Similar to many other games that I have reviewed on this website, I never heard about this one until the last few years. I actually learned about it through a YouTube channel Classic Game Room. Apparently it was really awesome, so I have the game a try! I didn’t really pick up on much story, but in true 90’s shooter fashion, it appears the good guys are trying to defend themselves from an evil armada trying to destroy them!
This game is a 2D vertical shooter where you take control of a little ship and blast your way through huge swathes of enemies both on a ground and in the air! One buttons shoots your standard blasts while the other activates powerful (but limited) bombs. The controls were responsive and I appreciated how your ship and projectiles seemed a bit beefier than most shooters. While there were lots of enemies on screen, I also never felt overwhelmed by them – making the game feel a bit more fair than many shooters like Ikaruga (which is great in its own right but extremely challenging).
As you traverse the levels, you can change your primary attack weapon by collecting floating icons around the level. There are three in total – machine gun (default), Truxton Beam (strong but only attacks forward), and Thunder Lasers (locks onto enemies and is continous). Each of these beams can be further upgrade as you collect power-up icons to add more projectiles and oomph behind each attack. What’s nice is that if you decide to change your primary attack weapon, the power-ups carry over to other weapons – but once you die, you loose them all!
These power-ups will be important too as at the end of each stage you need to face a large boss! I found these bosses hard but fair – similar to other shooters. There are five levels in total with a similar number of bosses.
In terms of graphics, the game looked a little bit plain, but the 2D sprites were large and easy to see which really made the game more enjoyable as it was easier to dodge and maneuver around the levels while avoiding projectile. The levels each had a distinct looks with a nice variety of enemy types. The special effects from bombs and weapons were probably the highlight of the visuals. In terms of music, the game’s soundtrack was just “okay” – I felt like it was upbeat but just didn’t catch me as other soundtracks have in the past. The sound effects were not overly impressive but did what they needed to do.
In summary, this is a slightly above average 2D shooter that is easier than many of the shooters released at that time. If you enjoy shooters – give it a try – but there are many others better shooters in this overly saturated genre of 90’s shooters. Overall, I give this game a 7/10.
Final Score: 7/10
