Do you remember Afterburner Shawn? The arcade one, not the crappy console ports. That was a railshooter.

Have you ever played a Star Fox game? Those were rail shooters.

A rail shooter is simply a game where you just fly forward on a set course, and can only move up, down, left and right with in the "boundaries" of the level. You can't turn around and go back or anything. It's basically a forward scrolling type of game. You're on a set course and can't deviate from it.

As opposed to something like Rogue Leader where you're free to fly anywhere within the level at any time (in most stages anyway).

GP -- Nope, I don't think I played Afterburner.
Josh -- I really think the only StarFox game I've played was the newest one(and only for about 1 minute), so I don't really remember it.

Okay guys, thanks for answering my stupid, endless barrage of questions...I think I'll rent the game, and then (maybe) buy it. Thanks again!

Shawn

Well, the newest Star Fox was an adventure game, so that wouldn't help.

Have you played Kingdom Hearts? The lame gummi ship stages in between levels are "shooter on rails" levels, albeit extremely rudimentary ones.

To go old school, just thing of the old 2D shooters where you simply moved up and down and back and forth in a scrolling world shooting stuff in front of you.

A shooter on rails is the same thing, except it's in 3D with the camera behind you and the level scolling toward you, rather than from right to left.

Here's a lame example I just thought of. Move you're mouse cursor around the monitor. It stops when it hits the edges. Those would be the "rails" in a shooter on rails game. Just imagine stuffing coming at you that you have to shoot, and the cursor moving around being your ship and you get the basic idea.

Finally had a chance to go by the store and pick up my copy. Great stuff. Just played the first 5 levels so far. I was up to the boss on lvl 1 on Normal before getting whupped -- decided I should go through on easy first.

Man the worm riders -- that's an interesting home. Very trippy visuals.

Also, it seems as though there are quite a number of enemies which I fly by or pass by without giving me enough time to beat them -- like the ships in the Fleet level or the giant snow creatures. Maybe it's just my strategy (or lack thereof), but I don't seem to have much luck taking out everything so far.

Tuan Jim

I only just got past level 2, but have a complaint with the game. So far, the first 2 levels are actually extremely SHORT followed by a somewhat lengthy boss fight. In fact, I think more time is spent fighting bosses so far than playing the actual levels. Do levels get longer later or are they always super-short?

Well, I'm up to level 5 on normal difficulty and so far I would say that the primary focus of the game, where most of the time is spent, is the boss battles. However, I don't really consider the levels to be super-short. More like the boss battles are extremely long. Think of it this way: If the levels were longer, you would most likely have less health remaining when you reached the boss, making the game that much harder than it already is... ;)

I'm simply blown away by this game...damn do I love sega...

WOW!!!

This game is fantastic! Graphics, music, control and the gameplay are all AAA stuff.

I never had a Saturn, but I love shooters so this is a real surprise how good it actually is. I can't wait to play the original and now I want Zwei and Saga.

There goes my Saturday night...

The Panzer Dragoon unlockable original game on this disc is almost exactly the same as the Saturn version. The minor differences:

- The original was not interlaced
- The options screen is different on the original. You can change the sound, control method, etc.

When I first started playing, I couldn't believe it was so choppy, but that is how it is on the Saturn also!

I don't know if anyone answered this already, Panzer Dragoon Orta has three difficulty levels, Easy, Normal & Hard.

anyone know if this is a port or an emulation?

Gamespot says it is a port:

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories...901509,00.html

When you start the game up, there are a few options to choose from: new game, continue, Pandora's box, and tutorial. New game obviously lets you start the game, while continue will let you resume playing from a save file that you'll have the option to create when quitting out of an episode. Pandora's box is a collection of extras in the game, similar to the feature seen in Panzer Dragoon Zwei but considerably more fleshed out. You'll find statistics on your performance alongside an impressive array of extras, including a complete port of the original Panzer Dragoon, subscenarios, extras missions to play through, art, CG movies, and a comprehensive encyclopedia containing information on the empire, the world, and the various creatures you'll encounter. Finally the tutorial is a primer on the various aspects of gameplay and is broken down into three multipart lessons.

I read in a review that the original game is a port of the PC version of the game.

Why do I suck at this game? Please tell me. I really have to learn to focus on more than one thing at a time, because I am getting my ass handed to me on level 4 normal, and I haven't gotten to the boss yet. Let me say that I think it was smart of Sega to keep the levels short and allow you to restart from the boss or I probably would have quit already. I find the older I get the less patience I have to overcome frustrating obstacles in games where I have to repeat a LONG scenario over. Shorter obstacles I can deal with.

OK, I'm at the level 4 boss and I easily beat the first half, but those winged riders are ridiculously tough. Maybe I just don't have the hang of control, because when they fly around I get lost if they go too high.

On episode 4 it's important to use all three forms.

Heavy/base for the first half of the level, glide/base for the second half of the level.

You can follow them with your reticule when they go high, but there is a delay. Generally, they fire off a volley of shots when they are level with you and then go high. Use the radar, rotate quick and come up shooting.

I figured it out then saw your posts so I'm not a cheater yet. :D I beat the level, and am on the fifth. I started out badly, but I believe I can beat the level because I figured out the pattern midway through, but had lost significant life trying to switch forms then realized that you couldn't so I had to manual target the enemies.

I wish when switching there was a bigger indicator what form you are because when I'm switching in rapid succession, and there's a cloud of missiles I can't see my reticule to know that I am in glide form. So far I find the game to be very fun, and frustrating, but not an annoying kind of frustrating. Glad I made the purchase so far.