the action in Elemental Gearbolt takes place from a first-person perspective, and the pace of the game and rate of enemy occurrence is completely preset. The player is only required to aim and shoot with the light gun. Most light gun games require the player to reload as ammunition is expended, but Elemental Gearbolt does not, since both the player characters and their weapons are magical. Instead, the game limits the speed at which the player can fire. The player can switch freely between three types of attacks - Blaze Phoenix, a basic, high powered shot; Thunder Tiger, a spread shot; and Water Snake, a rapid shot. At the conclusion of each stage the player has the opportunity to select percentages of the score for the stage to allocate towards bonus points or experience. As in an RPG, the player characters gain levels by accruing experience, and thus grow more powerful and are better able to take damage. Score determines rank, and in the year following the game's North American release it was used to participate in contests sponsored by Working Designs. The game supports all of the licensed PlayStation light guns, as well as the Dual Analog Controller. Music The official soundtrack features a 24½-minute drama track in Japanese and 19 original score cues performed by a full orchestra. It was released by First Smile Entertainment on January 21, 1998 in Japan. Its catalogue ID is FSCA-10030 and the original price in Japan was 2,548¥. Kei Wakakusa composed and arranged the score. Promotion Some winners of Working Designs' contests for Elemental Gearbolt in the 1998 E3 at the Georgia World Congress Center received 'Assassin Case' prizes that contained gold-plated GunCon light guns. These Assassin Cases are among the most rare and prized collectibles from the PlayStation era. Reception Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating in the 0–100 range, calculated an average score of 76 out of 100 ("Favorable"), based on reviews from 11 professional critics. The title featured in 3rd place in a 2022 Retro Gamer list of the 'Top 25 Light Gun Games', with critic Ashley Day describing it as a "unique fusion of shooter and RPG" with "exceptional game design complemented by a captivating world view (reminiscent of Panzer Dragoon), gorgeous anime cutscenes...and one of the greatest soundtracks on PS1". See also Gunparade March Shikigami no Shiro Mars Daybreak References External links Official website Elemental Gearbolt at