Thunder Force VI is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up video game released for the PlayStation 2 on October 30, 2008. The director is SEGA employee Tetsu Okano, who has previously worked on Segagaga, Astro Boy: Omega Factor and Gunstar Super Heroes. The game was licensed by Twenty-One Company's Tecnosoft division, it is only available in Japan.
Plot
It is the year A.D. 2161, ten years after the artificial intelligence known as Guardian went rogue and its subsequent destruction at the hands of Cenes Crawford, the pilot from the events of Thunder Force V. As Earth reenters an age of prosperity after the previous war with the AI, an extraterrestrial force known only as "Orn Faust" appears to start an invasion of the planet. Unfortunately, the Unified Earth Fleet is powerless under the might of the alien forces and is almost destroyed. Meanwhile, the Unified Earth government receives strange readings from its analysis report of the underground chamber on the island Babel, where Guardian was once installed. Inside, the remaining Vasteel technology which was abandoned and sealed by the government shows a startling synchronization with Orn Faust's approach.
As researchers analyze the once forbidden technology they had abandoned ten years ago, they find an alarming message embedded within the fragments. It is said that Vasteel was once Rynex, the ultimate weapon created by the extraterrestrial power called the Galaxy Federation, used to combat the evil Orn Empire. The message also contained a warning of their impending arrival and an interstellar call for help against the Orn forces, which is trying to spread its influence of death and destruction to other parts of the universe. In addition, the storage cells within Vasteel material contains four space coordinates leading to the homeworld of the Galaxy Federation. Left with no other choice, scientists recreate the Vasteel technology into the experimental starfighter known as Phoenix, the last hope for the human race against Orn Faust.
Gameplay
Sega has created a 3D scrolling system for the next-gen Thunder Force VI, where the gameplay proceeds in 2D as before in previous games but scenery moves in three dimensions. There are oftentimes where the player ships executes rolls, turns or dives in the background, though gameplay is not hampered by this new addition. Each ship is equipped with five types of weapon arms and an Over Weapon, a special weapon gauge which collects energy gained by destroying Orn forces to unleash a powerful attack.
Source: Wikipedia, "Thunder Force VI", available under the CC-BY-SA License.