Post by soop on May 10, 2018 11:35:01 GMT
I think that's all the propeller-based plane games on the Hucard. Let us discuss their merits.
I'm gonna come out heavily in favour of 1941, right off the bat. That's not a controversial opinion, I know, but I think the Brothers Duomazov review sums it up nicely. This is a premier arcade shooter made late on by people who knew what they were doing. It's not in the graphics, though these are excellent for their time, it's more in the little things that you don't pick up immediately. The enemy waves are thoughtfully placed, and there's always something different to keep you on your toes. But that's not hard to do. The kicker here, is that 1941 never feels unfair. It feels difficult, but you always (at least in my opinion) feel like it was your fault and "If I had just done X, I'd have been fine". It also keeps it's visuals entertaining, and tells a story without actually having a story. You really get a sense of progress, that you're infiltrating enemy lines. And I like the music too, it's a bit jingly, but it's upbeat and well composed.
Next up, 1943 Kai, 1941's poor (yet surprisingly expensive) cousin. It's split into 2 halves, the original mode, and the "kai" mode, and depending what you select, you'll play the other mode halfway through the game. The original mode is pretty lackluster, looking more like a Master System game, or a very early 80's arcade game. The Kai mode is better, with improved (though not amazing) graphics, and actually really good music. But the problem with both modes is that they lack the magic that 1941 brings so effortlessly. Enemies are bland, and they appear wave upon wave with no real change and no sense of progression. You get the idea that the team who made the game achieved the outline of their task, but without the spirit. The one good thing that 1943 Kai does that 1941 doesn't is a simultaneous two player mode, so you and a friend can be mildly disappointed/moderately entertained together.
Caveat: I don't own the next two, so I'm going to make my judgement based on video, and reviews by Paul and the brothers Duomazov. I'll also be lumping Daisenpu Custom and Daisenpu together.
P-47, the Freedom Fighter. The Brothers found this passable, and Paul didn't deem it wothy of review. This one fiffers from the rest in that it's a horizontal, rather than vertical shooter* with shades of a proto Area 88, but without the bells and whistles, and certainly less of everything else that makes that title so good. The first thing I'll say, is that it actually looks much better on video than it does in stills. The parallax scrolling effects are better than I was expecting. The enemies leave a satisfying explosion, though... I mean one thing Aeroblasters got right is that you're supposedly moving forward right? Yet the explosions remain exactly in place on the screen. There are also planes that while facing you, stop and go backwards. Not helicoptors, planes. So yeah a very loose grasp of basic physics here. The weapons are pretty basic and joyless,there's not a great sense of power here from the projectiles themselves, though annhilating a large wave of simple enemies with the spread shot looks satisfying. Another plus point has been said is the music. I'm going to disagree on this one. I think in a lot of places it's overly repetitive. Saying that, listen long enough, and there are some interesting tunes. But god, the boss music... Lastly, the enemies that take a lot of punishment, they don't really have any indication that you're really attacking a weak spot. Just a simple "white flash on hit" I think would have gone a long way. In summary, there's really nothing about this that raises it above the mediocre. If you'd come straight from the NES, and had never seen any other PC Engine games, you might think "huh, this is ok" because it really is more comparable to a NES shooter. On the PC Engine, with its stable of excellent shooters, it sticks out as being lacklustre.
* Just a thought here - has there ever been a shooter that scrolls only right to left? and if not, I wonder why we just chose that direction.
Next up, Daisenpu. kinda, probably the HuCard is better than the CD version, Daisenpu custom. Starts out Ok, a lot of ground based enemies, and a multi-tiered damage system, you can destroy a turret to render a tank harmless, and then shoot it again to destroy it completely. And about a minute in you start to realise... it's just tanks. The enemy has bought a knife to a gunfight. I wonder if that's explained in the story at all? But you have to wonder why they chose the projectile to be a gun if the targets are all ground based. Next level, it switches things up! Boats! And some of the least inspiring backgrounds I've seen. I've done better myself in shootemup construction kit (ok, maybe not better, but not far off). The sprites are actually nice, but some of the backgrounds are really phoned in. I feel like it should have more of the arcadey feel that KyuKyoku Tiger and 1941 have, but there's something off. I'm not sure what it is. The tunes on the CD title are decent, they're certainly nothing you'd mute your TV over. The explosions are also nice, although... I think that's the only sound effect. That and the power-up noise. I guess if you can't get it right that's the better option (rayxanber III, I'm looking at you). The next thing I'm gonna say is weird since I'm watching someone else play it, and I'm not great at shooters, but... it looks really easy. It really doesn't throw the enemies at you. The bosses look nice, but there aren't complex strategies. Just avoid their slow bullets and plug away. Wow, level 4, there are ambhibious tanks. Still no planes though. My impression of this is that it's a missed opportunity. A little more variety, a little more challenge, just ... like 10% more time or effort, and it could have been something more than forgettable. It's certainly not the worst looking game on this list though.
In Summary: 1941 is hands down the best title on this short list, in my opinion. The problem being that if you want to play it on original hardware, it will cost you the big bucks these days. As for the others, there's really nothing to seek out unless you're a huge fan of either shooters or propeller driven aircraft. And if you want my ranking, it's
1941
1943 Kai
Daisenpu (which would be second but for the lack of challenge)
P-47
I'm gonna come out heavily in favour of 1941, right off the bat. That's not a controversial opinion, I know, but I think the Brothers Duomazov review sums it up nicely. This is a premier arcade shooter made late on by people who knew what they were doing. It's not in the graphics, though these are excellent for their time, it's more in the little things that you don't pick up immediately. The enemy waves are thoughtfully placed, and there's always something different to keep you on your toes. But that's not hard to do. The kicker here, is that 1941 never feels unfair. It feels difficult, but you always (at least in my opinion) feel like it was your fault and "If I had just done X, I'd have been fine". It also keeps it's visuals entertaining, and tells a story without actually having a story. You really get a sense of progress, that you're infiltrating enemy lines. And I like the music too, it's a bit jingly, but it's upbeat and well composed.
Next up, 1943 Kai, 1941's poor (yet surprisingly expensive) cousin. It's split into 2 halves, the original mode, and the "kai" mode, and depending what you select, you'll play the other mode halfway through the game. The original mode is pretty lackluster, looking more like a Master System game, or a very early 80's arcade game. The Kai mode is better, with improved (though not amazing) graphics, and actually really good music. But the problem with both modes is that they lack the magic that 1941 brings so effortlessly. Enemies are bland, and they appear wave upon wave with no real change and no sense of progression. You get the idea that the team who made the game achieved the outline of their task, but without the spirit. The one good thing that 1943 Kai does that 1941 doesn't is a simultaneous two player mode, so you and a friend can be mildly disappointed/moderately entertained together.
Caveat: I don't own the next two, so I'm going to make my judgement based on video, and reviews by Paul and the brothers Duomazov. I'll also be lumping Daisenpu Custom and Daisenpu together.
P-47, the Freedom Fighter. The Brothers found this passable, and Paul didn't deem it wothy of review. This one fiffers from the rest in that it's a horizontal, rather than vertical shooter* with shades of a proto Area 88, but without the bells and whistles, and certainly less of everything else that makes that title so good. The first thing I'll say, is that it actually looks much better on video than it does in stills. The parallax scrolling effects are better than I was expecting. The enemies leave a satisfying explosion, though... I mean one thing Aeroblasters got right is that you're supposedly moving forward right? Yet the explosions remain exactly in place on the screen. There are also planes that while facing you, stop and go backwards. Not helicoptors, planes. So yeah a very loose grasp of basic physics here. The weapons are pretty basic and joyless,there's not a great sense of power here from the projectiles themselves, though annhilating a large wave of simple enemies with the spread shot looks satisfying. Another plus point has been said is the music. I'm going to disagree on this one. I think in a lot of places it's overly repetitive. Saying that, listen long enough, and there are some interesting tunes. But god, the boss music... Lastly, the enemies that take a lot of punishment, they don't really have any indication that you're really attacking a weak spot. Just a simple "white flash on hit" I think would have gone a long way. In summary, there's really nothing about this that raises it above the mediocre. If you'd come straight from the NES, and had never seen any other PC Engine games, you might think "huh, this is ok" because it really is more comparable to a NES shooter. On the PC Engine, with its stable of excellent shooters, it sticks out as being lacklustre.
* Just a thought here - has there ever been a shooter that scrolls only right to left? and if not, I wonder why we just chose that direction.
Next up, Daisenpu. kinda, probably the HuCard is better than the CD version, Daisenpu custom. Starts out Ok, a lot of ground based enemies, and a multi-tiered damage system, you can destroy a turret to render a tank harmless, and then shoot it again to destroy it completely. And about a minute in you start to realise... it's just tanks. The enemy has bought a knife to a gunfight. I wonder if that's explained in the story at all? But you have to wonder why they chose the projectile to be a gun if the targets are all ground based. Next level, it switches things up! Boats! And some of the least inspiring backgrounds I've seen. I've done better myself in shootemup construction kit (ok, maybe not better, but not far off). The sprites are actually nice, but some of the backgrounds are really phoned in. I feel like it should have more of the arcadey feel that KyuKyoku Tiger and 1941 have, but there's something off. I'm not sure what it is. The tunes on the CD title are decent, they're certainly nothing you'd mute your TV over. The explosions are also nice, although... I think that's the only sound effect. That and the power-up noise. I guess if you can't get it right that's the better option (rayxanber III, I'm looking at you). The next thing I'm gonna say is weird since I'm watching someone else play it, and I'm not great at shooters, but... it looks really easy. It really doesn't throw the enemies at you. The bosses look nice, but there aren't complex strategies. Just avoid their slow bullets and plug away. Wow, level 4, there are ambhibious tanks. Still no planes though. My impression of this is that it's a missed opportunity. A little more variety, a little more challenge, just ... like 10% more time or effort, and it could have been something more than forgettable. It's certainly not the worst looking game on this list though.
In Summary: 1941 is hands down the best title on this short list, in my opinion. The problem being that if you want to play it on original hardware, it will cost you the big bucks these days. As for the others, there's really nothing to seek out unless you're a huge fan of either shooters or propeller driven aircraft. And if you want my ranking, it's
1941
1943 Kai
Daisenpu (which would be second but for the lack of challenge)
P-47