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1942: Joint Strike
  PS3Shooter_VertUC  
  opened by paleface at 03:58:41 10/11/08  
  last modified by paleface at 12:27:18 03/05/24  
  paleface [sys=PS3; cat=Shooter_Vert; reg=NA]
           
I think maybe the subtitle refers to this game having two-player co-op, whereas the orginal 1942 vertical shooters (see entry 929) didn't.
 
Anyway, this is a downloadable PlayStation Network "update" to the old franchise, freshening up the old 2D vertical screen action with widescreen 3D graphics. Well, widescreen isn't actually that great for vertical shooters, since it just means you have to do more work from side to side, with less targets lined up for you vertically.
 
The original 1942 games or whatever weren't all that great, or haven't aged well at all, anyway, and JS doesn't diverge all that much from their basic "fly back and forth and shoot little wings of WWII planes that come across the screen" methodology; as before, if you take out all the planes in a group, a weapon powerup spawns for you to catch, or something like that.
 
You still have shot and barrel-roll bomb, and the Western development team has added in volleys of missiles, for some reason: these are limited in number but eh maybe recharge somehow. And instead of the sharp old instant death from any hit you now have a life meter--boo, sloppy play for shooters! Bleh, I don't know what these people were thinking. It's just a crutch for loose gameplay.
 
What's worse is that the developers couldn't resist going with a gritty WWII sorta sepia-toned color scheme, which means that all the detailed 1080p graphics share the same muddy colors, which means that it's hard to see the tiny little airplanes zipping around everywhere, and even harder to see their tiny little bullets. It's like they have some sort of grudge against color and contrast. Visibility is poor.
 
When you beat a stage's predictably large and plodding, muddy-colored boss, the game shifts into a bizarre "escape" mode where you have to fly DOWN-screen away from a massive ship suddenly "chasing" you, while dodging I dunno, debris or bullets or something. I think if you "make it" you may get an extra bonus. I always get hit or hit something or hell, I don't know--I can barely tell what's going on. Anyway I always bite it, but it doesn't really seem to matter, as you just march on to the next stage, finally flying properly upscreen again. What a mess.
 
  paleface 04:05:49 10/11/08
           
The game as a whole feels uninspired, a "let's cash in on our old property by farming it out for a high-def update" type of thing. Definitely not Capcom's finest hour.
    
downloads:
· 01volley.jpg
· 02bomb.jpg
· 03laser.jpg

 
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