I picked up Gradius V a good while back, but only yesterday got around to playing all the way through. The reason of course is that I play that game as it is designed: like an old arcade game. I play for points, not to win, which is good because playing to win in that game is just absurd.
I was curious, though, so today I sat down and played through the game in some sense. I’d played so many hours that “free play” was on, so what I really did was just keep dying and continuing until the game was over.
And now that I’ve done it, overall I have to say the game is disappointing. The movie scenes are annoying, the new weapon options you get after winning are weak, and too many parts of the game are unplayable without massive upgrades.
It’s a good thing I won’t ever even SEE half the game playing it my way: once through, without continues, to maximize score.