There were many 2-D shooter games on the SEGA Genesis, but some of them didn’t even leave Japan.  One of those was Gleylancer, but now you can play it as a downloadable re-release on nearly every current console and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

Gleylancer plays like any other horizontally side scrolling 2-D shooter.  Hold down the fire button to blast anything that moves.  Some craft will leave behind power-ups.  You’ll first get two side ships that you can choose their formation before you start the game.  Some of these formations include ones that follow you, track nearby enemies, rotate around you, etc.  After you get those two side ships, you can get other power-ups that change your shots, like a laser, flamethrower, bullets that bounce around, or a spread shot.  Change your speed with the L and R trigger buttons.  You’ll tackle nearly a dozen stages.  There is a story with pretty decent anime looking cutscenes from time to time, but you can skip those if you like.

This modern re-release adds a few new features.  Most notably a rewind button (God bless it).  Thanks to that rewind feature, I was able to beat the game and get all the trophies!  You can also play the game in Original mode if you don’t want that rewind feature tempting you.  Only problem I had is that if you press pause and then accidentally hit the R trigger button, the game resets itself.  And that’s really easy to do, let me tell you!  Gleylancer is an all right shooter, a bit generic, but still good.  You know what Genesis shooter I wish they’d re-release?  Gaiares.  Man I loved that one.  Catchy music, fast gameplay, and you could take on the skills of any enemy ship, kind of like Kirby!

Kid Factor:

Gleylancer is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  You shoot spaceships that explode when defeated, but that’s about as violent as it gets.  I grew up with games like this and I turned out OK.  Thanks to the rewind feature and selectable difficulty levels, players of any skill should be able to enjoy this re-release.

Tags: Game Reviews