Virocop (AMI, 1995) - WIP find working ver.
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8 Control-7.5/8.5* Challenge-8/7* Story-5?
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8/7* Fun-7.5/8?* Originality-5.5
Overall Score-
*2 joysticks twin stick mode
+
Jumps via slopes and spring pads
Fast movement
Very good enemy and good weapon variety
Shops in-between levels (buy weapons)
Some cool weapons (spread shot that widens as you hold the button down, mine cluster, homing missiles, flamethrower?)
Can stand still and aim in 8 directions
2-player asymmetric mode (can also be used for a twin-stick mode (allowing strafing) however in emulation I wasn't able to configure an optimal setup where an xbox 360 or dual shock controller could be used because they wouldn't let me use joytokey properly - would've worked if the game allowed both players to use the keyboard)
Temporary invincibiity and smart bomb power ups
Pretty nice animation and good overall art direction, Great use of color overall
Some hidden areas
Some very good bosses (level 2 (gorilla) - three forms and a minor puzzle element)
+/-
Several checkpoints per level
Vaguely maze-like levels with some keys in the form of switches
Killathon element (need to take out all the green blob enemies that drop password letters to finish a level - not that many of them but can lead to some backtracking)
Ammo-based weapons besides the default shot
Mony drops (orbs) from enemies disappear very quickly
One more level in the AGA ver.
Level 3 is a nod to Cannon Fodder
No proper 2-player co-op mode
-
Some control/interface issues (no block move, the shop screen is a bit too zoomed in making it hard to get a good overview, short invincibility time between hits+can sometimes get semi-stuck inside an enemy and take a bunch of hits in rapid succession (the first boss can also repeatedly bounce into you very quickly))
Can only carry three permanent main weapons and switch out two of them in-between levels
Some shots from off screen
Some tedious parts (falling down and having to retrace your steps in zig-zag path parts - pretty common, too many bouncing tomato enemies in level 2 and some other levels, some waiting for slow moving platforms)
Some slowdown (on A500 at least)
Occasionally bland music
Password save however it's tied to your name input on the system you play on, so you can only use the ones you got by playing the game normally (this sucks because you can't get past the issue of some levels or bosses not loading in emulation)
Notes:
-Couldn't play level 3 onwards due to emulation issues (wouldn't load past boss 2 (adf cr TRSI set in FS-UAE) or wouldn't load boss 2 (gamesnostaliga aga .bat download)).
^Would only work if I used the password right before boss 2 in the .bat version and then input the copy protection word. But then it wouldn't load again afterwards and the next password contained a P which that emulator has mapped to "fire" for some stupid reason, so I couldn't progress.
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-8/7* Fun-7.5/8?* Originality-5.5
Overall Score-
*2 joysticks twin stick mode
+
Jumps via slopes and spring pads
Fast movement
Very good enemy and good weapon variety
Shops in-between levels (buy weapons)
Some cool weapons (spread shot that widens as you hold the button down, mine cluster, homing missiles, flamethrower?)
Can stand still and aim in 8 directions
2-player asymmetric mode (can also be used for a twin-stick mode (allowing strafing) however in emulation I wasn't able to configure an optimal setup where an xbox 360 or dual shock controller could be used because they wouldn't let me use joytokey properly - would've worked if the game allowed both players to use the keyboard)
Temporary invincibiity and smart bomb power ups
Pretty nice animation and good overall art direction, Great use of color overall
Some hidden areas
Some very good bosses (level 2 (gorilla) - three forms and a minor puzzle element)
+/-
Several checkpoints per level
Vaguely maze-like levels with some keys in the form of switches
Killathon element (need to take out all the green blob enemies that drop password letters to finish a level - not that many of them but can lead to some backtracking)
Ammo-based weapons besides the default shot
Mony drops (orbs) from enemies disappear very quickly
One more level in the AGA ver.
Level 3 is a nod to Cannon Fodder
No proper 2-player co-op mode
-
Some control/interface issues (no block move, the shop screen is a bit too zoomed in making it hard to get a good overview, short invincibility time between hits+can sometimes get semi-stuck inside an enemy and take a bunch of hits in rapid succession (the first boss can also repeatedly bounce into you very quickly))
Can only carry three permanent main weapons and switch out two of them in-between levels
Some shots from off screen
Some tedious parts (falling down and having to retrace your steps in zig-zag path parts - pretty common, too many bouncing tomato enemies in level 2 and some other levels, some waiting for slow moving platforms)
Some slowdown (on A500 at least)
Occasionally bland music
Password save however it's tied to your name input on the system you play on, so you can only use the ones you got by playing the game normally (this sucks because you can't get past the issue of some levels or bosses not loading in emulation)
Notes:
-Couldn't play level 3 onwards due to emulation issues (wouldn't load past boss 2 (adf cr TRSI set in FS-UAE) or wouldn't load boss 2 (gamesnostaliga aga .bat download)).
^Would only work if I used the password right before boss 2 in the .bat version and then input the copy protection word. But then it wouldn't load again afterwards and the next password contained a P which that emulator has mapped to "fire" for some stupid reason, so I couldn't progress.
