Short Reviews

[BulletMagnet]

Quick explanation - this topic will be for reviews that are too short to belong in the "Reviews" forum, I'll move them here as needed. If any writer is willing to revamp and flesh out a too-slim review, I'll gladly move it back to the other sub-forum.

That's about all I can think to say, so off we go. Oh, and feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns.

[BulletMagnet]

Ok, Two classic games, one Review.

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U.N. SQUADRON / AREA-88



Wow!, this is a classic for those who live in the 80/90's (this game introduced me to the world of Shmups).

Gameplay: 8/10

You start with three selectable jets: F-20 Tigershark, F-14 Tomcat and A-10 Thunderbolt, each one with different shot types and weapon types, after the selection and the mission briefing you'll be in a store where you can buy weapons, energy extensions and shields (if you have enough money), then the game begins, an horizontal scroll shooter where you can power up your ship, and every enemy gives you money, and this game is 10 levels long, so you'll have some fun with this game.

After every stage you'll see a in-between scene where you can see your jet and the pilot says some phrase.


Graphics & Sound: 9/10
The game have some nice graphics, superb for it's time, but it's still awesome, the boss designs and the background are very detailed.

About the sound, well don't expect too much of an 89's game, the music sound a little bit like a Midi, but it still sounds good.

------<TRIVIA>------

The game is based on a Manga and Anime series called Area-88, the japanese version of U.N. Squadron has the manga's name.

Here's 9 minutes of the OVA III Burning Mirage
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=N_8t762WW7g

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CARRIER AIRWING / U.S. NAVY



in 1990, Capcom released another Shmup called Carrier Airwing, some sites consider it as a sequel of U.N. Squadron, but i think is a spin off inspired in movies like Top Gun or Iron Eagle.

The game is similar to U.N. Squadron, you can choose one of three jets, the F-14, the F-18 and the A-6, you buy stuff and fight the enemy, here you will see some crazy missions, like flying over volcanoes and destroy a Space Shuttle and a Satellite, the only problem that i have with this game is that the energy bar depletes by itself, and that's annoying.

The game has two different endings, for get the good ending you'll have to beat the game without continue.

CONCLUSION:

Well, both games are great, i mean, those who like classic-style games will be fascinated with this, in anyway both games are a Must-have in your shmup collection.

Final Score: 8.5/10

[BulletMagnet]

Well, this game was released in 1998 for the Sega Saturn and the Sony Playstation, the PS version was called "Perfect System" because of it's major improvements in graphics, and in my opinion this got to be the best of all the TF Games.



Gameplay: 10/10
The game is an horizontal view shooter, you start with two weapons that you can switch in the game.

You can also get extra weapons, and the best of all each weapon has it's own "Bomb" called the "Over Weapon", it consumes part of your CRAW units but they're useful with the big enemies

In Stage 5 you'll be in a Thruster unit called RVR-02B Brigandine, and it's weapons are basically a Free Over Weapon, helping you to reach a high score, but the Brigandine is not invincible, it has it's energy meter, when it's gone you'll detach from the thruster and you'll be in a new ship called RVR-02 ''Vambrace'', this ship has upgraded Twin and Back Shots (Blade & Rail Gun)



Graphics: 9.5/10
The 3D graphics makes the game very "Solid" in my opinion, and the visual effects are good, but the explosions looks "pixelated".



Sound: 10/10
The music has to be the best part of the game, songs like "Rising Blue Lightning" (Stage 3) or "Steel of Destiny" (Stage 5) are really amazing!,



Replay Value: 10/10
This game is challenging, so the game designers decided to put cool Extra Stuff in an option called "Digital Viewer" and create a "Time Attack" mode as rewards for all the problems that you can face, in the gallery you start with 8 viewable images as default setting, for unlock more pics you have to beat the game a lot of times.



Unlocking Stuff
Kids (Easy):
- Unlocks Time Attack
- Add the "Prologue", "Explanation", "Report" Texts
- Add the Boss CG Models
- Unlocks some images in the gallery menu

Beat the Time Attack in the Kids difficulty for unlock more gallery images.

Normal:
- Unlocks the Free Continue feature in "Options"
- Unlocks the RVR-02B Brigandine in "Time Attack"
- Beating the game and the time attack in Normal difficulty unlocks more gallery pics.

Hard:
- Unlocks the "Master" Difficulty
- Beating both game modes in this level unlocks more gallery images

Master
- Beat the Normal game and Time Attack in this difficulty for unlock the last images.



Overall
A game that deserves the sub-name "Perfect System" and a Perfect PS game.



Thunder Force V Perfect System's Final Score: 9.5/10

[BulletMagnet]

The wait is finally over, i played this game, and here's my opinions about Thunder Force VI


Graphics: 10/10
The graphics are awesome, the animations in the game are very fluid and detailed, some of the stages are homages to the previous games.
An original thing was the use of ancinent Chinese logographic for the Galaxy Federation (any similarities with Ikaruga are coincidence ) and Mongolian text for the Orn Empire.


Gameplay: 7/10
One of the first things on this game was the Over Weapon system, instead of a ''controlled'' fire, you're forced to a full blast, and you can use the Over Weapon 6 times, this can be using one bar or more (using several bars in a quick succession increases the Over Weapon power), for refill it you have to obtain green energy balls that appear after you kill an enemy, like the Newalone particles in Metal Black.

I liked the idea of start with all your weapons and keep them when you die (if you're using the Phoenix or the Syrinx), the score multipliers like in TF V, so if you kill somebody quickly you can get a "x16" bonus.

One problem that i have is when you use the Over Weapon, your speed is reduced to 25%, making you an easy target (specially in Boss Battles)

The bosses are another thing that resemble the previous games, Gargoyle Perfect, B3 (Barbaric-Berserk-Beast), my personal favorite is the Vasteel Nocht, a 3 Boss battle.

Another let down in this game is there's no Brigandine stage like in Thunder Force V, the Bringandine for the Phoenix appears in the intro, but it's an unplayable ship in the game, that's disappointing

The Final Boss is a total fail, first you fight a "Fetus-like" monster like in Blazing Star then it changes into a 3 eyed monster that doesn't look like a Thunder Force boss, in fact it looks more like a rejected from Contra Shattered Soldier or Alien Syndrome, even the music sounds like Contra Shattered Soldier, the boss attacks are pathetically lame, nothing challenging or hard, and that's a big disappointment.


Music & Sound: 7/10
The music is a letdown in my opinion, i expected to hear songs that reminded me of TF IV or V, but, since Tsukumo Hyakutaro didn't worked in this project, the composers are Tamayo Kawamoto (RayForce), Go Sato (Raiden) & Motoaki Furukawa (Gradius), making the soundtrack sound like something different instead of a Thunder Force game, the only Thunder Force songs in this game are the Main Menu, all the songs used with the Vasteel Nocht, and the Game Over music.


Replay Value: 8/10
This game has a lot of unlockables that keeps you playing this over and over again (Extra ships, Game modes & Reports), the only bad thing is they didn't included an Image Gallery and 3D Boss viewer like in Thunder Force V Perfect System


Conclusions:
Well, this game has some ups & downs, if you were disappointed with Broken Thunder, i recommend you to play this game, but if you wanna play a GOOD Thunder Force game, play Thunder Force V.

Thunder Force VI's Total Score: 7/10

[BulletMagnet]

Well, another Old-School game that i analyze.

Omega Fighter, a shmup made by UPL, so what can go wrong with this one?

You have to stop an Alien battleship trying to destroy the Earth, you destroy one part of the battleship on each stage, then you get inside and blow it's main computer.



Graphics & Sound: 6/10
There's no much to say about the graphics, it feels very 16-bit style, and the Music & Sound Effects reminds me of the Sega Genesis

Gameplay: 5/10
You have 2 switchable weapons: a Spread shot and a Straight shot, both weapons have rapid fire, but the problems begin when you power up, because the Spread shot gets a slow fire when you power it up and the Straight shot gets it's fire range reduced

Your score can be increased if you kill an enemy at certain distance, for example kill an enemy getting close to it and your points will be increased x10, this also works with bosses.

The main problem is the game doesn't have a continue feature, so if you die, you're f@#$%d, the Earth is attacked and you have to start all over.

This war will end if they blew everything up

Yeah, just like this game!, if you get pissed off with this "No-continue" type games, stay out of this one.

Omega Fighter Final Score: 5.5/10

[BulletMagnet]

A Shmup made by Sega in 1986 for the Master System.

Gameplay: 5/10

Good Poins: It has 6 different weapons for switch like a Gradius-like Ripple Laser and other cool weapons, but you can switch it manually, for switch you have to shoot a truck that passes on the screen, then a "?" ball appears and one you get it starts moving from "A" to "G", A to F are weapons, "G" is Energy Repair and Weapon Reload, it's also Bonus points if you have the A (default) weapon and full energy.
You can get extra lives when you get 40,000 and 120,000 pts.


Bad Points: The stage (or stages) are too long, in the first stage i spent 10 minutes and i didn't reach the boss, and it makes it very boring and frustrating

Another thing that annoys me is the absence of continues in this game, making the game even harder because if you lose all your lives you don't have a second chance.


Graphics: 7/10 The Graphics looks good for 8 Bit, it's very colorful and nicely made, your ship has some details, and the Background is well made.


Music & Sound: 3/10 Well, the music is "A-OK" for it's time, but it gets repetitive due to the length of the stages, the sound effects are ok


TransBot is a Bad game in Disguise, avoid this game & Roll Out.


TransBot Final Score: 5/10

[BulletMagnet]

Well, unlicensed games are everywhere in all 8-bit and 16-bit console, and most of the times are crappy, repetitive and boring.

It's really rare to see pornographic games, and Divine Sealing is one of them, this game is an Ecchi game for the Megadrive/Genesis, and i said Ecchi, since there's no sex (hentai) in this game, only naked girls, out of that you'll get a really boring shmup.

Basically, you're a guy named Falchion and your mission is save 5 planets and talk with girls after completing a mission.

Gameplay: 2/10
The gameplay has A LOT of letdowns, starting with your main weapon, a Twin Shot, then the power ups are a rip-off of Star Soldier, the enemies are very fast, there's no collision detection in the bosses, i passed through stage 1 boss and i didn't die, here's how the collsion system works.

In-game: Bullets & touching enemies
Boss Battle: Touching bullets

Another thing is the extra life system, every 10,000 points you'll get a 1-Up, and that's very easy to get a bunch of lives, so technically i can say the game is letting you win.

The only reason for play this game is the cutscenes when you complete the level.

Graphics: 2/10
Most of the time, the graphics are very confusing, for example in stage 1, the water effect is a flicker of blue lines that makes the bullet dodging a real problem just like in Silver Surfer on the NES

...and the way those waves move. It's like a bunch of flickering blue lines plays with your eyes and f.--ks you all up

The only nice graphics are in the cutscenes, where you'll see some "Anime-style" girls that look quite hot

Music & Sound: 2/10
The Music in this game is really bad, the only "Good" song that this game has is the Title Screen/Boss Battle music, it's very "Aletse-esque" music, but i can't say the same for the rest of the game music, very boring and repetitive.

Theres only three sound effects in this game: Explosion, 1-Up and Player reappearing.

Overall
The game is one of the worst shmups that you can find, but not as bad as the shmups that you'll find on Action-52 (Thank god that this game is just 5 levels long), just like i said before you'll play this game just for the cutscenes, out of that, just stay away of this game.

Divine Sealing Final Score: 2/10

[BulletMagnet]

Well, i know the original Thunder Blade (Arcade) is more like a helicopter flight simulator due to it's realistic controls, but the Sega Master System version was reduced to a Shmup format due to it's 8-bit limitations, but like some Master System games (After Burner, Space Harrier & Galaxy Force), Sega didn't noticed some program glitches.


Gameplay: 3/10



The game starts as a vertical shooter where you have to destroy enemy choppers and tanks, for destroy the tanks you have to press Button 2 for fire the missile, it's like a clone of Xevious
The vertical scenes are for the first half of the stage and the boss battles (except the final boss), once you're done with the vertical phase let's go to the next part...




...yeah!, a chase view like After Burner here you have to shoot down enemy aircraft and tanks, you can use your guns for destroy the tanks if you're flying low, it looks well, but the problems begin in this view, first, there's no sight like in After Burner, so the bullets always go to the center of the screen, resulting in hard to kill aircraft, the enemy bullets are too big and they became a real @#$%! when there's a bunch of enemies are firing at the same time, because most of the times you'll end up trapped by the enemy fire and you'll be shot down.
And for make things even worse there's no speed control and it becames a problem in Stages 2 and 4 where there's stone pillars and metal pipes to dodge, add the enemies and you'll have a nightmare of an obstacle course, so you'll ''crash n' burn'' most of the time due to this.

...That's bull@#$%, that's terrible programming!...

And like every Master System game there's no ''Continue'' screen so it looks like you're forced to go back to the first stage didn't?, well there's a continue code that you can input at the Game Over screen, hold Down and Right on the D-Pad and push Button 2 as you hold Down and Right. But there's one little problem: you can use it two times, it's a nice feature, but why they didn't make it a normal thing instead of a cheat code?


Graphics: 8/10

For be an 8-bit game the graphics looks pretty nice, specially the backgrounds and the detailed bosses, that's just some of the little good things that you'll see in this game, but the problem is sometimes the enemy bullets flicker, typical graphic glitch.


Music and Sound: 7/10

The music isn't so bad at all, it's like a decent rendition of the arcade version, i think they made a nice job with the music and the sound effects in this game.




Overall, Thunder Blade is a regular-to-bad shmup, while the graphics and sound are pretty good, the gameplay is just like it's Game Over screen: Crash n' burn.

Thunder Blade's Final Score: 6/10