SideArms Special

~ SIDEARMS SPECIAL ~

NEC Avenue / Capcom

CD-ROM

1989

While I like the HuCard version of SideArms well enough, I was in no rush to acquire Special. Though I was pretty sure the red book audio would prove to be well produced, the chip's tunes are better than adequate as they are, and I didn't count on the additional "Before Christ" mode offering much more than appeal as a novelty. As it turns out, the CD soundtrack is indeed fine, but the BC game actually provides great fun and unquestionably outdoes "standard" mode in most categories.

BC's visuals are a treat for people like me who find the graphics in HuCard SideArms to be too simplistic and washed out. Everything here seems a bit bigger, a little more detailed, and much brighter.

Weapon switching in BC Mode occurs the good old-fashioned way--immediately upon the nabbing of an icon--rather than via required pausing of the action. Even better, BC starts you back at checkpoints each time an enemy takes you out. This may seem like an odd thing to praise, as instant respawning is generally preferable to being sent back a ways, but lives tend to run out quickly in standard SideArms due to enemies that park themselves right where your mecha reappears after death. It feels extremely cheap, but BC Mode eliminates the problem and actually seems to host fewer "cheap parts" in general. Snake-like enemies, infamous for their relentlessness in standard SA, are still present in BC but not nearly as nasty.

All of that is great, but BC's boss cast received the most significant form of upgrading. Standard makes you face the same few big guys over and over again, but BC presents you with a fresh opponent at the conclusion of every stage. I wish these new fellows were capable of performing more than one type of attack each, but some of them will still require a little bit of planning and even chicanery on your part, not to mention efficient use of your new charge-laser cannon.

Now, there are some things about BC that I don't particularly like. The option pods are nice and all, but I miss the "super mecha" from standard, which is a really fun form of powering up and seems like it should be an essential part of the whole SideArms experience. Also, for some reason the game powers you down completely at the beginning of each level (save for Round 10, the final battle). This seems completely unnecessary and even quite stupid to me.

Those are minor concerns, though, considering all that BC does right. SideArms fans simply must try it, and even those who don't enjoy the chip game all that much might find a lot to like in it.