A pretty amazing game, I loved it when I was little and I still like it now as well. It's a rather simple game, a top-down shooter where you're controlling a jeep that can shoot out grenades, bullets and missiles. It has little to no plot, which is rescuing hostages that were taken by the enemy during the war, making the game even more simple, but it's good as it is because this game is focused more on the gameplay and did a great job at it. Anyway, let's start the scoring:
Graphics: 6
The Graphics are pretty meh, the background looks rather interesting at times (Stage 5 looks like you're on Mars), but most of the time it's rather dull and pretty disproportionate, this is most noticeable in the 4th Stage Boss aka the giant helicopter, the small size of the tanks or the giant grenades that you're throwing, they just don't feel right. Animations are nothing too interesting either.
Sounds: 9
The music for this game is amazing! The stage themes are one of the greatest NES music I've ever heard. Although, even if this game has three really wonderful songs, those songs, the boss theme and the credits are the only songs that this game has to offer (excluding the Intro, Game Over and the Level Clear themes, they're only about 20 seconds). At least this is much better than creating around 20 really boring songs, better to just make 3 great ones.
Addictiveness: 9
Game is very fun to play, I usually don't play the same games over and over again, this one though was one of the exceptions, it's even better that this game has a 2-player mode, you can have a lot of fun playing with another friend, try to score as much as possible, find all the hidden stars (Power-ups) or try to rescuing all of the hostages and safely escorting them to the chopper. Although the biggest thing that will make you play this game a lot is the difficulty, it's rather challenging and will take you some tries to beat it.
Story: 5
I gave it a 5 despite this game having almost to no story, which was, as I mentioned before, rescuing hostages during a war. Even though that's the main plot of the game you would've expected that the game would be less destructive, the objective of the game is to defeat a whole army instead of just rescuing hostages, so your role is more important than what the game is telling you. I gave it a 5 because this plot, as small as it is, isn't bad and it's not typical either.
Depth: 6
Not that much depth into it. You will mostly shoot things, dodge things, rescue hostages and collect power-ups. The power-ups are found while rescuing a special hostage (I like to call him a general) or some hidden power-ups. The general and some of the hidden power-ups will upgrade your weapon, the hidden power-up maxing your power. The other hidden power-ups are 1-ups and a power-up that destroys every enemy on the screen. These power-ups can't be collected and used after, reducing their usability. The Grenade is upgraded into one missile (which I think it's more useless than a grenade, it doesn't go over terrain like the grenade does). The missile can be upgraded (and thus, be a great weapon) into a missile that will explode in 2-ways and upgraded again for a 4-way explosion.
Difficulty: 8
The stage design can be pretty tough on some parts, I consider Stage 4 and Stage 6 the hardest of them all, Stage 4 for that annoying swamp, for the train and irritating enemy placement and Stage 6 for always having to dodge stuff because there's lots of enemies here. Some bosses are quite difficult, besides the 4th stage boss, which is pretty easy. The final boss though, is very strong, he has 2 phases and both of them are really tough to fight. I would have given a 9 or even a 10 for the difficulty, but the game is rather generous with lives, giving you 5 lives from the start while being able to gain lives by scoring or by finding 1-Ups (although they're quite rare) and also because it allows you to continue 3 times if you have lost.
Overall: 8.5
I recommend it to everyone interested in this genre, in my opinion, this game is a classic and the battle will truly make your blood boil. A pretty amazing game, I loved it when I was little and I still like it now as well. It's a rather simple game, a top-down shooter where you're controlling a jeep that can shoot out grenades, bullets and missiles. It has little to no plot, which is rescuing hostages that were taken by the enemy during the war, making the game even more simple, but it's good as it is because this game is focused more on the gameplay and did a great job at it. Anyway, let's start the scoring:
Graphics: 6
The Graphics are pretty meh, the background looks rather interesting at times (Stage 5 looks like you're on Mars), but most of the time it's rather dull and pretty disproportionate, this is most noticeable in the 4th Stage Boss aka the giant helicopter, the small size of the tanks or the giant grenades that you're throwing, they just don't feel right. Animations are nothing too interesting either.
Sounds: 9
The music for this game is amazing! The stage themes are one of the greatest NES music I've ever heard. Although, even if this game has three really wonderful songs, those songs, the boss theme and the credits are the only songs that this game has to offer (excluding the Intro, Game Over and the Level Clear themes, they're only about 20 seconds). At least this is much better than creating around 20 really boring songs, better to just make 3 great ones.
Addictiveness: 9
Game is very fun to play, I usually don't play the same games over and over again, this one though was one of the exceptions, it's even better that this game has a 2-player mode, you can have a lot of fun playing with another friend, try to score as much as possible, find all the hidden stars (Power-ups) or try to rescuing all of the hostages and safely escorting them to the chopper. Although the biggest thing that will make you play this game a lot is the difficulty, it's rather challenging and will take you some tries to beat it.
Story: 5
I gave it a 5 despite this game having almost to no story, which was, as I mentioned before, rescuing hostages during a war. Even though that's the main plot of the game you would've expected that the game would be less destructive, the objective of the game is to defeat a whole army instead of just rescuing hostages, so your role is more important than what the game is telling you. I gave it a 5 because this plot, as small as it is, isn't bad and it's not typical either.
Depth: 6
Not that much depth into it. You will mostly shoot things, dodge things, rescue hostages and collect power-ups. The power-ups are found while rescuing a special hostage (I like to call him a general) or some hidden power-ups. The general and some of the hidden power-ups will upgrade your weapon, the hidden power-up maxing your power. The other hidden power-ups are 1-ups and a power-up that destroys every enemy on the screen. These power-ups can't be collected and used after, reducing their usability. The Grenade is upgraded into one missile (which I think it's more useless than a grenade, it doesn't go over terrain like the grenade does). The missile can be upgraded (and thus, be a great weapon) into a missile that will explode in 2-ways and upgraded again for a 4-way explosion.
Difficulty: 8
The stage design can be pretty tough on some parts, I consider Stage 4 and Stage 6 the hardest of them all, Stage 4 for that annoying swamp, for the train and irritating enemy placement and Stage 6 for always having to dodge stuff because there's lots of enemies here. Some bosses are quite difficult, besides the 4th stage boss, which is pretty easy. The final boss though, is very strong, he has 2 phases and both of them are really tough to fight. I would have given a 9 or even a 10 for the difficulty, but the game is rather generous with lives, giving you 5 lives from the start while being able to gain lives by scoring or by finding 1-Ups (although they're quite rare) and also because it allows you to continue 3 times if you have lost.
Overall: 8.5
I recommend it to everyone interested in this genre, in my opinion, this game is a classic and the battle will truly make your blood boil. |