Game: Strider II
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Tiertex
Release Date: 1991
Strider II is an action game, the sequel to the arcade game Strider (also released on home consoles), a Capcom game originally. The player begins in "The Forbidden Forest", fighting strange robotic creatures... and birds, which explode when hit. The first thing a player will notice is the controls, the game feels very slidey for a platformer, and the main character jumps an awfully long way, compared to a lot of other games. When hit by enemy fire (or birds) the player does tend to slide back rather a long way, making progress difficult sometimes, especially when high up on ledges.
Another problem with the game is the lack of obvious direction. At one point you're required to jump from a ledge off the screen to the next part of the game. Without knowing where you're going, you could be stuck on this part for a while (believe me, I was.) The main character can climb walls and ledges, which makes avoiding the various enemies somewhat easier. Although we're given his name, Strider, there's not much indication of what he's doing, save for "The Master"'s taunts between levels of how he will fail.
The bosses in Strider II are taken down via unconventional methods for this type of game (getting as close as you can and shooting at them as fast as possible replaces the traditional strategy of dodge and counter attack). Its not all bad however, the levels seem fairly varied with nice enough graphics and a decent, if a little forgettable 8 bit soundtrack.
With 5 levels in all, its a short game, but it does provide some fun whilst it's being played, and the action theme is done well, even if the controls are somewhat frustrating. Overall, its not an essential for your Master System Collection by any means, but its not terrible either.
Rating: 58/100
Grade: D
Game: E-SWAT: City Under Siege
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sanritsu/Sega
Year: 1990
E-SWAT is an action/shooting game for the Master System, inspired by Shinobi, a Ninja themed platformer originally for arcades, with a home version on Master System. There is also a Mega Drive version of E-SWAT, which is far, far better than its Master System counterpart. The player begins on a street, almost immediately being accosted by three knife toting enemies. Shooting these enemies with your gun will cause another to appear almost instantly, making killing them almost useless.
Moving to the right of the screen to progress in the level is difficult with the constantly respawning enemies, crawling on the floor seems to be the most effective tactic for conserving your life in-game, although the player moves more slowly. With limited ammo, it gets difficult to fend off the infinite numbers of enemies that will appear.
Not only does the player start with just 2 out of the 6 slots in his health bar filled, the robotic suit that the game is based around is not even available until level two, which is almost impossible to reach. If you do make it as far as the first miniboss (the game resets to the very beginning every time you die), he takes a ridiculous amount of shots to kill whilst doing a large amount of damage to the player.
The music is alright in game, although hardly noticeable over all the shouting you will be doing at the respawning enemies. Graphically the game is okay, I was only able to play half of the first level due to its near unplayability, so later levels may or may not be more interesting. Overall this game is very hard to like, very hard to play and there's almost no reward for doing so. On the other hand, you could be playing the Mega Drive version which is much, much better, or Shinobi which is also a classic.
Rating: 14/100
Grade: F
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