Sol Divide tries to be progressive by utilizing CG rendered graphics, but everything looks dark, blurry, and washed out. Psikyo’s games never pushed any graphical envelopes, but they were always at least competent. Strangely, there is no score keeping in the arcade version. You also cannot credit feed through the last stage. To make up for the very short quest, there’s a second loop where last three levels were all fused together into one long, mega level. As typical of Psikyo games, there are multiple routes through the game, at least, as each character starts on different stages, and can choose between other levels on a map screen. Each stage is remarkably brief, and it really just feels like you’re flying a few feet, maybe fighting a boss, then moving onward. For starters, it’s incredibly disjointed. In its efforts to stand out, though, it ends up stumbling quite a bit. Though there’s nothing quite like Sol Divide out there – the closest comparison is Lords of Thunder, but outside of the whole “floating guys in a horizontal shooter with melee attacks”, they’re nothing alike. For such a cool looking spell, it’s actually not very good, unlike Phoenix and Nightmare. Tyora’s exclusive magic is Summons, which summons a random creature depending on the level to jump in, hit whatever is in its path, and run away.

While her close range attacks are weak, they are at least quick, allowing for easy hit and run tactics. Tyora is the long-range character, shooting huge waves of magic energy from her staff that does a lot of damage. It is hinted that she used to be very close to Ifter years ago. Tyora is a wizard from Rangforce and guardian of the largest temple in the world. There are but three people strong enough to face Ifter and his army. The story involves Ifter, a power hungry emperor trying to take over the world, become a demon, and kill lots of people in the process.

In addition to spells, enemies will also drop various items to extend your life meter or increase your shot power. The other spells can only be used once before they disappear and have to be collected again. Certain spells like Fire, Thunder, Slow and Freeze will drain your magic bar, but this can be refilled by hitting with close range attacks. There are also character specific spells: Phoenix for Kason, Nightmare for Vorg, and Summon for Tyora. Thunder, Death, and Meteor will attack everything on the screen, while Slow and Wind can be used to slow down the action, and Heatbody will grant temporarily invincibility. Fire will send out a burst of flame for several seconds, while Freeze will stop enemies mid-flight, allowing you to get in extra attacks. There are eleven spells in total, but each character gets a spell only they can use, so really, you only get nine. Pressing both the shoot and melee buttons simultaneously will use magic. In turn, your character has a fairly generous life bar, although due to their large size, the short invulnerability period, and the generally tenacious enemies, you can find yourself depleted very quickly. Since most enemies are bullet sponges, the concentration of melee combat and combos drastically changes the way you’re supposed to play. Enemies are very similar, as some can’t attack at close range, some can’t attack long range, and others have both types of attacks. It is very important to know combos too, as shooting is relatively ineffective in short range. Each character has their own combo, which are executed by pressing the attack button three times, a direction (which direction changes with the character), and then attack for the final time. The game uses three buttons – one for shooting, one for a close range attack, and one to change what spell is equipped. It’s mostly a horizontal shooter, although it has some elements of beat-em-ups, and some light RPG trappings too, especially if you’re playing the home ports. Psikyo’s Sol Divide is quite an unusual game, one that blends numerous genres into one.

Sol divide ps2 cover