Nerd Mentality

End Boss 2006, Day 7: Alraune (P.N. 03)

Posted June 6th 2006 by Jordan Mammo.

Taking place on a distant planet where the Computer Arms Management System (CAMS) has gone completely out of control, P.N.03 throws you into the boots of Vanessa Schneider, a freelance mercenary/dance enthusiast with a grudge and a mysterious past. She's also contracted by a mysterious client who refuses to reveal his/her mysterious identity. P.N.03 is very mysterious. This is actually a good thing, though, since when it's not leaving you in the dark it's just stupid. That's just fine; End Boss isn't about storylines anyway, and after shooting, dodging, and dancing your way through the game's eleven missions, you'll find yourself facing off against Alraune, the CAMS' central core.

Alraune strikes me as a rather weird boss design. When I saw its first form descend into the room, I thought it looked sort of like a giant, robotic crustacean. The last core I had to destroy was a big tower with a red dot that I locked on to. Alraune is... a shrimp with metal scales? I like P.N.03 for a bunch of reasons, but boss fights isn't really one of them. Still, it doesn't take long to realize that Alraune isn't so different after all. For example, it, like all the other bosses, is a machine. It also wants to shoot you. It'll try very hard to do so, though not at first, because, really, what do you expect? It's not as if the boss looks like it's modeled after the most fearsome creature in the Animal Kingdom.

After you whittle away a quarter or so of its life, however, Alraune decides to quit hanging in the air and transforms into a giant... well, I don't really know what it turns into, but it has legs, lands right in front of you, and is not very friendly. About halfway through the battle, it gives up trying to hit you directly and just starts smothering the playing field with whatever it‘s got, hoping you‘ll dance right into its attacks. Orange bullets, floating blue energy shots, red lasers, and even purple attacks flood the stage. It's around this time that you remember you've got special attacks at your disposal and use three of them in succession to destroy the robotic beast, initiating a cut-scene in which Vanessa turns around and Alraune's head explodes the exact moment she snaps her fingers. Oh, Capcom, you're so crazy.

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