the genre is evident in the rather unfortunate title Drainus, which is a tribute to the big inspiration behind the side-scrolling shooter genre’s dames and would be adorable if it weren’t also a code word for dumped. Silly titles haven’t stopped shooting games from happening, either, and they don’t take away from this excellent effort.
In fact, Drainus’ spectacle is so lavish that it makes a strong case for being the greatest of its kind since Treasure’s Gradius 5. It has the same level of creativity, wit, and environmental puzzles that occasionally present you with tiny physics-based mechanisms to unlock, as well as multi-staged bosses that fill the screen.
This isn’t about throwing curtains of bullet fire in your direction, like Darius and Gradius did before it. Basically, Drainus is not danmaku enough that facing intense enemy fire on screen is an opportunity for bragging rather than frustration. The unique feature of Drainus is your ability to suck in enemy fire and return it with a barrage of homing missiles that get stronger the more you take in. It’s a clean, gratifying rhythm of catch and release that gives the action a constant pulse.
With the means of ultimate defense always at your disposal—albeit with a fairly generous cap on how much you can absorb before taking damage—and a small enough hitbox to allow you to easily graze past even the densest of bullet fields in the event that your defenses fail, it also gives Drainus a more leisurely pace than other shooters.
Shooting game fans who play them mainly for the challenge may be let down by Drainus; in the hour it takes to play through it, there isn’t much to make an experienced player perspire until the very end, and you have to get past Drainus once to unlock the harder difficulties.
If playing shooters purely for the mood Drainus offers, then easy one credit clean sounds like nirvana. And that’s not all. As you navigate through sandstorms and skim across the surface of a far-off planet, breaking apart eye-catching formations of enemy vessels as they dance on screen, the initial level has an enthralling succession of set pieces and fantastical sci-fi panoramas.
The artwork is magnificent and possesses the coherence of the greatest artists of the genre. The story, which is occasionally presented in a short cutscene, unites all the elements of the sublime aesthetic and contributes to Drainus’ endearing persona.
Bosses, on the other hand, are narrated through stunning animations and frequently display their influences, including what seem to be appearances from Gradius and Treasure’s deadly pair of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga. However, upon closer investigation, things break apart due to strange oversights like bosses that don’t time out, which allows for scoring exploits, or the maze of upgrades and power-ups that you can’t seem to put together into a cohesive whole.
Larger shortcomings and annoyances exist. I wish the upgrade system was as smooth as the graphics rather than awkwardly pushing you toward a tedious pause menu when you want to improve your ship. This strange strategy is only fixed in the arcade mode, where you can access the menu just once at the start of a stage, and even then it’s a chaotic and unpleasant way to level up. When the inevitable console versions come around, there are just a few modifications that might make this something truly amazing.
However, there’s really no reason to wait till then if you have any affinity for the genre or for characters like Darius and Gradius. Despite its corny moniker and a few minor annoyances, Drainus manages to give the same thrilling action and breathtaking spectacle that elevates the best. Even while it may not quite qualify as one of them, this is still a superb shooter.