RayCrisis, known as RayCrisis: Series Termination in North America, is the third game released in the Ray Series of Taito vertical shooter games. Chronologically, it is considered a prequel to the first game, RayForce. First released for Arcades in 1998, it supported co-op mode for two players, which the PlayStation ports released in 2000 lack, these ports are the only games in the "Ray" series to lack co-op.
Story[]
Adapted from the manual:
The elimination of the human race began as a malfunction of the worldwide Con-Human Neuro Computer Network. A rogue scientist named Leslie McGuire, determined to create the ultimate neural interface between man and machine, cloned herself (directly violating the Genetic Sanctity Law of 2119) and hardwired the clone's mind directly into Con-Human. McGuire didn't anticipate what would happen next: Con-Human's AI took control of the clone's consciousness and miraculously achieved sentience.
However, Con-Human was unable to understand the complexity of human emotions or the mysteries of existence. As a result of this, Con-Human drove itself to insanity. Lost in the maze of its created "mind", Con-Human managed to gain control of all of Earth's military might and use it against its creators, who cursed it with self-awareness. Within weeks, all but a few million of Earth's 13 billion inhabitants had been killed. The remaining population escaped into a series of subterranean cities, which had been constructed to guarantee human survival in the unlikely event of a collision between Earth and a giant asteroid.
Once underground, the remaining humans formulated a plan to colonize nearby planets and escape Con-Human's genocidal rampage. With the Deep Space Allied Armies providing assistance, humanity gained air superiority over Con-Human and began shuttling humans across the solar system. After 20 years of great fighting, all of the humans who wanted to leave have been evacuated from the ravaged planet they once called home. In all, over 500 colonization vessels and 260 orbital vessels escaped from the grip of Con-Human.
The idealistic humans who stayed behind on Earth believed that they could disable Con-Human and regain control. The struggle against Con-Human was difficult and progress extremely challenging to gauge because Con-Human was continuously evolving. The futility of attempting to disable Con-Human soon became evident and it was decided that Con-Human's existence posed a threat to the future of humankind everywhere in the universe.
An assault plan, codenamed Operation Meteor, was implemented. It was a complete failure, with over 70% of the assault vessels being destroyed and Con-Human's core was still active, and the remaining Earth populous was discovered by Con-Human and ripe for annihilation.
A last ditch effort has now been created to attack Con-Human's consciousness directly. Through the use of special computer virus modules, called 'Wave Riders, these vessels are tasked with destroying all aspects of Con-Human's "mind" before it can eliminate the rest of Earth's people. Assuming this operation is successful, an additional operation will resume the attack and hopefully will ultimately exterminate Con-Human for good.
Ships[]
- Main: WR-01R Wave Rider 1, WR-02R Wave Rider 2, WR-03 Wave Rider 3
- Cameo: R-Gray 1, R-Gray 2
Gameplay[]
RayCrisis is a style and setting detachment from the rest of the series. The game's setting is within Con-Human, taking place in virtual reality. The stages are also set up so that you choose only 4 out of 5, each stage getting progressively harder. Each of the stages represent a different aspect of Con-Human's personality.
The fighters themselves play in the same way as the rest of the series, with two planes of attack.