"This is Delta Leader. Rednecks, fly low. And back me up."
Final Report. Philosoma. Fertilization Completed. Mission Accomplished. Multiplication and Behaviour of Humans, Essential for Increased Fertilization.
Entering the Next Stage. Over, and Out.
END TRANSMISSION
Entering the Next Stage. Over, and Out.
END TRANSMISSION
Philosoma is a 1995 Shoot 'Em Up video game developed by G-Artists and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is one of the earliest games for the PS1, paying homage to the vertical and horizontal scrolling shooters popular from the previous decade.
An alien outbreak had occurred on a colonized world codenamed Planet 220. Two rescue teams, Alpha and Bravo, are sent to investigate, but end up losing all contact with the surrounding star systems. A third squad, Charlie, armed with a state-of-the-art fighter ship called the F/A-37 Strega, is sent to follow up, with the player assuming one of the four rookie Strega pilots.
The game received a sequel titled Phase Paradox in 2001, but that was inexplicably a Survival Horror game instead of a space shooter.
It was re-released on the Play Station Network (for Japan only) on 26 April 2007, 12 years after its debut.
Philosoma contains examples of the following tropes:
- Ace Pilot: The player, despite being a recently-graduated rookie. Which is good, because expert piloting skills is pretty much a must when taking on hordes and hordes of enemies.
- Aerial Canyon Chase: One of the levels has the Strega battling airborne enemies between gorges while trying not to crash on the sides. More often than not these gorges also contain floating asteroids as an additional hazard.
- And the Adventure Continues: The final stage ends with the infestation in Planet 220 contained after the Queen Bug is destroyed, but with the player's character being the Sole Survivor of the botched mission. They then set off to an unknown future with the last shot being the Strega disappearing in the darkness of space.
- Asteroid Thicket: The very first stage, which has the Strega flying through a canyon filled with floating asteroids which needs to be blown up to clear a passage through, a course which takes maybe two minutes before actual enemies shows up onscreen. There are also certain areas containing indestructible asteroids, which the player will need to avoid by moving to the side of the screen.
- Beam Spam:
- One of the power-ups available, which releases a thick laser beam from the front of the F/A-37 Strega. It stays onscreen for several seconds as well, allowing players to sweep the beam from left to right/top to bottom (depending if the gameplay is currently vertical or horizontal) easily taking down multiple enemies in one clean swoop.
- Many of the bosses will constantly spam beam attacks all over the screen as well, notably the boss in the tunnel which attacks with a Wave-Motion Gun AND assorted beam blasts, both at once.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Late into the last few levels where the player finally made it into the bowels of Planet 220, they then discover the entire planet to be infested by alien bugs, inexplicably turning the last stage into a Bug War.
- Fighter-Launching Sequence: The game opens with an animated FMV cutscene of the Charlie squadron - the player included - launching off their F/A-37 Stregas for their mission. Cue the first stage.
- Genre Shift: The first half of the game is a straightforward space shooter where the player pits their Strega in battling enemy spaceships. But then comes the alien insect infestation, and the game starts moving into Cosmic Horror Story territory.
- Homing Projectile: One of the later power-ups available in the game allows the F/A-37 Strega to fire homing missiles - three at a time - alongside its guns.
- Horde of Alien Locusts: The alien insects which infest Planet 220 in the final stage, devouring the entire area and covering every corner with their eggs.
- Low Clearance: One of the major hazards in the stage where the player controls the F/A-37 Strega to break out from the interiors of a Space Base. The exits of the maze-like corridors will close in either from the top, or from the sides, and the player must maneuver the Strega to avoid crashing.
- Meat Moss: The final stage in the bowels of Planet 220, thanks to the alien bug infestation, with insect eggs growing out of its walls and ceilings and giant alien bugs everywhere.
- No Name Given: The player character is simply identified by his callsign, "D3", in conversations either during gameplay or cutscenes.
- Smart Bomb: The player's bomb, which releases a powerful energy sphere that clears the area of most lesser enemies.
- Transforming Mecha: The F/A-37 Strega can shift between fighter mode and land mode, the latter of which makes it sprout legs, turning it into a Chicken Walker. It's still capable of hovering in the second form, though.
- Weaponized Offspring: The projectiles fired by the giant insect monsters resemble larvae, wriggling about as they latch to the Strega causing damage in the process. In one of the FMV cutscenes, these creatures are seen infesting one of the player's unfortunate partners chewing her ship into bits.
