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The Reap is a classic arcade shooter in Zaxxon style. The game has 4 stages. First you shoot enemies in an Arctic oriented scenery. Next you fly through the deep oceans, wherein between shipwrecks and fish bones are sharks and submarines waiting for you. After this, there comes a canyon-desert stage. Last but not least you fight your enemies in a skyscraper city. Every stage has two or three levels. Altogether there are 10 levels. Your ship can get 5 weapon systems and all of them can be upgraded three times. The biggest weapon is a rocket blaster. You can also find bombs or invulnerability shields. It's one of the best-looking shooters ever released, and features stunning visual effects and huge 3D-modeled levels. Each world plays host to superb full screen animations. Unique light sourcing creates an ambient background atmosphere and highlights an attention to background detail seldom seen in PC entertainment software. But graphics, as countless examples have shown, cannot save a game if it is no fun to play. Fortunately, The Reap not only lives up to Housemarque's early reputation as maker of Stardust games, but also exceeds it with even better graphics, bigger worlds, and more furious action. Although four worlds may sound too few for a SHMUP game, each world is so large and so difficult that it will take expert gamers a few hours (and blistered thumbs) to get through it. Dozens of special effects and a catchy soundtrack round off this highly-polished game that is a good example of how good-looking a PC game can be without sacrificing speed or playability - and that is no small feat given 1997 hardware. |
