I've already expressed my love for PS1 era Squaresoft in the Threads Of Fate post, but did you know that they also made some shmups during that time period too? Two, in fact, and they're some of the coolest shmups I've ever played. One of them is IS: Internal Section, which is what you'd get if you took Tempest and crossed it with the weapon system of Radiant Silvergun and the aesthetic of Rez. The other is Einhander, a very slick cyberpunk 2.5D side-scrolling shooter with cool vibes and even cooler gameplay mechanics. Did I mention this game is cool yet?
I get the feeling that Einhander was a fun project for the folks at Square. To this day, it's a game that the company will never not jump at the chance to reference and pay homage to, most notably in Kingdom Hearts 3 whose entire gummy ship sections were an Einhander reference. It's not hard to see why, it really is a fantastic shooter that still feels fresh today.
Gameplay-wise, Einhander is a side-scrolling shmup not too dissimilar from something like Gradius. However, the twist is in how weapons work. Unlike other shmups where you just grab weapon pods floating around, Einhander has you actually steal the enemy's weapons with your ship's hand (get it? EinHANDer?). There's a nice variety of weapons from shotguns to cannons to gatlings to a straight-up sword, to the several secret weapons you can find scattered around. On top of that, each weapon has two functions based on whether or not you're holding them above or below the shop, you can carry multiple at a time and swap between them, and they all have limited ammo, and it all adds up to give Einhander a lot of strategy where you're encouraged to constantly switch weapons and find the best combinations for any given situation. On top of that, there are even multiple ship types that let you hold more or less weapons at a time at the cost of a weaker or stronger standard shot, giving this game even more strategic depth.
Einhander's level and boss design is also absolutely wild, really taking advantage of its 2.5D perspective to create a ton of memorable setpieces. There's a train chase, a complex factory maze filled with moving platforms, split-second puzzles where you have to avoid blowing up the wrong bombs, tons of perspective shifts, several vertical segments, and a ton of bits where the speed your ship is suddenly cranked up to max. The bosses themselves are also fantastic, between their massive and intimidating designs, creative movesets that often have them utilize the background, and dynamic camerawork that makes them come across as all the larger. Some bosses are even weaved into the stage, with you fighting them at top-speed, and it's always exhilirating. It all culminates in a bonkers final level in space where the camera is flying all over the place, the pacing never stops, and the final boss will take advantage of the entirety of the 3D space he has at his disposal. With how bombastic and cool the levels and bosses are in Einhander, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that this game is brutal, with a punishing checkpoint system and limited continues making things even worse. However, as hard as Einhander is, it's also incredibly fair. Every enemy and boss attack is well-telegraphed, all the level gimmicks are fun to avoid and don't clash with the enemies, and while memorization can absolutely help, you will never be killed for something that isn't entirely your own fault.
The gameplay is only half of the appeal though, as Einhander's presentation is also absolutely top-notch. The story is simple but very effective, revolving around a war between the Earth and the Moon. You play as a Moon soldier who's sent out on a suicide mission to help destroy the Earth, but when you're rewarded with the Moon's army shooting your ship down by the end of the game, the climax has you go rogue and destroy the armors of both sides instead. It's a story that perfectly fits the brutal difficulty of Einhander while also being twisty enough to be engaging. The visuals are also fantastic, employing that classic PS1 blocky look to craft a very pleasing and striking futuristic world. From the intricate robot bosses you fight, to the opening city stage only lit by neon lights, to the stunning skyboxes, Einhander is full of detail and artistic appeal, all the while running at a smooth 60fps. And as you'd probably expect, the soundtrack is phenomenal. Kenichiro Fukui's stellar techno score blends chilling ambient tracks with banging EDM action themes making for a soundtrack dripping with cyberpunk atmosphere. The game itself uses these tracks incredibly well too, usually building up to those more explosive tracks, and it always hits very hard. Some highlights would be Shudder, Thermosphere, Badlands, Bloody Battle, and Conflict.
Overall, Einhander just rules. It's such an incredibly fun and creative shoot-em-up, and it still stuns me that Squaresoft managed to nail the genre this right on their first try. It's both a super engaging arcade experience with tons of strategy and replayability thanks to the weapon system along with innovative 2.5 levels and boss fights, as well as an atmospheric dose of 90s cyberpunk goodness with wonderfully PS1-era visuals and a fantastic soundtrack. It's genuinely a near perfect game for me, and a great summation of what I love about the PS1 as a console.
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