Taito decided to update their classic game once again, but decided to put a new spin to the game - it is now a first person shooter and changed the mood/tone to be a lot darker then any of the games before.

Other than the new perspective, it's apparently the same game. Infiltrate a building by snatching up top-secret documents while either mowing down other agents whose appearance look like Agent Smith or avoiding them. One new addition to the formula is the addition of the power-up "Nanosense" which is essentially bullet-time to slow enemies' movement and whatnot to gain the advantage, making the connection to The Matrix even more apparent. A map feature was also added that shows the floor plans such as where all the documents can be found and where all the elevators are located.

After the cell phone revival, Taito decided to stick with the first person perspective, but at the same time trying to lead the series back to its arcade roots. What genre would be better suited to combine both aims than light gun shooters? Unfortunately, having suitcases, elevators, agents, and a skyscraper to end all skyscrapers doesn't necessarily make an Elevator Action, which is true to Death Parade.

As awesome as the subtitle is, the game itself is fairly standard genre fare that could easily pass as an obscure Virtua Cop episode. Two agents and their trusty handguns are all that stand between life and doom for the planet as another madman longs for a new world order, so they shoot down denizens of goons, soldiers, hat-wearing agents, dogs and even mutants of all kinds, all while keeping an eye peeled for suitcases that contain health or points granting documents... and, of course, aiming off-screen to reload. There is no cover system or any other intricate gameplay mechanic to make Death Parade stand out of the crowd of competitors apart from one neat feature. In between exploring the 100 stories of the skyscraper, the agents will every now and then enter elevators either at a normal pace or hurriedly, for example shaking off an invincible creature, strong enough to open up the metal doors of your refuge. In the latter case you quickly need to pound the close button found on the front of the arcade machine, right between the guns. Otherwise you simply decide whether to head for a story above or below you by pressing the corresponding button, allowing for some variation in your progression. The elevator aspect doesn't end there yet, though. Between the player and the screen lies a mechanical elevator door that opens and shuts whenever it is supposed to (be it by your button presses or the aforementioned monsters) and a monitor above reveals the perspective of a surveillance camera within the lift.

What this all adds up to is a cookie cutter albeit not terrible light gun shooter, with strangely artificial looking and plain outdated visuals. It only seems to remember select elements of what once used to define the Elevator Action series. because it needs to add some gimmicks without truly altering the gameplay experience, disappointing both series fans and genre fans alike.

Nearly ten years after the last "proper" Elevator Action game, Elevator Action Deluxe was released in August of 2011 as a PlayStation Store exclusive, for only $10. Deluxe seems to take the most after the Game Boy Color game, but has some interesting features and tricks of its own.

Elevator Action Deluxe is presented as a traditional side-view game, but rendered in 3D. You're given a decently wide field of view, but can either zoom in or out with the right stick. From the start, Deluxe pretty much plays just like the original game, as you collect documents from every red door, take cover in blue doors, and get to the bottom as soon as you've got all the documents. Deluxe does away with extra lives, however, merely respawning you from a nearby door if you happen to die. In essence, you have unlimited lives, but every death takes away from your final score at the end of the level. The game treats this as more of a "score attack" sort of thing, with every level containing prerequisites for Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals, and online scoreboard support via PSN. There is a time limit per level, however, and running out of time forces you to start the level over. Despite the infinite lives, this game is most certainly NOT easy, even as far as the fourth building, you will have a difficult time staying alive with all the explosions going off. In some levels, this will even get to be downright unfair. It's probably easier in the multiplayer co-op mode, but good luck getting the people together, since it does not support online play.

There are some new bits added, though. There are multiple enemy types, including soldiers who will fire assault rifles or rocket launchers at you, mad dwarves who run about cackling and dropping bombs and landmines, and men in red suits who will set off the alarm if they spot you, summoning hordes of tuxedo-clad goons.

That bit about the alarms might clue you in that this game has some elements of stealth now. While Elevator Action has always had the ability to hide inside of blue (and red) doors, Deluxe lets you stay inside each door indefinitely, and gives you the ability to kick the door open from the inside to smash enemies who happen to walk in front of it. However, each door can still only be used once before it turns grey and locks itself, so this must not be used frivolously. To assist in stealth, some doors may contain disguises, which allow you to walk straight past enemies without being spotted for a short period of time (your character starts sweating when the disguise is about to wear off).

While most levels follow the same objective of collecting documents from red doors, some require you to put explosives on pillars to destroy the building. This is compounded in that some levels feature design gimmicks, such as shutters that can be opened and closed with switches, walls that will crumble if an explosion happens nearby (whether with a rocket launcher, a bomb, a landmine, or a barrel), light switches, and other things. Be careful with explosives, since it is possible to kill yourself with them.

Elevator Action Deluxe was supplemented shortly after release with lots of free downloadable add-ons. These include a handful of new stages, and four new playable characters, such as Sayo (from Pocky and Rocky / Kiki Kaikai), complete with a remix of a stage theme from that game; Reika from Taito's Laserdisc game, Time Gal; a 3D Dot Game Heroes-esque rendition of the original Agent from the arcade game (complete with 8-bit music and sound effects), and Vaus from Arkanoid, which bounces around the map standing on end and makes classic Arkanoid noises with shooting or jumping. The playable characters are purely aesthetic changes and don't affect the game, but they also don't cost any money, which is certainly a perk in their favor.

If there are criticisms to be had for Elevator Action Deluxe, it's mainly that the game really doesn't do much with its source platform's hardware. Starting the game takes a good long while, since everything seems to be loaded into memory at once - this means that initial startup takes a solid minute before you're able to do anything. You have to wait through the loading screen all over again if you decide you want to play the emulated original game. When you do get into the game, outside of the HD resolution and character models, the game's graphics really aren't all that great, and there's even some pretty terrible slowdown when even a single explosion is happening on screen. This could have been ported to the PSP or 3DS without needing to sacrifice much for aesthetics, outside of probably removing the silly glitchy ragdoll physics. While there is multiplayer in both cooperative and competitive modes, it does not support online play via PSN, so you'll need to have multiple players with their own controllers in order to play together.

But in all honesty, Elevator Action Deluxe is not terrible, and is certainly a better modernization of a classic arcade game than some others, though it certainly won't dethrone the likes of Bionic Commando Rearmed, or even Elevator Action Returns.

Clearly inspired by Elevator Action, in Mission Elevator you play as a newly hired agent to find codes for a bomb located inside a building. The action is practically the same as Elevator Action, as you can shoot enemies, jump kick them, or avoid them all together. It is weird though, for not only can you not jump over elevator shafts, you can't even walk pass the shaft to get to the other side of the hallway with out the actual elevator being in it's place. The game adds puzzle solving into the mix with being able to examine every item from chairs to candles to pictures on the wall, making the game seem like an arcade adventure then just being an arcade title.

Also, the game has one of the funniest moments in gaming history with its skill of putting down players:

In 2008, artist Harvey James submitted some concept artwork for a new Elevator Action game intended for release on the Nintendo DS. The wildly designed characters are a stark contrast to all of the previous games, taking elements from Asian street culture rather than 80s action and spy movies. The project was eventually cancelled, but James has released his artwork on the Internet. Read more at Boing Boing.net.