Global Defense/SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative (SMS, 1987)
Graphics-6.5 Sound-7 Control-7 Challenge-8.5 Story-5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Gallery Shooter/Horizontal Shoot 'em up hybrid (control both your ship and your aiming crosshair - hold button 1 to move the ship and button 2 aim and fire, holding down both lets you shoot in one spot while moving)
Two gameplay modes (offensive is like a shoot 'em up level where you should to take out enemies before they reach the other side of the screen, defensive plays like missile command with a large base in the bottom center to defend and your ship hovering over it - how well you did in the offensive phase determines how hard this will be as the base's condition starts out according to the base HP display in the GUI, defensive mode replaces the typical boss fights in other shooters)
Ship speed (yellow) and shot explosion radius (pink) power ups, health restoring power ups for the base (white)
Pretty detailed rank system after each phase in a level (shows destruction percentages for each enemy type)
Auto-fire
Pretty good use of the FM sound chip for the music (sfx are a bit harsh though; sometimes grating PSG music but better explosion sound)
Decent end of level in-game cutscene where you're picked up by a shuttle (however this version is missing the intro cutscene where you leave the shuttle)
Decent enemy variation - ground and air targets
+/-
The ship dies in one hit and there are no shield or HP power ups for it
Controls take some getting used to
Shots take a little bit of time to land so you have to aim ahead of an enemy ship's path to hit it (there's some splash damage from each shot though making it easier to hit)
No lock-on feature (see After Burner or Galaxy Force)
The game takes place in the solar system but doesn't quite follow the structure of it properly (features earth, the moon, an asteroid belt, saturn, then a "hidden planet" which is an armada of what looks kinda like the death star from Star Wars)
-
Instant game over if you lose in the defensive phase at any point (if you get a perfect score in the offensive phase then the defensive one is actually skipped however it's almost impossible to get a perfect score after the first couple of levels - only way to gain extra lives as well?, )
No continues
Trial & error (the speed of the crosshair is too slow for later levels - by level 4 or so you have to start memorizing the patterns to do well (the arcade version used a separate trackball for aiming which works better but with some adjustments to either the speed or the level design this could've worked about as well), some of the missiles in the defensive phase spawn very close to the base, the large horizontally moving missiles in the offensive phase don't hurt your ship)
Repetitive and a bit basic (no alternate weapons or aiming speed or shot explosion upgrades - the arcade game has a laser which hits more quickly as well as a ground bomb sub weapon, no bosses)
Slowdown and some flicker
Ship upgrades (speed and explosion radius) reset after each level
No difficulty options
Poor color choices - makes the game look like an '80s PC DOS game with CGA graphics in parts
Sometimes uneven difficulty (the second defensive phase is easier than the first for example, offensive phases get much harder after level 3, the last defensive phase is pretty brutal partly because there's no explosion radius power up in the last level)
Fewer enemy types than in the arcade game
Only one in-game music track (the arcade ver. has 5!, it's also missing the best track which is lvl 3)
Somewhat generic art style overall
Meh ending
Notes:
-Arcade port (also from 1987)
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5
+
Gallery Shooter/Horizontal Shoot 'em up hybrid (control both your ship and your aiming crosshair - hold button 1 to move the ship and button 2 aim and fire, holding down both lets you shoot in one spot while moving)
Two gameplay modes (offensive is like a shoot 'em up level where you should to take out enemies before they reach the other side of the screen, defensive plays like missile command with a large base in the bottom center to defend and your ship hovering over it - how well you did in the offensive phase determines how hard this will be as the base's condition starts out according to the base HP display in the GUI, defensive mode replaces the typical boss fights in other shooters)
Ship speed (yellow) and shot explosion radius (pink) power ups, health restoring power ups for the base (white)
Pretty detailed rank system after each phase in a level (shows destruction percentages for each enemy type)
Auto-fire
Pretty good use of the FM sound chip for the music (sfx are a bit harsh though; sometimes grating PSG music but better explosion sound)
Decent end of level in-game cutscene where you're picked up by a shuttle (however this version is missing the intro cutscene where you leave the shuttle)
Decent enemy variation - ground and air targets
+/-
The ship dies in one hit and there are no shield or HP power ups for it
Controls take some getting used to
Shots take a little bit of time to land so you have to aim ahead of an enemy ship's path to hit it (there's some splash damage from each shot though making it easier to hit)
No lock-on feature (see After Burner or Galaxy Force)
The game takes place in the solar system but doesn't quite follow the structure of it properly (features earth, the moon, an asteroid belt, saturn, then a "hidden planet" which is an armada of what looks kinda like the death star from Star Wars)
-
Instant game over if you lose in the defensive phase at any point (if you get a perfect score in the offensive phase then the defensive one is actually skipped however it's almost impossible to get a perfect score after the first couple of levels - only way to gain extra lives as well?, )
No continues
Trial & error (the speed of the crosshair is too slow for later levels - by level 4 or so you have to start memorizing the patterns to do well (the arcade version used a separate trackball for aiming which works better but with some adjustments to either the speed or the level design this could've worked about as well), some of the missiles in the defensive phase spawn very close to the base, the large horizontally moving missiles in the offensive phase don't hurt your ship)
Repetitive and a bit basic (no alternate weapons or aiming speed or shot explosion upgrades - the arcade game has a laser which hits more quickly as well as a ground bomb sub weapon, no bosses)
Slowdown and some flicker
Ship upgrades (speed and explosion radius) reset after each level
No difficulty options
Poor color choices - makes the game look like an '80s PC DOS game with CGA graphics in parts
Sometimes uneven difficulty (the second defensive phase is easier than the first for example, offensive phases get much harder after level 3, the last defensive phase is pretty brutal partly because there's no explosion radius power up in the last level)
Fewer enemy types than in the arcade game
Only one in-game music track (the arcade ver. has 5!, it's also missing the best track which is lvl 3)
Somewhat generic art style overall
Meh ending
Notes:
-Arcade port (also from 1987)