Assault Suit Leynos 2

As someone who owned the original Cybernator (aka Assualts Suit Valken in Japan) on the SNES when it was released over here in the UK back in 1993, I've been very much looking forward to Assault Suit Leynos 2, which takes the series into 32 bit SEGA Saturn territory. The SNES game was a masterclass of stompy mecha action, with your assault suit feeling heavy and purposeful as it streamed bullets and missiles at an endless enemy. 

What I wanted from Leynos 2 was more of the same with some updated graphics and perhaps some more impressive weaponry, and in that sense the game absolutely delivers. Once the preserve of the Japanese market, City Connection have gone above and beyond by translating the game for the first time ever, giving it a graphical tweak and adding some quality of life features to boot.

Now, I walked into my first playthrough with the confidence of a man who thinks he's carrying a katana into a fist fight, only to find out it's made of rubber. I was looking at the Game Over screen within minutes. I hadn't realised that the original game was so extraordinarily tough, so I'm grateful for the ability to adjust the difficulty a tad, increase the durability of my armour in the settings and make copious use of the save and rewind features. Take it from someone who is generally good at these games; this one is tough as mutton wearing spiked body armour.

The small foes are hard enough, but it's new pants time when the big guns show up...

What this difficulty gets you is far more immersion, for Leynos 2 isn't just a prettier Assaults Suits Valken, this is a full on mecha simulator, with screens of statistics regarding your weapon loadout and armour parts. It demands a thoughtful approach, something I hadn't expected going in - this isn't an arcade experience, it's a simulator.

The reason you'll need all the options is because the missions vary greatly. Arena battles, survival runs, boss fights and platform navigation all come into play on each level, with each emphasising one aspect over another. Whatever your objective, the game is slick and responsive which, importantly, means that failure isn't down to input lag (famous on the Saturn) or an unfair shot, it'll all come down to your skill and the amount of time you spend honing your skills. 

You'll have to manage your inventory too - the reason I got my ass handed to me on my first playthrough is that I assumed at least one weapon would have infinite (or large capacity) ammo. When I inevitably ran out of everything in the arsenal after spraying bullets like Tony Montana in Scarface, I didn't know I had an option to punch the enemy, so just ran around screaming "where's the ammo?!" until the enemy quite rightly blew me to pieces. Lesson learned.

Now, it's not all stats and splats, there's a story here too, which we can now enjoy thanks to the fresh translation. You have a squad of ultimate  badasses that accompany you on missions and they're watching you - perform poorly and you'll take heat, perform well and you'll be treated like a King. It's really nice to see this sort of banter in a classic game and it adds a lot of character to a game that could have been a dry and stat-driven nightmare.

So it has bullets, brains and sass. It's also aged well, the 2D graphics having aged very well since 1997, a tribute to the talent of the day. Explosions feel meaty, effects are colourful and satisfying and even the backgrounds retain their charm.

For those of us from the early age of console gaming, watching older games being brought back to life is a real pleasure. Whether it's unreleased arcade gems like Clockwork Aquario or re-tuned home console releases locked away due to time and language barriers, we can respect the fact that companies like City Connection are working like Indiana Jones to get bring us lost treasures like these.

I can see the game being too hard for casual gamers, it certainly won't go easy on you and that could be frustrating, but go in knowing that you have to think before you act, and you should pull hours of pleasure from this gem.