Review
Played on: Saturn
Released: 1995
Released: 1995
Originally released: 1994 (Arcade)
This time around, for my retroactive review, I'm going back to a lovely shoot 'em up, or shmup for short, on the Sega Saturn. While there are a ton of shmups made through the years, this Layer Section features a rather neat gameplay mechanic.
Firstly, let's get the confusion of the title out of the way. The original arcade release, back in 1994, was titled Rayforce in Japan and the U.S. While in Europe, it goes by the name Gunlock. For added confusion, the home console releases are titled Layer Section in Japan, while in the U.S. and Europe it's goes under the name Galactic Attack. I guess somebody forgot to file a title trademark for each region along the way?!
Luckily, the actual game isn't anywhere near as confusing as it's many titles! I'll refer to the game as Layer Section, as it's the name on my Japanese Saturn version, and it actually explains main mechanic quite well, it's about shooting enemies in two layers. You've probably played many titles in this genre and although they rely on the same principles, sometimes they feature cool mechanics that set them apart from the competition. Layer Section is such a title.
Shmups typically let you command a spaceship or airplane, shooting numerous enemies scrolling down towards you on the same plane. However, in LS you have the main gun for enemies straight ahead on your ship. While beneath your spaceship, on the ground, is another layer that requires you to lock onto enemies with a laser sight and fire a secondary gun to hit them. It gives a neat depth to the 2D picture and variation in attack methods. There's no super weapon here, like a mega bomb or anything, so the controls are easy to grasp.
In general, there are three types of enemies. Those who always stay on the lower layer beneath you, those that are only on the top layer and lastly those rising from the lower to the top layer. This gives results in hectic gameplay moments, where you try firing at stuff in both layers at the same time. Luckily, the bottom layer becomes second nature, and you can focus on not being hit by bullets on the top layer.
Firstly, let's get the confusion of the title out of the way. The original arcade release, back in 1994, was titled Rayforce in Japan and the U.S. While in Europe, it goes by the name Gunlock. For added confusion, the home console releases are titled Layer Section in Japan, while in the U.S. and Europe it's goes under the name Galactic Attack. I guess somebody forgot to file a title trademark for each region along the way?!
Luckily, the actual game isn't anywhere near as confusing as it's many titles! I'll refer to the game as Layer Section, as it's the name on my Japanese Saturn version, and it actually explains main mechanic quite well, it's about shooting enemies in two layers. You've probably played many titles in this genre and although they rely on the same principles, sometimes they feature cool mechanics that set them apart from the competition. Layer Section is such a title.
Shmups typically let you command a spaceship or airplane, shooting numerous enemies scrolling down towards you on the same plane. However, in LS you have the main gun for enemies straight ahead on your ship. While beneath your spaceship, on the ground, is another layer that requires you to lock onto enemies with a laser sight and fire a secondary gun to hit them. It gives a neat depth to the 2D picture and variation in attack methods. There's no super weapon here, like a mega bomb or anything, so the controls are easy to grasp.
In general, there are three types of enemies. Those who always stay on the lower layer beneath you, those that are only on the top layer and lastly those rising from the lower to the top layer. This gives results in hectic gameplay moments, where you try firing at stuff in both layers at the same time. Luckily, the bottom layer becomes second nature, and you can focus on not being hit by bullets on the top layer.
The enemies that rise from the bottom to the top layer often require just one hit by laser as they rise, then when they reach the top layer they require quite a bit of bullets to kill. As such, you're rewarded to swiftly take out enemies before they reach the top layer.
Controls are tight, with fast movement. My only gripe being the rather large size of your spaceship, it's hit box could have been smaller. The Saturn's d-pad shows it's strong side for this type of game. Rolling your thump around it to avoid oncoming fire, making the precise movement required a breeze.
Layer Section is a beautiful, 32-bit, 2D shooter. For those that have only roamed 16-bit shmups on the Mega Drive or SNES for retrogaming kicks, are in for some impressive and detailed sprite graphics. Backgrounds and sprite layers scroll individually, while they're being scaled and rotated with ease on the 2D powerhouse that is the Saturn. It's neat to play these advanced, 32-bit, 2D titles, giving a glimpse of what would have been another 2D dominated generation, had the 3D gaming revolution never happened.
In addition, it's a showcase in how the Saturn easily handled arcade perfect ports of advanced 2D titles, which required a lot of hardware to run back then. Something the 16-bit consoles couldn't properly handle without slowdown and simplified sprite models. Be sure to play the arcade mode from the main menu of Layer Section though, as the Saturn mode has some cutbacks.
It features a varied set of seven levels, with tons of detail onscreen. The depth effects, with scaled sprites, really helps give an illusion of depth. There are tons of layers of sprites, with scaling and rotation going on, all in 2D. Sure, the Mega Drive could handle a few layers and a solid gameplay speed, while the SNES could rotate and scale sprites, but this game is just on another level all together. Sprites are thrown around at ease in, scaled and rotated in manner that gives a almost 3D depth to the levels! There's also a pretty, sprite drawn, intro and ending sequence.
Like most shmups, Layer Section allows you to progressively upgrade the power of your weapons, by collecting pickups dropped by enemies. These upgrades are kept for each life lost, but not when you hit a continue. It's a insanely difficult game by all means and perhaps best managed in coop mode with a friend. You're seriously going to get tested on the later half of your playthrough, as the difficulty rises considerably.
It features a varied set of seven levels, with tons of detail onscreen. The depth effects, with scaled sprites, really helps give an illusion of depth. There are tons of layers of sprites, with scaling and rotation going on, all in 2D. Sure, the Mega Drive could handle a few layers and a solid gameplay speed, while the SNES could rotate and scale sprites, but this game is just on another level all together. Sprites are thrown around at ease in, scaled and rotated in manner that gives a almost 3D depth to the levels! There's also a pretty, sprite drawn, intro and ending sequence.
Like most shmups, Layer Section allows you to progressively upgrade the power of your weapons, by collecting pickups dropped by enemies. These upgrades are kept for each life lost, but not when you hit a continue. It's a insanely difficult game by all means and perhaps best managed in coop mode with a friend. You're seriously going to get tested on the later half of your playthrough, as the difficulty rises considerably.
The game features a Tate mode, which is the perfect arcade conversion, like a lot of the shmup ports on the Saturn and PlayStation. Tate turns your TV picture from 4:3 to 3:4, the format used for most scrolling shmups in the arcades. This allows you to see enemies earlier, as the game scrolls downwards. A common way to make arcade shmups work back in the day was to cut the top of the picture to fit 4:3 TVs. So, it's nice to see the proper format retained in Tate mode. Plus, it shows whole size of bosses and helps you spot enemies earlier. If tilting your CRT TV from 4:3 to 3:4 sounds scary, demagnetising it for the earths gravitation and all, then you can easily use a LCD flatscreen vertically without issues!
I hooked up my Saturn to a, newly acquired, OSSC. This is an analogue to digital, lag-free, open source converter. I played it vertically on a huge 46" flatscreen TV with scanlines, because why not go big for fun?! Worked perfectly and looked stunning.
I hooked up my Saturn to a, newly acquired, OSSC. This is an analogue to digital, lag-free, open source converter. I played it vertically on a huge 46" flatscreen TV with scanlines, because why not go big for fun?! Worked perfectly and looked stunning.
Here's a pic of the setup at play:
Overall, Layer Section is a great looking and fun 32-bit shoot 'em up, with it's unique and neat layer mechanic. I also appreciated the typical, but addictive, early 90's midi soundtrack! It's still one of those titles that hasn't risen to ridiculous retro game prices, yet. Like most shmups on the Saturn.
Overall, Layer Section is a great looking and fun 32-bit shoot 'em up, with it's unique and neat layer mechanic. I also appreciated the typical, but addictive, early 90's midi soundtrack! It's still one of those titles that hasn't risen to ridiculous retro game prices, yet. Like most shmups on the Saturn.
In hindsight, 2D shmups were overlooked in the 3D craze that swept over the fifth generation, but look into the less known 2D world of that generation and you can find some great titles. Giving a glimpse of the 32-bit 2D future Sega bet wrongly on.
Sure, I would've liked more depth to a singleplayer experience, but this is a pure arcade conversion. It's about trying to reach as far as you can on the lives and continues you get, beating that old high score from the last time you tried. "Just one more go" is the motto to go by.
Sure, I would've liked more depth to a singleplayer experience, but this is a pure arcade conversion. It's about trying to reach as far as you can on the lives and continues you get, beating that old high score from the last time you tried. "Just one more go" is the motto to go by.
