Blood Bros. (ARC, 1990)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-6.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-8*/7.5 Story-4.5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8*/7.5 Fun-7.5*/8 Originality-6
Overall Score-8
*1-player
+
Spiritual sequel to Cabal and prequel to Wild Guns (wild west setting)
Faster aiming
Intense action
2-player co-op (second player character is native american)
Throw dynamite at airplanes and zeppelins
Tons of sprites on screen without slowdown
Good bosses overall (final one has several parts to destroy, two of them move back and forth in the background and one of these (giant snake) has some nice sprite scaling on it)
Destructible environment (extra points for larger targets, several levels of damage)
Two dodge moves (invincibility during it but you can't cancel it or change direction while performing it)
Most enemy projectiles can be shot down
Many large and some very large sprites
Somewhat comical (your avatar 'dances' into the horizon after you beat a stage like in Cabal)
Difficulty options (easy-very hard)
Can duck
Can gain more dynamite by juggling a tin can over and over in each level
Temporary machine gun power up (Dynamite Duke)
Improved enemy variety
Decent ending cutscene (artwork stills)
+/-
Can't credit feed during boss fights (the fight resets)
Some projectiles are a bit harder to see than others
Can't use the environment as cover as much as in Cabal (certain enemies target your cover, gets destroyed more easily)
Can't move while shooting or dodging
Some non-PC elements (animal with chief headwear on, fight other native americans as a native american)
-
Gets too overwhelming at times in 1-player (no smart bombs)
A bit repetitive
A bit hard to judge distances and projectile trajectory at first
So-so use of FM synth for the music and the sample quality could've been a bit better
A quota meter decides when a level ends instead of the player killing off the last enemies (means you can miss certain power ups)
Single screen/non-scrolling levels
Not much weapon variety
Comment:
Blood Bros is like a spiritual sequel to Cabal and prequel to Wild Guns, with the improvements you'd expect (except for the sound being a bit underwhelming), a fun wild west setting and some more playing around with stuff moving on the z-plane. Had a lot of fun with it.
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8*/7.5 Fun-7.5*/8 Originality-6
Overall Score-8
*1-player
+
Spiritual sequel to Cabal and prequel to Wild Guns (wild west setting)
Faster aiming
Intense action
2-player co-op (second player character is native american)
Throw dynamite at airplanes and zeppelins
Tons of sprites on screen without slowdown
Good bosses overall (final one has several parts to destroy, two of them move back and forth in the background and one of these (giant snake) has some nice sprite scaling on it)
Destructible environment (extra points for larger targets, several levels of damage)
Two dodge moves (invincibility during it but you can't cancel it or change direction while performing it)
Most enemy projectiles can be shot down
Many large and some very large sprites
Somewhat comical (your avatar 'dances' into the horizon after you beat a stage like in Cabal)
Difficulty options (easy-very hard)
Can duck
Can gain more dynamite by juggling a tin can over and over in each level
Temporary machine gun power up (Dynamite Duke)
Improved enemy variety
Decent ending cutscene (artwork stills)
+/-
Can't credit feed during boss fights (the fight resets)
Some projectiles are a bit harder to see than others
Can't use the environment as cover as much as in Cabal (certain enemies target your cover, gets destroyed more easily)
Can't move while shooting or dodging
Some non-PC elements (animal with chief headwear on, fight other native americans as a native american)
-
Gets too overwhelming at times in 1-player (no smart bombs)
A bit repetitive
A bit hard to judge distances and projectile trajectory at first
So-so use of FM synth for the music and the sample quality could've been a bit better
A quota meter decides when a level ends instead of the player killing off the last enemies (means you can miss certain power ups)
Single screen/non-scrolling levels
Not much weapon variety
Comment:
Blood Bros is like a spiritual sequel to Cabal and prequel to Wild Guns, with the improvements you'd expect (except for the sound being a bit underwhelming), a fun wild west setting and some more playing around with stuff moving on the z-plane. Had a lot of fun with it.