SHMUPS!

Ghost Pilots - SNK

Ghost Pilots

Reviewed by Michael Miller

Every once in a while you come across a game that is a shining example of a genre. Games such as Super Mario Brothers or Sonic for platformers. Like Contra or Metal Slug or Gunstar Heroes for run n' gun games. Like... well, you get the idea. Sadly, Ghost Pilots isn't one of those games.

Sound: The first thing you will notice upon starting the game is the fairly cool theme music. It sounds like some kind of army marching band. The problem is that ALL the music is like that. It's not bad, just repetitive. There are some good explosion effects, but the annoying sound of your guns drown out most everything.

Gameplay: This is where the game goes downhill FAST. The first problem is the speed of your plane. THERE IS NONE! You are so slow it's like playing in mud. Things are made worse by the fact that the screen at points will be COMPLETELY covered by planes that are twice as fast as you. Whoever decided to make a shmup with a Seiran (a type of Japanese boatplane) as the main aircraft should be forced to sit down and play Batsugun until he can beat it on one life (HAH!). Another problem is the weapon system. You start out with a basic machine gun, then go to a bigger machine gun, then a bigger machine gun. All that happens is you shoot more bullets. How lame is that? Generally in shooters that have bombs they act like a desperation attempt to get out of a certain situation, here they are too slow to be useful.

Graphics: This is a tough one because a lot of the planes disappear into the background, but they are suppose to be camouflaged, so I guess thats okay. There are some good backgrounds, but nothing that hasn't been done better in other games. The explosion effects are pretty good, but not as good as they should be. As a whole they are fairly muddy, although the planes are very well done.

Overall: Well, if I hadn't recently played 1941: Counter Attack this score would probably be higher. But since playing that game, which is a similar WWII era shooter, this just isn't as good as it was. It wasn't that good to begin with, actually, so that just killed it altogether. If you have played all the other WWII shooters and want another, pass this up anyway and try a futuristic shooter like Batsugun (one of the most insane shmups ever made in terms of bullet count). You'll probably thank me.

Your first encounter with the enemy. The planes look pretty good.

[ I guess someone forgot to put up the brightness on their monitors! - Felix the Cat ]

LOOK!!! It's a powered up gun! Yeah, that's what I thought. BLECH!

So why are there so many tanks being sent down river loaded with crew and munitions?

[ Erm... so you can shoot at them? - Felix the Cat ]

Our fairly impressive looking bomb. Too bad it's so slow to drop it's almost useless.

Those red guys stay in formation too well. There a pain in later levels whe two waves come at you twirling like crazy.

[ I see what you mean by hard to see! Woah! They're red but...not... - Felix the Cat ]

See what I mean about the planes blending in? I can't fault the designers too much, because they are camouflaged.

Do all first level shmup bosses have to be tanks?

See that "S"? Get it and try not to get killed. That's a weapon power up, and there aren't too many.

Here's a good example of some of the better looking backgrounds in the game. You can't see my plane because I took this right after I died and was still flashing with invulnerability.

This is a pretty cool plane boss.

[ Looks like the plane you fly in 1941 - Felix the Cat ]

Those rocket launching trucks are a pain. Luckily the rockets can be shot, because they follow you everywhere and you're not fast enough to run away.

Those blue guys will make you tear your hair out.

Here are some more good backgrounds. The water flows well (I'm looking for anything to compliment this game on).

This is a bad shot. Those red guys are swooping in from the top corners of the screen, crossing each others path, and killing you.

You'll see this a lot. Your bomb exploding RIGHT AFTER you've been killed. I thought bombs were to be used as last ditch moves, not for carefully planned attacks.

Hey there! Felix the Cat here with a little side comment (as usual). Just played Ghost Pilots on a Neo Geo (fantastic little beastie it is!) and as usual I wasn't all that impressed by it - I still believe that the best warshmup is 1941, and the best shmup on the 'Geo is Pulstar. It's a decent little diversion though, if you can't be bothered to boot up the usual games (ahem - Radiant Silvergun...). It could have been a hell of a lot better with a bit more planning (like most games!)

Cheers for the review Michael! Lets hope he has more corkers in store!

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