Phelios

[Strider]

Overall, Phelios is a game that's full of promising ideas, but it fails miserably in trying to tie them all together and form a fine shmup out of them. The game seems unfinished and rushed at times and leaves much to be desired. Also, the last boss battle is so incredibly hard and frustrating that it's no fun anymore. So I can't really recommend Phelios. It's not a bad game, but it's not very good either. I imagine it could have been much better.

Bleh, this game is better than what is described in this review. Solid story that many of us are familiar with (in terms of greek mytho) and loads different from what we're all used to playing (space shooters). The game doesn't feel rushed at all IMO. I'm gonna go play it right now!

8.0 IMHO

[Kollision]

The thing I love most about this game is the graphics for stage 1, above the clouds, when you have that special weapon that fires big arches against the dragons.
Too bad it doesn't last long....

[Benjamin]

I'd say Phelios feels rushed in the sense that everything past the first few levels is so bland. The first level is by far the best -- it's all downhill from there. Still a very good game, but the latter half is a letdown. Assuming the Genesis game is a fairly faithful port, I'd say that's not exactly the fault of the home version though.

[bigladiesman]

It was a bad day at Mount Olympus. Zeus had his hands full with Daedalus' last gadget: a tube with two lenses that made easier for him to find maidens and nymphs sunbathing on the Aegean Islands, so Dyonisus, seeking the chance, stole his father's Pict whisky and several of the Cuban cigars his pen pal Huitzilopochtli had brought him from the Americas when they first met in person. However, when he was sneaking out of Zeus's palace, Dyonisus was ran over by his brother Hermes, who was on a hurry delivering - as usual, that's why he's displayed on so many flower shops nowadays - a bouquet of flowers that King David had sent with his best wishes to Amaterasu while she was convalescent of her latest hip dysplasia operation. Whisky and cigars flew away and ended up falling into the sea, where they melted, combined and turned into the Principality of Monaco. All thas ruckus alerted Zeus, who saw his booze and cigars gone. "Thousands of hundreds of technosoft thund'r f'rces! Who is't dares to stealeth mine own alcohol and canc'r tubes? I gage t wast thee, Dyonisus?!". Cornered, the god of plasure looked frantically for some sucker to pin his guilt to. And he pointed to the titan Typhon who was just passing by. "Here's the guilty part, pops!". Zeus, gullible as he was, punished the innocent Titan, who was condemned to control the traffic in Antarctica forever.
However, Typhon ran away and swore revenge on Zeus (yep, Dyonisus got away scott-free of all that fiasco). Enter Artemis riding her PHELIOS (Pony Hovering Earth Lightly Into Olympians' Service) minding her own business when, all of a sudden, Typhon grabbed her and ran away laughing like a maniac. Artemis's PHELIOS was understandably upset and neighed and stomped and whined and kicked and crapped all the way to Apollo's temple. Somehow, Apollo got the picture from the horse's mouth and, riding PHELIOS, he rushed to his sister's rescue. And then someone at Namco read this crap and made a video game out of it.

So, here we are with this noble attempt to port another Dragon Spirit-esque fantasy/mythological shoot'em up by Namco. Frugal when it comes to options, I'll have to agree with the other reviewers: It's not a bad game by any means, but that Apollo plus Pegasus sprite is humongous and that hinders the whole game experience. More often that not, you'll be hearing Apollo's screams and moans at the slightest mistake.
Otherwise, it's an average-to-good game: serviceable graphics, good sound, fast, engaging gameplay (though some bosses are a bit boring) and enough general late eghties-early nineties silliness to inspire the stupid story that accompanies this itty bitty post. I can imagine someone playing this and feeling like she or he was living some kind of Clash of the Titans (the 1981 one, of course) at home, only without that cute and clumsy clockwork owl.