Spriggan

~ SPRIGGAN ~

Compile / Naxat Soft

CD-ROM

1991

For a new PCE owner looking for a quality shooter, I'd say this is the safest bet aside from Gate of Thunder. Spriggan boasts addictive Aleste-style gameplay; a well-implemented fantasy theme; cool level settings including a beautiful city in the clouds, a creepy insect lair, a factory flooded with awesome-looking lava, and a castle containing a portal to outer space; an atmospheric soundtrack featuring an excellent end-credits tune; gigantic bosses ranging from mutant beasts to mechanical dragons; and a fast-paced score-attack mode.

The game's most noteworthy element may well be its make-your-own-weapon power-up system, which allows players to create all sorts of screen-rocking armaments. Mix and match elemental-based pods (which double as highly destructive bombs) to construct devastating concoctions. Overpower your enemies with slow-moving tornadoes that ravage everything in their path. Enjoy the benefits of wave beams flanking your mecha while dual-stream missiles are constantly launched forth. Summon an aquatic satellite for protection, or inundate the playfield with enormous dancing fireballs.

Due in large part to the remarkable attacks your mecha is capable of unleashing, Spriggan is an easy game, never nearly as challenging or as intense as Blazing Lazers' last few levels. But that's about the only possible flaw to be found in it. It's one of my favorite PCE CD verticals, ranking just behind Nexzr, which has better music, superior cinematics, a higher level of challenge, and more-rewarding gameplay--if inferior weaponry and background graphics.

Protect serene structures of crystal, glass, and stone from soaring sorcerers, aerial attack bases, and a brazen bronze behemoth.

Brilliant visuals lend the game an aspect of beauty: behold the gorgeous waterfall that plays home to steel piranhas in Area 2. Fend off the one-eyed beasts to reach the peak of the cascade, where you'll receive a touchingly warm welcome.

Meticulous attention was paid not only to background art but also to enemy designs. A winged battle-craft and a sickle-wielding gladiator are among the impressive adversaries you'll encounter.

The game does nothing special cinematically, but scenes showing your mecha surveying post-boss-fight carnage do look very good.

Area 3's creepy den of vermin is a veritable gauntlet of terror that pits you against gargantuan spiders, wall-busting worms, and a spiny toad who keeps right on fighting after his head's been blasted off.

Area 4's vibrant, violent, searing sea of lava looks absolutely awesome, as does the gigantic missile-toting boss.

Survive the ogre-inhabited corridors of a dimly lit castle to face off against a gigantic sorcerer. Annihilate the warlock and the floor will give way, revealing a portal leading into outer space, where you'll be forced to fight a robotic dragon.

The final level hosts enormous cannons that fire off massive giga beams in a last-ditch attempt to defeat you. I'm not quite sure what happened to my mecha in this screen, but I don't think it was anything good. ^_^;

That's all right. I lived to fight another day.

Final Zone II

~ FINAL ZONE II ~

Telenet / NEC

1990

CD-ROM

I gave Final Zone II a try as soon as I'd obtained it, completed it during that same first session, and didn't bother with it again for ages. The vertically scrolling run-and-gun action wasn't wholly unsatisfying, but it was lackluster, and I decided I'd rather participate in message-board discussions mocking the silly songs, horrible voice acting, and dopey cinemas than actually experience them again. I've paid the game another couple of visits since the lengthy moratorium, and I'm never very happy with how it starts off. The first two stages are quite ugly, and the stop-and-start gameplay they feature (take a few steps, kill a few soldiers, stumble forward another few steps...) doesn't do much for me.

The worst doesn't come until Stage 3, however, when FZ2 decides to indulge in shoot-'em-up tomfoolery. The strip is unbelievably slow, dull, and primitive looking.

But then comes the turning point.

Upon reaching Stage 4 and being given the chance to do so, I always choose to play as bald, oafish Hansen (one of a number of playable characters that can be used over the course of the affair). His goofy theme music is so hilarious and absurd that it actually makes me laugh. Plus, the action, while still not thrilling, actually begins to pick up a bit. By Stage 5, there are plenty of bullets to dodge, and even though the game is still very easy, it at least keeps the player active.

Also, some of the music is actually pretty good, and I don't mean as a target of mockery. Main-character Bowie's theme is solid, and the memorable boss tune is a number that would fit right in on one of Telenet's high-quality Valis soundtracks.

However, while the second half of the adventure contains some respectable action sequences and the soundtrack is always entertaining, the game never actually threatens to become good. It's simply deficient in too many areas: it's way too short and easy, the first few levels are wastes of time, the graphics are poor, the lack of real power-ups means lack of variety, and there are too few "true" bosses.

Also, most of the voice acting is atrocious. Some of it is acceptable, though. My lost cousin Zigfriedovich once expressed the belief that the character Hanna was voiced by the same VA who did Robotech's Lisa Hayes. I'm pretty sure he was right about this, and I think that Hansen was voiced by the same guy who did George Sullivan for the RT episode "Star Dust." Strange that NEC got decent actors for Hanna and Hansen but a complete bum for Bowie, the hero of the affair.

Tricky Kick

~ TRICKY KICK ~

IGS

HuCard

1990

Tricky Kick is neither complex nor ambitious in concept. The mission it gives you is a simple one: play through six ten-level adventures by clearing each screen of certain objects. You can annihilate two identical objects by booting one into the other. The premise isn't complicated, but the way the game progresses is somewhat interesting. I know that difficulty is relative and all that, but it's quite common for a given level to seem much easier than the one that precedes it. It isn't unusual for me to be stumped by one puzzle for twenty minutes only to solve the subsequent one at once. There's no identifiable trend here when it comes to the element of challenge: the last stage of the haunted-house quest is super easy, while the final trial of the caveman's adventure is murder.

In any event, the challenging levels certainly outnumber the easy ones, which is fine by me. Some stages can seem really intimidating at first, as they host lots of "kick objects" scattered amid rebound bumpers and redirection arrows. However, trial and error leads to everything coming together, and the solutions to the puzzles sometimes seem ingenious. TK is an extremely well-designed game in this respect--though, in truth, the humorous ending "cinemas" are the high points of the whole affair.

Select a character to start off as. Each goes on a ten-stage adventure.

Oberon's quest takes him out into the wilderness.

These city buildings aren't much to look at, but the robots make for cool kick objects.

Taro's friends didn't think he had the bottle to enter the haunted house.

Boot around blood mammoths and other bug-eyed beasts.

Brave the "tough" side of town to reach the birthday party.

The feudal-Japan stages feature the game's catchiest music.

Darkwing Duck

~ DARKWING DUCK ~

Radiance Software / TTI

HuCard

1992

Wow, this is one of the worst-playing games ever. The controls are bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Seriously, they're fucking AWFUL.

But otherwise, uh, the game isn't so bad. Had its areas been fleshed out further, and had there been more of them, Darkwing might've wound up being a poor man's Castle of Illusion. As in Castle, you can perform a typical hop-attack and toss around limited-use projectiles as you travel through stages that are sometimes a great deal vaster than standard sidescrolling-platformer boards. The final level (of a small group of four) has you do lots of running around and bullet/machine/debris dodging, just as the earlier stages should. As things are, most of the fun to be had comes from putting together "bounce chains" (the game allows you to bound from one enemy/icon to another). There's some enjoyable zone exploration to conduct, as you must locate pieces of a huge hint-providing jigsaw puzzle (which can usually be found along the main route but are occasionally sequestered in tough-to-reach spots). Humorous skits that take place after the puzzle has been put together and during the ending sequence help keep the enjoyment level high.

The graphics aren't great, but they do impress at times, particularly at the end of the adventure when you face a giant, cool-looking Darkwing clone-bot in what turns out to be a pretty enjoyable battle. Nice backdrops highlight the other showdown scenes, and sprinkled multilayer effects enhance various sub-stages. The music has its own quirky appeal.

Pitting this effort against TaleSpin is a popular thing to do, but the two games just aren't that close to each other quality-wise. Darkwing demolishes its Disney brother in almost every way. DD simply has too many positive things working in its favor for it to be categorized with the worst games for the system, though it certainly can feel like one of the worst at times.

First, select a criminal to bust.

Then, contend with all kinds of weird enemies and obstacles as you search for the puzzle pieces...

...some of which can be located in very out-of-the-way places.

Put the pieces together to figure out what the bad guys' secret plan is.

Sort out a few of the enemy's henchmen...

...and take down the giant mimicker.