Night Striker (MCD, 1993)
Graphics-5.5 Sound-8 Control-8 Challenge-8 Story-6.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+ Hybrid vehicle avatar (car and flying car), branching paths between levels (Darius-style with different final levels and bosses), difficulty options (five levels), control options (reverse, normal, analog (?); auto-center (like Space Harrier) on/off), quick briefing screens before each level (shows a pic of the boss and its name), fast movement, includes a remastered version of the OST (pick "arranged" in the options menu, sounds good overall though some instrument choices are questionable and some of the previously upbeat tracks are less so here), water splash effect when flying near water and skidding effect when touching tunnel walls or roofs, fast loading times (~2 seconds between levels - would've looked better if the game didn't pause though), decent intro and ending cutscenes, multiple endings (some of them are funny in an over the top serious way), slopes and tunnels (Out Run), moving wall hazards (later used in Panorama Cotton and Star Fox), fairly smooth scaling (not quite on par with Batman Returns or SoulStar though), optional auto-fire,
+/- Health bar/shield (5 HP), respawn on the spot, limited continues (just 3 on Normal), your car gets knocked back/off course a bit each time you're hit, short levels, partial health recovery after each boss (1 HP), vaguely cyberpunk aesthetic (the music is more jazz fusion/synth prog rock with some 90s dance elements though), transform into a mech for some of the final levels (cool but makes it harder to see hazards and makes you a large target) - in another your car is destroyed and you fly around like in Space Harrier instead which plays better and in yet another your car is upgraded into a ship with a stronger weapon (stage T), some levels share tilesets, buildings are just flat surfaces (see Batman Returns), vertical movement is a bit slow (makes it less safe to move up and down without knowing the levels),
- Hard to make out various enemies from afar (sometimes also hard to distinguish them or their projectiles from background objects) due to the high contrast+low color+pixelated/low res visuals (could've been better as seen in SoulStar or Batman Returns, less contrast on background tiles would've also helped), no alternate weapons or main weapon upgrades except for the final level on some paths (stage T for example), pretty repetitive (some bosses are variations of previous ones such as the stage P/factory boss), voice samples are a bit muffled and low volume, the arcade recorded music is a bit low volume compared to the SFX, time limits on boss fights (~20 seconds?), some trial & error (Stage K beginning, various boss patterns), minor slowdown in a few spots, some typos in the ending texts, sometimes uneven difficulty (easy stage K boss for example), shorter draw distance, no save feature or unlockable level select, can't shoot up or down (could've made gameplay a bit more interesting)
Notes:
-Ports comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YfXsFxHu4Q
-Arcade original is from 1989
-Beat the leftmost path as well as the Q/Streets final level
Level Design-7 Frustration-8.5 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+ Hybrid vehicle avatar (car and flying car), branching paths between levels (Darius-style with different final levels and bosses), difficulty options (five levels), control options (reverse, normal, analog (?); auto-center (like Space Harrier) on/off), quick briefing screens before each level (shows a pic of the boss and its name), fast movement, includes a remastered version of the OST (pick "arranged" in the options menu, sounds good overall though some instrument choices are questionable and some of the previously upbeat tracks are less so here), water splash effect when flying near water and skidding effect when touching tunnel walls or roofs, fast loading times (~2 seconds between levels - would've looked better if the game didn't pause though), decent intro and ending cutscenes, multiple endings (some of them are funny in an over the top serious way), slopes and tunnels (Out Run), moving wall hazards (later used in Panorama Cotton and Star Fox), fairly smooth scaling (not quite on par with Batman Returns or SoulStar though), optional auto-fire,
+/- Health bar/shield (5 HP), respawn on the spot, limited continues (just 3 on Normal), your car gets knocked back/off course a bit each time you're hit, short levels, partial health recovery after each boss (1 HP), vaguely cyberpunk aesthetic (the music is more jazz fusion/synth prog rock with some 90s dance elements though), transform into a mech for some of the final levels (cool but makes it harder to see hazards and makes you a large target) - in another your car is destroyed and you fly around like in Space Harrier instead which plays better and in yet another your car is upgraded into a ship with a stronger weapon (stage T), some levels share tilesets, buildings are just flat surfaces (see Batman Returns), vertical movement is a bit slow (makes it less safe to move up and down without knowing the levels),
- Hard to make out various enemies from afar (sometimes also hard to distinguish them or their projectiles from background objects) due to the high contrast+low color+pixelated/low res visuals (could've been better as seen in SoulStar or Batman Returns, less contrast on background tiles would've also helped), no alternate weapons or main weapon upgrades except for the final level on some paths (stage T for example), pretty repetitive (some bosses are variations of previous ones such as the stage P/factory boss), voice samples are a bit muffled and low volume, the arcade recorded music is a bit low volume compared to the SFX, time limits on boss fights (~20 seconds?), some trial & error (Stage K beginning, various boss patterns), minor slowdown in a few spots, some typos in the ending texts, sometimes uneven difficulty (easy stage K boss for example), shorter draw distance, no save feature or unlockable level select, can't shoot up or down (could've made gameplay a bit more interesting)
Notes:
-Ports comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YfXsFxHu4Q
-Arcade original is from 1989
-Beat the leftmost path as well as the Q/Streets final level