Knowyourmobile: It's hard to believe the Darius series of side-scrolling shoot-‘em-ups date all the way back to 1986, yet every game in the long-lived and highly celebrated series has remained true to its origins. The gameplay has become a lot more frantic and brightly dressed, but it's a franchise that is proud to remain a side scroller despite this type of gameplay almost being considered archaic.
Hardcore Droid - Darius-burst-sp-android-action -thumbFor as much as the shoot-‘em-up genre remains stubbornly old-school to the casual observer, it’s changed a lot since its ’80s and ’90s zenith. Where once we had a diverse array of side scrollers, vertical scrollers, precise methodical games, or crazy bullet-fests, now it’s largely settled on varying circles of “bullet hell” with clouds of pink and blue bullets and tiny ships. Dariusburst: Second Prologue proves to be a refreshing throwback to the classic side-scrollers that ruled the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, games like Lightening Force, Gradius, and of course the Darius games, with slow-scrolling levels, fast bullets, and epic boss battles.
Carl Williams writes, "Dariusburst was previously available on Playstation Portable (exclusive to Japan) and now, thanks to Taito, it is available on Android and iPhone. For those of you reading this that have never played a Darius game, aka Sagaia, you are in for a treat if you like a challenge. If not well, um, play something else. Darius has never really been at the forefront of side scrolling shooters but it certainly has kept a certain level of quality with each release- quite a feat. Now, Android and iPhone gamers will be able to enjoy Taito’s newest entry in the Darius brand."
The Quality Index champions the best space-based shooters available on iPad.
