U.N. Squadron (Review)

Summary: U.N. Squadron is a highly engaging side-scrolling shooter, featuring an impressive array of weaponry, military themed skirmishes and strategic gameplay. The game’s approachable difficulty, simple design, and funky bass-slapping synth-pop soundtrack make it accessible to newbies and experienced players alike.


U.N. Squadron is loosely based on a manga called Area 88, in which a group of mercenary pilots are fighting a civil war in a Middle Eastern kingdom. The game skimps out on the drama of the book, in favour of the dogfight element, which is represented as a side-scrolling shooter.

Ready your jet rookie; it’s time to thwart Project 4!

There are three pilots to choose from: Shin Kazama, Mickey Scymon, and Greg Gates. Each of the characters has strengths and weaknesses that carry over into the battlefield in form of hit points, armour strength and speed of weapon upgrades.

Do you go for more resilient armour or more firepower?

Only one plane is available at the start, and the funding you have only nets you a couple of basic weapons. This can quickly be remedied by selecting numerous missions, which upon completion net you necessary funds for further armament.

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Most of the levels are available from the start via a tactical map. Knowing which mission to undertake, and when, is key to progressing through this battle. Not all of the levels are static. Enemy squadrons advance hastily onto your base when uncontested, adding a strategic element to the game. Between the core missions you can raid supply convoys to make extra money for new planes or weapons.

What's your favourite convoy-busting strategy? 

Each of the six planes is designed for specific tasks, such as dogfights, ground assaults or gunship battles. All the jets feel unique, and each one is capable of different armament. The weapons are an eclectic mix, adding another layer to the strategy: you have standard bombs, missiles, lasers, upward-firing gun pods, armour-piercing magma drills, and even a rancid acid rain bomb.

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You’ll skirmish within thunderous skies, assault jungle strongholds, face oceanic battles, engage an atomic class submarine, and infiltrate a subterranean fortress. These multilayered backdrops are painted with a generous amount of detail [interjected] with FX such as glimmering lightning, scrolling clouds and radiant heatwaves. The sprites are clear well detailed and smoothly animated.

The bosses stand impressively large, are very imaginative and challenging. Some later boss battles require multiple fly-through attacks in which your plane gets turned around – a neat tactical trick. You’ll need to stay focused while assaulting mobile plane transports, squadrons of ace pilots in prototype stealth machines, long-range sea destroyers, and ceiling crawling mountain breakers.

The 16-bit era has been very kind to shooter fanatics, because of the numerous and well refined titles such as this one. U.N. Squadron is an instant classic filled with juggernaut war machines, solid graphics, engaging and memorable musical score, and a slew of cool realistic planes loaded with earth-shattering Sci-fi armament.

There’s no filler in this squadron, it’s all explosive material. Handle it well pilot.

Developer:   Capcom
Publisher:    Capcom
Platform:     SNES
Released:    1991
Genre:         Scrolling shooter

Castlevania (Review)

 Devil's Castle Dracula

Simon Belmont's Journal 

1st of May. 1987, NES Plateau -- I enter the rusty garden gates, and bless my sole weapon - a leathery whip - inside the candelabra. I sense that my family heirloom will serve me well; as there's evil lurking about tonight. I can feel that the perils ahead shall test my nerves, patience and memory.

Out of the mist materializes Castle Dracula: Seeing its foreboding shape, makes me realize why the Castlevania linage has retained its well established occult following within these lands. And why the charmingly dark and challenging Castle Dracula, has become the place of many ventures since its inception.  But I questions my resolve...

I stand ready

The graphical decals of the castle are imaginative and, at the same time, ghastly. There are many cleverly placed, and well camouflaged foes: bats, flying Medusa heads, merman, ghouls, ghosts, ravens, flea-men, and metal knights. I have noticed they often reside in large and open areas, and are always ready to push me into numerous pitfalls: these life ending chasm that stand between me and the bloodthirsty guardians of the six main areas of the castle. 

After all, what's evil incarnate without its nightly inhabitants?

2nd of May. Today, I have found several critter-slaying tools within the depths of this forsaken house of death. I have called those tools sub-weapons, and they have become salvation for my damned soul: throwing knifes, boomerang-crosses, holly water and axes. Dear reader, you must always be on the lookout for these vampire-banishing tools which will aid you in the minion-filled sections ahead. To my surprise, I also found a chicken - it was a little dry tho...

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I have climbed many stairs, crossed hundreds of spooky rooms, and vanquished foe after foe. Yet, I fear the nightly terrors will never yield. My soul is growing weaker, and my legs are weary from all the jumping and striking. Strangely, my resolve has never been more affirmed. It's as if making that first jump: you have to know in advance where you're going to land, even though you may not like where you end up. Once airborne, your soul cannot waiver. That is what holds true in the NES Plateau.   

3rd of May. The end is near. I can hear the mystifying sonata of His Draconian will. He who drains all life to live. The Dragoon of Darkness: endless baiting new and old vampire hunters alike. Alas! I must move forward and get to the depths of  this occult subject. My blood is the lightning! My swift strikes will banish all evil from these console lands!

I will destroy Castle Dracula and its reoccurring damnation. 

This I promise,
Simon B 
 

Developer: Konami 

Publisher: Konami 

Platform: Nes 

Released: 1987 

                                                       Genre: Action-adventure

Ico: Youth in Revolt

Summary: Ico is a game about a cursed boy trapped inside an ancient island fortress filled with gloomy creatures, eroded mechanical relics, spacious levels, and a ghastly prisoner named Yorda. To put it simply: Your game disc contains an endangered species. 

Left alone inside a stone crypt as a sacrifice for the Dark Queen, Ico’s fate seemed cruel. As fortress machines strain and grind, shaking the ancient tomb, Ico’s makeshift coffin spills out its human component. In his dazed state Ico is shown a vision of a pale beauty trapped and alone within the nightmare void of a tower.

Thus begins your journey into the complex labyrinth of mystery and adventure.

Ico’s controls are very simple mirroring the child hero. He can run, climb, push, shimmy along small ledges, swim, carry, and interact with the numerous mechanical devices scattered across the vast fortress. Ico's repertoire of moves is a standard affair in a game like this, but what sets this gem apart from all the other games is the inclusion of the secondary character, Yorda.

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Not being as athletic and flexible as the cursed boy, Yorda needs to be looked after often. Depending where the girl is on the map you can either, call her to Ico’s side, or take her by the hand and lead her about the environment. A lot of times you need to pull her up to higher ledges. In the more intense moments you are called upon to react fast, by puling Yorda out of the vortex gateways that serve as portals to the snagging shadow creatures.

Yorda is the key element to unlocking, and activating the numerous mysterious doors and devices that react only to her powers. Having Yorda always present at the end of each level makes the varied and devious puzzles that need to be solved very intense. You often need to investigate the surroundings while clearing a path for her, by lowering ladders, opening doors, blasting structures, positioning her on floor switches or giving her a helpful shove.

Ico’s environments are grand, yet minimalistic in design. You’ll scurry through crawl-spaces, shimmy on window ledges, and perform risky jumps from one structure onto the next – hanging for dear life is a reoccurring theme in Ico. Some of the levels are vast and comprise of many different conjoined sections. As you progress, you’ll often notice places in the distance you’ve been through, or eventually end up in later.

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The best thing about Ico’s level design is that nothing seems apparent at first glance. You need to take time and observe the stage from different angles, training yourself to notice things like ledges, chains, levers, or any suspicious objects that might help or hinder your progress. You have access to a free-roaming camera, and an option to zoom on points of interest, this makes puzzle elements easier on the mind. Whit skillful poise, traversing the treachery of the dungeon will become second nature to seasoned and new players alike.

This game has very encompassing ambiance: in the inner chambers water drips onto cobble stones, torches blaze with fire, chains rustle, and the rustic gears of the fortress pyramid-like machinery keep grinding on your nerves. In contrast, the outside world teems with sounds of birds, insects, and trees swaying to a swinging symphony of your adventure.

The unusual way of traversing in this game forms a really close bond between the player and the two characters; until now, this kind of personal attachment was only possible in the best written novels where character development could flourish aided by personal imagination. In a way, this game is a book you play rather than read.

Ico is a perfect  game for couples. Play and watch your partner distress every time you neglect Yorda; or cheer for every last-second rescue and puzzle solved. 

Developer: Team Ico
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PS2, PS3
Released: 2001
Genre: Action-adventure, puzzle

Inside the Bullet Hurricane: Classic Shooters

Whenever I'm asked about my favourite video game genre, I always quickly answer "It's Shooters!" Most people think I'm talking 'bout the latest first person shooter (FPS). But I'm not! What I'm talking about are classic arcade-style shooters (or shoot 'em ups).

Freaky Psychosis Inducing Shooters (FPIS).

The premise behind shooters is simple: survive onslaughts of enemy fighters and random bullets coming at your ship from every angle. The tricky part, you often needed to do this while powering-up your aircraft, and progressing through swirling levels flooded with screen-filling sprites and bullet-spewing end-level bosses.

Beside the rush of constant bullet dodging action, most shooters offer a lot of original ideas, unique gameplay mechanics, and carry an undercurrent of some of the coolest head-banging, appendage-flailing, technotastic, outlandish and creative game music you'll ever hear.

I'll start this Grind Odyssey by introducing the first shooter; or the first game you shot things.

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The first shooter was a 1978 arcade game called Space Invaders: a game where the player controlled a horizontal moving laser canon capable of shooting down descending foes. The game was addictive and simple; it did however, require the designer Tomohiro Nishikado to create custom hardware to bring his vision to life.

Riding on the popularity of SI, came Galaxian, and its sequel Galaga. These two games expended on the SI theme, by adding multicoloured sprites, explosions and even stage music. Galaxian and Galaga were first to offer elements of strategy, by limiting your ship's rate of fire and having enemy units dive onto your ship. This was the beginning of shooters that created more suspenseful moments for the player.

Atari released Tempest In the early 80s: the very first 3D'ish on-rails shooter; Konami put out Scramble: a horizontal scrolling shooter packed with distinctive level design; and Capcom introduced Xevious: their very first game, which was also the first vertically scrolling shooter.

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The mid-1980s was the age of refinement, and a time when a lot of the memorable/classic shooters were created. This decade has a lot of legendary shooters in its stock. Shooters such as Gradius: the first game where the player was given the option to choose his/hers ship armaments; and Space Harrier: a game that's still cited as one of the most unique and influential on-rail shooters.

Trailing behind Space Harrier was the mother of all side-scrolling, slow-paced, methodical and strategic shooters, the brilliant R-type.

During the nineties arcade shooters tormented gamers with bullet-hurricane styled gameplay (whole screen riddled with projectiles). The home consoles, however, hummed along with a lot of well refined offerings: Axelay, G-darius, Lords of Thunder, Starfox and Thunder Force. These console exclusives became instant classics, because of focus on storytelling, presentation, flexible power-up options and adjustable difficulty settings.

Through the next two decades shooters evolved into a fusion of genres that required strategic thinking, quick reflexes, pattern recognition and memorization – with a major dose of dedication and focus. And just like in the early days, modern shooters constantly pushed the boundaries of design, originality and unique game mechanics.

In the cooperative bullet-hurricane game Ikaruga, players need to flip their ship's forcefields from black to white to absorb projectiles of the according colour. What makes the game tricky is that opposite coloured projectiles do more damage to enemy ships and bosses, and the ships forcefields could either obstruct bullets, or cause players to bump and push into their respected ships. 

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The strategic shooter Einhander allowed players to steal enemy weapons on the fly. Players could select various ship configurations that could either carry one stolen weapon, two at once (for maximum firepower), or three interchangeable ones. Stolen weapons could shield your ship from incoming projectiles, but they also had limited bullets. The game was propelled by some of the best techno-rap beats I ever heard (no lie).

When it comes to shooters there are plenty of choices for all ye faithful scrollheads out there. Truthfully, all it takes these days to get your hands on some wickedly awesome nerve incinerating shooters is pressing the download button on your console. (There are always emulators too!) I hope you'll seek out/check out some of the great shooters I mentioned here. It's definitely worth your time. 

 

My parting shot is this: By the Deities of encompassing bullet hurricanes, all shooters need to be impossibly hard! 

neo-geo.com