I
must admit I've never liked shmups where you fly a helicopter instead
of some fanciful "aeroplane". As a matter of fact, I don't
like helicopters period. They fly by spinning real fast - that's
one step above flapping your arms.
My personal biases aside, however, I really enjoyed this particular
helicopter shooty. I still don't like the helicopter, though. The
hit detection is extremely unforgiving, and adds to the biggest
drawback of the game: the difficulty. I've been playing for two
hours straight and only just now got past the first level. I was
beginning to think there might only be one level, because no one
in their right mind would possibly make you go through one of these
death traps more than once.
Someone is not in his or her right mind, because there are more
levels than I can count. The pilots of the enemy helicopters must
not have much going for them because they don't think twice about
using themselves and their vehicles as secondary weapons. Each enemy
offers a never-ending barrage of bullets, which are sometimes impossible
to dodge with the sluggish helicopter. Even the power-ups will turn
against you. The helicopter and the power-up are like two magnets
facing each other with the same poles - every time you get close
it just moves away and lures you into enemy fire. It happens
in almost every shooter, it's just more annoying than usual here.
The
American version, Twin Cobra, eases the difficulty a bit by not
making you start back at a certain point whenever you die.
You just pick up right where you left off. For some reason
the color of the helicopter was also changed from gray to red.
Hooray.
In the end, however, not a one of these things detract from the
overall quality of the game. It is shooting in its purest
form. The whole point is to build up your weapons with power-ups
so that the game is not as impossible as it first seems. And
best of all, you get to blow lots of things up really fast.
Score 9/10
Kyukyoku
Tiger - Taito
