Einhander is a fun shooter from Square released on the Playstation console in May of 1998. You play as a pilot from the moon sent to cause havoc on earth and "mark resources" for future extraction. The setting is a future world where the Earth and Moon are in their second war over resources. Einhander is the first 3D shooter from Square who is predominantly known for its RPG video games.
The game is a 3-D shooter, but the player is stuck to only moving in 2 dimensions which makes this a 2.5-D game. The sprites wiggle around in 3-D, dipping their wings to show their depth. And the camera will sometimes shift to an almost isometric diagonal view at times. Overall it is an exceptionally good looking game and the soundtrack, like any Squaresoft game, is absolutely amazing.
An Einhander is an old German sword used in one hand. The ship in-game has one arm on it that it uses to grab and hang onto the various powerups you collect throughout levels. From chain guns to homing rockets. The arm can also be rotated to be positioned above or below the player's ship allowing for different angles of attack. Some powerups also appear to behave differently depending on if they are above or below your ship. The rockets for example only hone in on targets when they are set to the "up" position. You are also able to adjust how sluggish or quick your ship is on the fly with the L and R buttons which is handy when passing the controller back and forth if your friend prefers the speed a bit different.
Overall, the game was a success with gamers and critics alike, selling 50,000 copies in Japan in the first 3 days of release. Eurogamer considered it Square's most successful endeavor outside of RPG's at the time and other gaming magazines praised it for its use of 3-D graphics in a genre that had started to feel a bit stale after the 16-bit era. The two major drawbacks of the game are a short length to the game overall and no inclusion of a 2-player mode. At the time these things may have been more important, but now in a retro setting, the length at least can be seen as a good thing. Allowing you to easily dive in and out to beat the game in a weekend. Definitely add this title to your retro collection.
