Exector (エグゼクタ)
Developer: Arc System Works
Release Date: 1995
Platforms: PlayStation
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Exector is notable for being the first original game developed by Arc System Works and the first to have Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari credited on it. He’s listed under “3D Modeling Assistant Designer”, but Ishiwatari himself says that his role was limited to drawing characters for the game’s homepage and a bit of debugging. Despite this, Exector exhibits some of the defining qualities of Guilty Gear’s first installment, such as multiple references to rock bands and gameplay that’s unpolished but endearing.
A ship called “Spin Drift” is caught within the gravitational pull of a mysterious planet, which will cause it to burn to a crisp after ten hours. The robot known as Exector is called in to rescue Spin Drift before it’s too late. The setup isn’t just for flavor, though, because you do have a limited amount of time to finish the game! With only five levels, the amount of time you’re given is more than enough, but completing the game will take patience because Exector revels in having large, mazelike level design.
In each level, your goal is to find ID cards that’ll unlock the doors needed to reach the elevator to the next level. By default, Exector is played with an overhead perspective, but you can swap to a first-person view that makes it feel more like a dungeon crawling experience. You’re given a map, but items aren’t marked on it at all, meaning you’ll have to explore before you know the critical path. Exector comes with a primary gun and a special attack that can overheat but deals significant damage. With how common items are, it’s easy to take your pick of grenade launchers, missiles, or lasers that’ll make short work of anything with flashy, loud explosions. However, between the time limit and the frequency of enemy spawns, the best strategy is to focus on moving toward the exit.
Exector serves as a historically interesting footnote of a company that would go on to do great things, but if you put effort into learning its eccentricities, you’ll also find a game that can be fun to blast through. The action provides good feedback, the visuals have a sleek, futuristic look that has aged well in its own way, and the music has such range that it’ll genuinely catch you off-guard at points. It was an early PlayStation game and it shows, but there was enough to it that Arc System Works willingly acknowledges it to this day.
