Otomedius Excellent (オトメディウスX(エクセレント, Otomediusu X (Ekuserento!)) is a scrolling shooter video game, developed and published by Konami for the Xbox 360 video game console. It is the sequel[2][3] to the 2008 game Otomedius G (Gorgeous!),[4][5] a spin-off of the Gradius series. It was released in 2011 on April 21 in Japan and in North America on November 1.

Otomedius Excellent
Developer(s)Konami
Publisher(s)Konami
Director(s)Toshiyasu Kamiko
Kimihiro Taniyama
Producer(s)Koji Igarashi
Artist(s)Mine Yoshizaki
Writer(s)Kazuhiko Maeda
Composer(s)Nobuhiko Matsufuji
Atsushi Sato
Naoyuki Sato
Norihiko Hibino
SeriesOtomedius
Gradius
Platform(s)Xbox 360
Release
  • JP: April 21, 2011
  • NA: November 1, 2011[1]
Genre(s)Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Otomedius Excellent features female characters representing different Konami franchises.

Gameplay

Otomedius Excellent offers a single-player campaign and a multi-player mode provided via the Xbox Live service. If stages are too hard, the player can recruit up to three helpers in the Multiplay offline mode. In Score Attack new weapon cards can be unlocked after finishing the main game. Through Xbox Live online multiplayer was possible and new content could be unlocked. There are also several new characters, several extra stages and several character BGM packs that were available through downloadable content.

Plot

In the year 2011 AD, after the civilization war between the Angel Squadrons and the Gofer Sisters before their memories taken, and the music box has been forbidden (Otomedius Gorgeous). Meanwhile, the Inter-Dimensional Organization G now continues the new Bacterian Army with new member squadrons to defeat the unknown Bacterian Force and the Dark Force was taken to earth and revolved their destruction but the Squadrons were going back in time to finished their most powerful forces among the real world of planet Gradius.

Release

In July 2011, the first packages of downloadable content (DLC) were released. They featured BGM packs, extra stages and customize Outfits through Xbox Live.

The soundtrack album contains the game's musical tracks from a variety of popular game composers including GEM Impact (Norihiko Hibino and Takahiro Izutani), Motoi Sakuraba, Michiru Yamane, and Shinji Hosoe. The soundtrack also features a large amount of arrangements from previous Konami games. It was released on March 29, 2012, in Japan by Konami, with cover art by Mine Yoshizaki.[citation needed]

Reception

The review aggregate website, Metacritic, displayed a score of 48/100, which indicates "generally unfavorable reviews".[6] Eric Bowman of GameCritics.com gave the game a 2/10, saying "Otomedius Excellent shouldn't be worth anyone's time. Beyond the overall badness of the gameplay, the whole thing just feels incredibly cynical."[11] Daemon Hatfield of IGN called it "outdated and overpriced," giving the game a 5.5/10.[7]

The difficulty was particularly criticized. Cameron Lewis of Official Xbox Magazine gave it a 5/10, stating "It's frustrating, it makes no sense, and it just makes everyone involved want to play something else."[10] Kevin Schaller of Game Revolution also noted the difficulty, saying "If you think games like Mega Man 9 and 10 are tough, you have no idea just how dead you can be in a game."[12]

References

  1. ^ "Konami Announces Otomedius Excellent Now Available" (Press release). Konami. 2011-11-01. Archived from the original on 2012-10-06. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
  2. ^ Konami (June 16, 2010). "KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES OTOMEDIUS EXCELLENT (Official Press Release)". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Archived from the original on October 30, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2011. The highly-anticipated sequel to the Japan-exclusive[...]As the sequel to the 2008 Japanese hit Otomedius Gorgeous, Otomedius Excellent boasts...
  3. ^ Konami. "Game Outline". Otomedius Excellent Official Japanese Website (in Japanese). Konami. Archived from the original on August 10, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2011. オトメディウスG(ゴージャス!)の続編が. Translation: The sequel to Otomedius G (Gorgeous!)
  4. ^ "Otomedius Excellent Special Edition for Xbox 360". GameStop. Archived from the original on 2012-09-01. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
  5. ^ JC Fletcher (2011-04-22). "Otomedius Excellent still on the way in 2011". Joystiq. Archived from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
  6. ^ a b "Otomedius Excellent for Xbox 360 Reviews - Metacritic". Metacritic. Archived from the original on July 23, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Daemon Hatfield (January 17, 2012). "Otomedius Excellent Review". IGN. Archived from the original on July 23, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  8. ^ Kyle Hilliard (November 9, 2011). "Otomedius Excellent Review - Excellent Doesn't Belong In This Game's Title - Game Informer". Game Informer. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  9. ^ Allistair Pinsoff. "Review: Otomedius Excellent - Destructoid". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 2022-07-23. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  10. ^ a b Cameron Lewis (November 7, 2011). "Official Xbox Magazine - Otomedius Excellent Review". Archived from the original on December 11, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  11. ^ a b Eric Bowman (January 15, 2012). "Otomedius Excellent Review". GameCritics.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Kevin Schaller (December 5, 2011). "Otomedius Excellent Review". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on July 23, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  13. ^ "Otomedius Excellent Review for 360 form 1UP.com". 1UP.com. November 8, 2022. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2022.