Raiden V: Director's Cut

Raiden V doesn’t feature any crazy features or design choices that turn the shoot ’em up genre on its head, but it doesn’t need to. Instead, it offers up an extremely polished shooter that sticks to the basics, while also having plenty of customizability due to a robust weapon system. There’s enough missions and story branches to keep players busy for quite some time, and it’s a great addition to any SHMUP fan’s library.

Solid oldschool arcade action proving that shoot em up doesn’t always have to equal bullet hell. And with the director’s cut you not only get new levels but a decent, albeit hectical co-op mode as well.

Raiden V tries to add something new the shoot ’em up genre which is admirable, but unfortunately most of the ideas don’t live up to expectations. The Cheer system may have worked better if you could let spectators view your game, and the running commentary is like trying to listen to couple arguing at back of a bus when you’re at the front and have someone playing loud techno music on their phone right next to you. For a shoot ’em up there is a lot of content and the main mechanics have clearly been honed to perfection over the last twenty five years, making this a good, solid entry to the series.

Naturally a niche game. No effort has been made by the development team to broaden the user base.

Whether you’re looking for a casual, classically inspired fix of arcade action, or a hardcore, brutal scrolling shooter you’ll find the possibility of both with Raiden V: Director’s Cut. It’s a shame that lack of innovation and some strange design choices hinder it. However, it still remains an enjoyable experience for long-term fans of this almost three decade old franchise, or newcomers alike.