DARIUS COZMIC COLLECTION ARCADE
Angling for a retro shooter?
Do robot fish dream of electric worms? It’s a question this collection of classic shooters doesn’t care to answer. It’s too busy blasting them back to the factory. There’s no place for narrative in these retro shooters from a time when Paperboy could make headlines, and deliver them.
Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade is one of two historical packages released for PS4,1 and this one collects the original coin-op shooters: Darius (Original, New, and Extra versions), Darius II, SAGAIA (two editions), and Darius Gaiden. The 1987 game broke the mould by spreading its action across three screens (transferred here by narrowing the screen to show the full width), non-linear level design, 2 and multiple endings.
As classic games go this Darius collection feels incredibly modern. The first two games in the series are finely tuned bullet-hell shooters with patterns to memorise and power-ups that aid the action but never cloud the skill needed to progress. The special editions rebalance power-ups, boss health, and pacing to perfectly suit modern needs. Darius II is the pick of the collection. The three-screen setup reduced to two, it enables the busy action to breathe but with clarity on a standard HD TV.
While the OG Darius entries remain playable shooters, Darius Gaiden is the collection’s teenage years. It’s brash and bombastic, throwing every graphical trick the ’90s had at the screen to impress. On PS4 the return to a ‘traditional’ view crowds the action and skill is replaced by credit-abuse.
This is a solid collection with two of the best shooters of the era, but it is pricey. Ian Dean