Status Chovus Nov 15, 2021
Beat with a score of 63%. I did well for the entire game except the very end because I was not quite sure what to do. I thought I had to shoot the fireballs while axe guy smashed the windows, and I burned through my continues before realizing I had to shoot the windows. Then I played through again on …
Beat with a score of 63%. I did well for the entire game except the very end because I was not quite sure what to do. I thought I had to shoot the fireballs while axe guy smashed the windows, and I burned through my continues before realizing I had to shoot the windows. Then I played through again on Expert, being more thorough to find more grenades and survivors. I discovered the power mode from getting 4 grenades and tried to keep that as much as possible by avoiding damage and save state scumming. It seemed like the only effect of Expert was disabling healing from saving survivors. I did not notice the enemies being stronger, so it just seemed to be about perfecting play through each stage to reach the bosses with full hp. I got 89% this time. Despite being very short, I was supremely impressed with this game. Great visuals and soundtrack, while the gameplay itself was the star. Simple controls with a long range water beam, melee range blast to the floor, grenades, crawl and L or R to lock your facing for strafing or backpedaling while shooting. The balance of the gameplay was masterful, with excellent variety in enemies (flames and robots on fire) that forced you to aim carefully, use the right move, and make good use of the AI partner. Add to that hazards to keep an eye out for, usually requiring ducking or moving out of the way, and the action could be extremely intense. There were trade offs for shooting wildly too; the melee blast slowed your speed while the beam could make it hard to see ahead, or accidentally smashing a window could cause a sudden explosion. I was very impressed with the little bit of destructible environment, and I loved the axe guy and just how much he helped out in combat while never doing anything stupid or annoying. It was hilarious that he put out fires by going up to them and smacking them with his axe; that's how a real man fights fires. The bosses had impressive mechanics that reminded me of A Link to the Past, and they were brutal.
One of the best shooters on the SNES, with good story and characters to boot. The only real flaw is the short length, but the content that is there is just so well crafted that the very idea of more stages would be jaw dropping awesome.
9.0/10