The Chaos Engine (MD, 1993)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-6.5 Control-6.5 Challenge-8.5* Story-5
Level Design-6 Frustration-9* Fun-6* Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*1-player
+ 2-player co-op or 1-player & cpu ally, shop system (bombs, health, extra lives, upgrades), level up system (health, speed, weapon power and spread, wisdom (AI control?)), some fun/interesting power ups (smart bomb, freeze enemies, temporary invincibility, map), six different characters (different stats and abilites (smart bomb, healing, map)), pretty good voice samples, pretty good art direction overall, hidden items and paths, some alternate level exits, decent cutscenes, evenly placed checkpoints, password save (fairly long),
+/- Smart bombs don't activate immediately when used (and they don't work if you hit an enemy when throwing them), labyrinthic/exploration based levels, the preacher was changed into a scientist, can't shoot up/down stairs or ledges, no health refills after beaten levels (need to buy or find health), can't move while shooting, mashing the button is faster than auto-fire, shield power up is overpowered when used as an ability, can't give money or lives to your partner
- No invincibility time (and very short knockback), no continues (so forget about switching characters after dying), slowdown (a bit less without an ally), no strafe or dodge move, trial & error (shots from off screen, cheap ambushes in narrow environments, missing loot because you didn't do something in the right order (previously explored areas will often be closed off later in the level), figuring out what each item does), weak sfx overall (sometimes non-existent such as when shots are fired or hitting walls), dumb friendly AI (gets itself killed and steals your money), short time limit (~4 seconds) on enemy drops means you'll often have to leave them or risk getting ambushed trying to grab them, repetitive, repetitive music, sometimes generic enemy designs, can't start a 1-player game (need to kill off the other player), not all characters can buy maps (you can sometimes find them in the levels but they're one use only), no difficulty options, some safe spots near narrow corridors where you can slowly wittle down the enemy, worse colors and overall sound quality than on Amiga, can't say no to resurrecting your cpu ally after a beaten level (costs 500), only one boss and it's kind of tedious (if you have enough lives (5+) you can just button mash it to death since it's faster than auto-fire), it takes a fairly long time to improve your firepower or to get any fun abilites, worse controls than on SNES (can't cycle through partner specials in-game or switch specials with partner)
Level Design-6 Frustration-9* Fun-6* Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*1-player
+ 2-player co-op or 1-player & cpu ally, shop system (bombs, health, extra lives, upgrades), level up system (health, speed, weapon power and spread, wisdom (AI control?)), some fun/interesting power ups (smart bomb, freeze enemies, temporary invincibility, map), six different characters (different stats and abilites (smart bomb, healing, map)), pretty good voice samples, pretty good art direction overall, hidden items and paths, some alternate level exits, decent cutscenes, evenly placed checkpoints, password save (fairly long),
+/- Smart bombs don't activate immediately when used (and they don't work if you hit an enemy when throwing them), labyrinthic/exploration based levels, the preacher was changed into a scientist, can't shoot up/down stairs or ledges, no health refills after beaten levels (need to buy or find health), can't move while shooting, mashing the button is faster than auto-fire, shield power up is overpowered when used as an ability, can't give money or lives to your partner
- No invincibility time (and very short knockback), no continues (so forget about switching characters after dying), slowdown (a bit less without an ally), no strafe or dodge move, trial & error (shots from off screen, cheap ambushes in narrow environments, missing loot because you didn't do something in the right order (previously explored areas will often be closed off later in the level), figuring out what each item does), weak sfx overall (sometimes non-existent such as when shots are fired or hitting walls), dumb friendly AI (gets itself killed and steals your money), short time limit (~4 seconds) on enemy drops means you'll often have to leave them or risk getting ambushed trying to grab them, repetitive, repetitive music, sometimes generic enemy designs, can't start a 1-player game (need to kill off the other player), not all characters can buy maps (you can sometimes find them in the levels but they're one use only), no difficulty options, some safe spots near narrow corridors where you can slowly wittle down the enemy, worse colors and overall sound quality than on Amiga, can't say no to resurrecting your cpu ally after a beaten level (costs 500), only one boss and it's kind of tedious (if you have enough lives (5+) you can just button mash it to death since it's faster than auto-fire), it takes a fairly long time to improve your firepower or to get any fun abilites, worse controls than on SNES (can't cycle through partner specials in-game or switch specials with partner)
