Rolling Thunder 2 (MD, 1991)
Graphics-7 Sound-7.5 Control-7 Challenge-8
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5* Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
*1-player
+ 2-player co-op, flash bombs which blind enemies, decent enemy AI overall, dodge system (see Blackthorne), touching enemies doesn’t hurt, fast paced, password save, sometimes hilarious cutscene texts, nice stills between levels, life upgrades, enemy grenades hurt other enemies, flamethrower, evenly placed checkpoints, two endings (beat the unlockable hard mode)
+/- Ammo based weapons (you really need to conserve ammo later on), one hit kills later on, sometimes enemies jump off cliffs and the knockback on them is off at times (shoot an enemy from behind and it falls towards you), can't shoot while moving or jumping
- Stiff (but tight) controls (can’t move while crouching, drop straight down from ledges, no jump height control), no run move, trial & error (elevator sequence, some cheap enemy placements, bosses), no sampled drums used for the music (solid instrumentation though), most weapons are very similar and you can't throw grenades, some backgrounds look 8-bit (desert level sky), very short cooldown time (becomes a problem at round 8 boss), unlockable hard mode just makes enemies take one more bullet - they already take several hits on default,
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8 Fun-7.5* Originality-5
Overall Score-7.5
*1-player
+ 2-player co-op, flash bombs which blind enemies, decent enemy AI overall, dodge system (see Blackthorne), touching enemies doesn’t hurt, fast paced, password save, sometimes hilarious cutscene texts, nice stills between levels, life upgrades, enemy grenades hurt other enemies, flamethrower, evenly placed checkpoints, two endings (beat the unlockable hard mode)
+/- Ammo based weapons (you really need to conserve ammo later on), one hit kills later on, sometimes enemies jump off cliffs and the knockback on them is off at times (shoot an enemy from behind and it falls towards you), can't shoot while moving or jumping
- Stiff (but tight) controls (can’t move while crouching, drop straight down from ledges, no jump height control), no run move, trial & error (elevator sequence, some cheap enemy placements, bosses), no sampled drums used for the music (solid instrumentation though), most weapons are very similar and you can't throw grenades, some backgrounds look 8-bit (desert level sky), very short cooldown time (becomes a problem at round 8 boss), unlockable hard mode just makes enemies take one more bullet - they already take several hits on default,