3/10 - First Impressions: GUNSLINGER STRATOS 2

By Ann Nakamura

Gunslinger Stratos 2 is a game published by Square Enix (alongside Taito) that was to be location tested at certain Round 1 locations. Eastridge Mall had the honor to be one of those locations! As a personal aside, I have been waiting to play this game ever since I had seen gameplay videos of it, so my expectations were pretty high. Were they satisfied after the 3 year wait? Read on!

To start off, the actual arcade cabinet itself is aesthetically pleasing. Side panels have glowing lights that change during gameplay, and it comes equipped with two, very intricately-made lightguns. Each lightgun has two joysticks: the one on the left gun controls your character's movement, and the one on the right controls where you are aiming. The gun on the right has a "jump" button which leaps/floats you into the air to be able to shoot foes from above. Of course, both guns come with triggers and you can alternate from shooting from each. However, you can only shoot from one gun for a certain amount of time before it is forced to reload and by reload, it's alternating to the next gun you have. Now before you, as the reader, go "well, that sucks, I'm not left handed", it adds a sense of bad-assery and, to my surprise, trying to aim with the left gun wasn't too bad! The crosshairs really help out with this as well.

I like this gun. Like, a lot. The middle of the gun has a slot for you to merge your other gun with it.

The long line of Gunslinger Stratos 2 cabinets

Now comes the cool part of Gunslinger Stratos. Why the hell does it have two guns? Well, with Gunslinger Stratos, you are able to "combine" your guns so you can use even better guns! There is the side-style and the tandem-style: one where you hook your guns to each other side-by-side and your gun becomes a semi-automatic machine gun that you can use for a short time on foes. This gun packs a PUNCH and will end an enemy's life before they can say, "Nani?". The tandem style, placing one gun on top of the other, unlocks a ranged weapon which can be a sniper, a laser gun, anything. These are great if you're trying to hit an enemy from really far, especially where a normal gun or machine gun could prove not as effective. What is great is that each character has a unique weapon for both modes, so you may or may not see different guns for the characters you use. This game gets intense very quickly in having to dispatch enemies before the timer runs out, so you are quickly switching between shooting from both guns, switching out your styles and running around so you do not get hit.

But besides gameplay, what else does this game offer? Besides having over 15+ playable characters, with a NESiCA card, players are able to upgrade their weapons and unlock more content. You are also able to play through a story mode which is unique to each character (although, once again, if you cannot read or understand a lick of Japanese, may not be the best thing). Also, the game comes equipped with audio jacks that allow players to use headsets to communicate with each other during gameplay. This proves to actually be in the interest of players since the whole entire game is team-based, and, if players are matched up with a rival team, it makes communication easier than yelling to the other machines. It is a very different functionality on an arcade cabinet, but one that is meant to be for the benefit of the users. 

I picked Olga Janetine as my character of choice. Her costume is pretty... um.... well, you can fill in the blanks.

My thoughts? The game. Is Freaking. Awesome. I am very sad that is just going to be a location test, but I would personally love to see this game in Round 1 SJ in the future. The one major drawback that may prove to be the game's downfall is that it is not localized for an American audience (as most Japanese games tend to be). It is definitely not American friendly, and a couple of Round 1 employees who tried the game were a little peeved when they had to endure a 15 minute tutorial mode by mistake followed by a very dry practice mode. However, for an individual who knows Japanese or for someone who is familiar with at least the basic language, this game will be very interesting and something to be genuinely hyped about, mostly because it is different and a different type of arcade shooter.

Since Gunslinger is looking to be staying for about one more week or so, I would DEFINITELY recommend giving it a try, especially with friends. 

Authors Note: If you decide to buy a NESiCA card for this game, please do yourselves a favor and keep the card on the NESiCA wavepass at all times. According to staff, if you take it off at any time, you lose access to your NESiCA card, meaning that if you try out story mode and take it off, you end after the second stage (out of eight). This is also true for doing team matchups.

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Ann Nakamura is the head correspondent for The (Unofficial) Round 1 Arcade Hub. A lover of arcade games of all genres, she likes to spend her time playing Gitadora and trying out new games that hit Round 1 SJ's arcade floor. Got questions for her? Contact Ann through Facebook!