This great 1991 SNES classic side-scrolling shooter is a great addition to your other shooters.  Known as Area 88 in Japan after the anime, this game brings a unique role to this game which you could call “leveling up”. As most shooters, it offers great challenges for you to test the skills of the finger.  The game puts you in the cockpit of a number of modern jet aircraft (modern as far as 1991 goes, no F-22 Raptors or anything) to shoot down typical military machinery and some non-typical major bosses.

A slight variation in this game is you get to choose your character (I know, I know, most shooters do), but the character flies any plane you choose to pilot.  The significance here is that each character flies the same planes differently, and have a unique specialty to them.  Besides from characters, the most interesting thing about this game is you earn moolah.  That’s right, you actually get bank per enemy/boss you shoot down.  And I don’t mean no crummy Galactical Check like you do in StarFox at the end of the game like some top-score holder.  Actual bucks (no, not yen ¥) for you to blow on multiple weapon types and even a new PLANE!  You have a good selection (and price range) of planes to purchase, but you won’t make enough money to buy them all in one run.

Any die-hard level-up types reading this?  If so, you’ll love risking your life to gain “experience” for your plane (???).  Remember Gradius style shooters that let you upgrade your weapon when you hit a painted enemy (like a unique red enemy) and pick up an item they drop?  Well this game takes that, and adds the whole RPG-like “experience” to it.  You shoot down marked enemies to pick up these items which will accumulate to numerical value.  Pick enough of them up for the EXP number at the top right of your screen to hit 0 and your gun automagically upgrades.  Do this until you max out your plane which is different for the given aircraft.

 

Hey! You actually have a LIFE gage in this game!  Right that down for rarely seen.  You can take up to 5 hits in your aircraft in a side shooter!  No more stray bullet from an infantryman on the ground owning you and your multi-ton eagle.  You are not the kind of hero that goes down by lucky pawns!  However, I must mention that you can only take the max amount of hits if you ‘recover’ from your damage.  Once you are hit, instead of having a few seconds of immunity (you get about a second), you have a few seconds of vulnerability!  You must not get hit during this period or you will fail.  That’s not too bad though, unless you are completely used to barging through enemies and taking your recent failure for granted (or as a strategy).

The most joy fully golly fun part of this game has got to be the boss battles.  Each boss battle is extremely unique and challenging.  Typically an insanely crafted war machine or fortress for which you can destroy a myriad of turrets, missle launchers, or any other kind of machinery attached to them.  The last boss battle is intense!  You’ll want to pick up the game again just to destroy it.  There is so much to destroy on the massive thing that you actually have to travel around it like an X-wing to a Star Destroyer.

Funny thing about this game, you are actually encouraged to die in the game.  Nani? Yes!  You crash at the very end of a stage on the boss, big deal!  Not sure they meant it to be this way, but when you die, you have to start the stage over (or from a checkpoint).  Good news is that you keep all your hard earned money and experience that you gave your life for.  This means you will actually be more powerful later on than your show off friends who make it through without a scratch.  How’s THAT for handicap beeotch!  Use your lives to their maximum potential!

 

Graphics: 8/10

About what you expect from a classic side shooter.  None of the backgrounds really give you that “wow” feeling, but they suffice since you don’t want to be distracted by purty lights in the back anyway.  The player aircraft and some others are not too impressive, but there are a few enemies that have a good amount of work put into them.  And one plus is definitely the boss graphics/animations which are very well done.

 

Sound 7/10:

Nothing too fancy here either.  The music is surely unique, but nothing you’d be jamming to while you risk your life against a swarm of enemies.  The sound effects are fitting for the game and the common gun noise will not drive you insane.  The special weapon sounds are done pretty well however.

 

Gameplay 9/10:

Most impressing aspect of this game is definitely gameplay.  Although very challenging (could be bad or good for you), the game is very addicting.  The range of enemies you get to destroy and the multitude of destruction is very satisfying.  Especially on bosses which is the most fun dynamic of this game.

 

Overall: 8/10:

Pick up the game for fun shoot ‘em up fun and for the challenge.  This game presents both at a very well rate for a 1991 SNES game which I believe newer shooters released after sometimes lacked. 

 

 -Meth