Ajax. Greek for impossible struggle.I've been playing absurd levels of Gradius and its parodying cousin, Parodius lately, as well as having completed Tyrian a couple of days ago. It seems I have a massive craving for scrolling shoot-em-ups from the old days, in all their absurd, ridiculous difficulty. A lot of which has to do with me just being crap, but, for example, I've never gotten past the first level of Gradius II. Never. The first level for god's sake.
However the main thing that's keeping me playing is the music. Ye gods are arcade shooters' soundtracks good. It doesn't matter if it's just beeps and whatever (I loohooove Chiptunes and what have you anyway, but that's not the point because...) it's the composition that's important. This is something that's consistent with all of them - Gradius, Parodius, Tyrian and now my new nemesis, Ajax, all have superb music in my humblest of opinions. I think Burning Heat from Gradius II's first level is in the running for greatest song ever.
Good for what ails you.I just find it amazing that you can take something like "Challenger 1985" which begins 36 seconds into this fella's video and, with a certain amount of ridiculous talent, turn it into this.
In a way, playing these games is like playing a soundtrack, just with a game thrown in, of course that's not said to cheapen any shooter in any way; it's their insane difficulty and the prestige of being good at them that keeps me coming back. I think I'll keep playing for a while longer...
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