Genre: Shooter / Spaceship / 2.5D CDs: 1 (539 Megs) Players: 1 or 2 Player (Co-Op) ESRB: Kids to Adults
 Animated Violence
Publisher: Working Designs Retail Barcode: 7 35366 00482 8 Memory: 1 Block
Developer: Taito Sony ID: SLUS-00482 Accessories: None
Released: September 11th, 1997 PSRM: 006830, 006831 (Variant)


Box Copy
Grab your oxygen mask and jump into the future of interplanetary defense. The year is 2219AD, and Earth's Star Federation has unleashed the R-Gray advanced tactical combat fighter to save the planet from certain destruction at the hands of the bloodthirsty Secilia Federation. Despite impossible odds, you must now command a specially outfitted R-Gray fighter to defend Earth from certain destruction. Each fighter is equipped with Lock-On lasers, pulse lasers, and a single devastating assault laser array that can destroy all sighted targets at once. Even with this technology at your disposal, the battle will not be easy. Earth's forces are depleted, and the merciless hordes of Secilia will settle for nothing less than complete annihilation of Earth. Fortunately, Star Command has created two R-Gray prototypes, so if you need extra firepower, a skilled friend can fly at your side. Whether you fly solo or with a friend, the intense sound, action, and arcade-perfect Hyper-3D visuals will blow you away!

Discussion
Working Designs could write one mean back copy text block, could they not?

All that aside, the game presents the final chapter in the Ray series and provides one of the original PlayStation's most cherished 'shmup' experiences in gaming history. One or two players tackle several stages of evil spaceships, giant robotic mechs, and giant armadas that can all be shot down using either your main weapon or the lock-on lasers. While other games have done the lock-on feature to death (including the original Warhawk's), there's something almost magical in watching this game's take work. You can actually kill everything with the lock-on, but not the standard weapons. This opens up a party for those who like to tackle games in an alternate way, try getting a 100% on Lock On AND Total Kill percentages.

The home version provides both the original Arcade experience and a new Arrange Mode, which mixes things up a bit. If you beat both of these modes, you can unlock stage select features.

Regardless of your casual / hardcore gaming nature, RayStorm and its sister game RayCrisis are worthy additions to your library. They just don't make them like they used to.

Trivia
  • The first game ever brought over to the PlayStation by Working Designs.
     
  • This is part of the "Ray" trilogy. In release order, the three games are RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis. Story wise though, RayStorm is the final chapter.
     
  • What's in a name? The original RayForce was a Japanese arcade release, but due to Trademark issues, was renamed Layer Section when it came to the Sega Saturn. When Acclaim brought it over to the US, they again renamed it to Galactic Attack.
     
  • Speaking of, Working Designs actually tried to bring out Layer Section to America first, but lost to Acclaim.
     
  • This was the first game under Working Design's sub-label SPAZ, which was going to focus on shooters and the like.
Variations / Printing Errors
Right on schedule with the usual Working Designs variant printings, RayStorm's actually came to me via a reader. The left "Red Ship" version is the harder to find of the two, and not that common.

What's also interesting is that there is no SLUS number underneath the ESRB rating on the Red version. I mean, there IS, but you can' t see it due to the cloud placement.

Blue Ship PSRM = 006830
Red Ship PSRM = 006831

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