NAM 1975 (NG/ARC, 1990)
Graphics-7 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-7**8/9* Story-6
Level Design-7.5**/7/5* Frustration-7.5/**8/10* Fun-6.5/7.5** Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7.5**
*Final boss on default difficulty
**At difficulty level 3
+
Dodge roll move (invincibility time during it) and run move
Pretty intense action
Comedic tone (intro, interrogation scene, "Now we are called heroes, but the hell continues")
Fight alongside the rescued damsel NPCs (they stay until you die)
2-player coop
Voice acted cutscenes (pretty frequent, skippable, minor animation), Pretty good in-game animation
Some large and detailed sprites
Partially destructible environment
Pretty good enemy variety
Throw grenades at aircraft (Blood Bros? same year)
Fairly impressive music (FM+samples) for an early game
Difficulty options (number of continues and lives per continue, 8 levels of difficulty (default is 5) - affects enemy HP and reaction time+how often you get power ups+rate of fire of some bosses)
Some cool weapons (bazooka, flamethrower) however they don't last long. Upgraded grenades are almost like smart bombs though you can only carry 3
Can destroy enemy grenades
Some hidden power ups (Fantasy Zone 2?)
Some explosive barrels
Pretty good bosses overall
+/-
Respawn on the spot even after using a credit (can also be used during boss fights up until the final one)
Kinda bad VA but it does help the humour
Can't attack while moving - fairly often I lost my upgraded weapons without really using them because you die in one hit
No two controller (twin stick) option
The crosshair automatically moves when your avatar moves
Can't cancel the dodge roll move
Have to let go of the attack button to throw an upgraded grenade
The game seems to cut out certain main bosses if you do poorly in terms of credits?
-
Huge difficulty spike at the final boss (can no longer use continues here (!) in either version, spongy, no weapon drops during the fight) - doable with enough lives per credit if you use one right before it though
Some control/interface issues (kinda slow crosshair aiming, kinda easy to accidentally roll when you didn't want to - should've been mapped to a separate button from running instead of pressing diagonally downwards, can't pause, no weapon inventory)
Grenades are kinda weak (small explosion, meh damage against various enemies)
Rare alternate weapons usually with limited ammo (there is a very rare dual crosshair upgrade which lasts until the end of the level)
Some difficulty spikes (zoomed in airplane boss)
Trial & error (various patterns and bosses, some cheap lingering explosions and gas clouds)
Kinda generic in-game art style and the cutscene art is sometimes (often?) traced from photos (two of them from Full Metal Jacket)
A few pauses in the action part of the zoomed in airplane boss fight)
Can be hard to tell how close regular bullets are since these don't scale
Only 5 continues on NG
Pretty short at about 30 mins including the cutscenes
Level Design-7.5**/7/5* Frustration-7.5/**8/10* Fun-6.5/7.5** Originality-5.5
Overall Score-7.5**
*Final boss on default difficulty
**At difficulty level 3
+
Dodge roll move (invincibility time during it) and run move
Pretty intense action
Comedic tone (intro, interrogation scene, "Now we are called heroes, but the hell continues")
Fight alongside the rescued damsel NPCs (they stay until you die)
2-player coop
Voice acted cutscenes (pretty frequent, skippable, minor animation), Pretty good in-game animation
Some large and detailed sprites
Partially destructible environment
Pretty good enemy variety
Throw grenades at aircraft (Blood Bros? same year)
Fairly impressive music (FM+samples) for an early game
Difficulty options (number of continues and lives per continue, 8 levels of difficulty (default is 5) - affects enemy HP and reaction time+how often you get power ups+rate of fire of some bosses)
Some cool weapons (bazooka, flamethrower) however they don't last long. Upgraded grenades are almost like smart bombs though you can only carry 3
Can destroy enemy grenades
Some hidden power ups (Fantasy Zone 2?)
Some explosive barrels
Pretty good bosses overall
+/-
Respawn on the spot even after using a credit (can also be used during boss fights up until the final one)
Kinda bad VA but it does help the humour
Can't attack while moving - fairly often I lost my upgraded weapons without really using them because you die in one hit
No two controller (twin stick) option
The crosshair automatically moves when your avatar moves
Can't cancel the dodge roll move
Have to let go of the attack button to throw an upgraded grenade
The game seems to cut out certain main bosses if you do poorly in terms of credits?
-
Huge difficulty spike at the final boss (can no longer use continues here (!) in either version, spongy, no weapon drops during the fight) - doable with enough lives per credit if you use one right before it though
Some control/interface issues (kinda slow crosshair aiming, kinda easy to accidentally roll when you didn't want to - should've been mapped to a separate button from running instead of pressing diagonally downwards, can't pause, no weapon inventory)
Grenades are kinda weak (small explosion, meh damage against various enemies)
Rare alternate weapons usually with limited ammo (there is a very rare dual crosshair upgrade which lasts until the end of the level)
Some difficulty spikes (zoomed in airplane boss)
Trial & error (various patterns and bosses, some cheap lingering explosions and gas clouds)
Kinda generic in-game art style and the cutscene art is sometimes (often?) traced from photos (two of them from Full Metal Jacket)
A few pauses in the action part of the zoomed in airplane boss fight)
Can be hard to tell how close regular bullets are since these don't scale
Only 5 continues on NG
Pretty short at about 30 mins including the cutscenes