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»Aerial Assault
"Another SMS port."
One of the stranger things I’ve noticed about Sega is basically how
multi-functional they are when it comes to developing games. Granted,
during the Genesis days, they had to portray many a genre to compete
with Nintendo. However, it seems like Sega was always that way, even
back on the Master System. Case in point: their 1990 release, Aerial
Assault, a vertical shoot-‘em-up in the same vein as Gradius and Aero
Blasters. Of course, considering the lack of shooters on the Game Gear,
it was a nice choice for a release.
Some years ago, an evil
militaristic organization known as the N.A.C. developed a huge laser
emitting device capable of destroying the Ozone Layer. Dubbed “EL”, it
posed an ominous threat to all life on the planet, which cast a shadow
of fear throughout the world. The year is 1999. The N.A.C. has begun an
all-out offensive attack, targeting every country on Earth. Each
nation’s self-defense forces fight this threat valiantly, but prove no
match for the N.A.C. force’s sheer power and size. When all hope seemed
lost, a vessel dubbed the “Freedom Fighter” emerged on the scene. In
order to defeat the N.E.C., Freedom Fighter must destroy five targets:
the massive aerial battleship Vinsk, the CB-53 Bomber, two fortresses
located on cliffs and EL itself.
As I said earlier, Aerial
Assault is another one of those shoot-‘em-ups (which I reviewed on a
mass scale last month). This time, it’s a horizontal-axis shooter, like
R-Type. In fact, this game is pretty much exactly like Irem’s classic
shooter. There are simple power-ups, which level up the Freedom
Fighter’s attacks from the standard small energy blast to a 5-way power
shot. There are other power-ups, such as the staple barrier and a
speed/maneuvering increase.
There are a few oddities revolving
around the gameplay though, such as some odd types of enemies. Granted,
there are a variety of other ships as well (with odd attack patterns
ranging from staying in place to charging forward while firing attack
constantly), but there are other enemies as well, ranging from
submarines and larger ships to giant humanoid mech suits, robotic
probes and rotating cubes. There are also stray bullets in certain
areas, for some reason. There is another problem I have with the game:
the boss battles are a little too easy with the weapon at its maximum
level, not to mention any level aside from the minimum. See, the bosses
in this game are huge, taking up the majority of the screen, but they
generally seem to leave a little area which leaves players completely
safe, while leaving an easy-to-hit attack point.
The thing about
the graphics is that, just by looking at them, you can tell that this
game was originally on the Master System. The palette’s a bit flatter
than most Game Gear games, even more so than most SMS ports.
Nonetheless, the game actually translates pretty well onto the Game
Gear. Everything’s easy to see, and the minor intermission cut-scenes
are somewhat visually appealing, which is good considering the game’s
age. Despite the game’s blander coloring, some of the stages still look
nice, like the third stage, which has a nice sunset/thunderstorm
transition.
The audio quality is okay, but it isn’t exactly
stunning. The music’s pretty bland, with no memorable tunes. Still, the
music generally fits the basic theme of each environment. As for the
sound effects, they’re okay. Nothing special, but not bad either.
This
game has plenty of replay value. Aerial Assault’s okay for a shooter,
but the game falls a little short in some areas. There is actually a
two-player mode here, although it requires the Gear to Gear cable.
Better yet, it’s probably the only vertical shooter on the Game Gear,
considering R-Type only made it onto the Master System. In the end, if
you’re looking for Gradius-style action on the Game Gear, go ahead and
pick this one up. If your options are a bit less limited, however, try
something else.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Jul. 29th, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Not bad for an R-Type clone. |
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Graphics |
| Palette’s a bit flatter than most games, but everything still looks pretty good. |
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Sound |
| Eh, the music’s pretty generic. Sound effects too. |
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Replay Value |
| Eh, it is replayable and there is a two-player mode. Still, it could’ve been better. |
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