Airwolf (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: Acclaim
Released: 1988

Airwolf is a flight simulator that's based on the TV series of the same name.

+ Action is fast and frantic with a decent landing mini-game, and you'll see some familiar characters from the TV show.

+ Overhead map before each mission allows you to plan an optimal route to victory, while plotting your refuelling / repair point.

+ Start / Select buttons are used effectively for increasing or decreasing your speed, giving you full control at any moment.

+ Excellent (albeit repetitive) rendition of the series' theme tune, and there's some large character art on display.

- The 20 missions basically repeat the same ideas, with nothing new added to the mix to spice things up.

- Touching the boundary edge before completing a mission decreases your speed to zero, making you a lame duck.

- Almost impossible to outrun enemy missiles due to a slow turn speed, and the graphics are rather primitive.

International Cricket (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: Laser Beam Entertainment
Released: 1992

International Cricket is a sports game that was only released in Australia.

+ Stats for both batters and bowlers are always at your fingertips, which greatly helps with gaining a strategic advantage.

+ Likewise, your fielders can be positioned using a simple overhead view, allowing you to cater towards individual batters.

+ Batting is intuitive and it's fun testing yourself against different bowler types while gambling on ground vs. air strokes.

+ Everything moves at a brisk pace, and there's plenty of modes and options to cater to your preferred play style.

+ Includes detailed sprite work and humorous animations to signify important plays, and there's even some voice clips.

- Bowling works perfectly fine by pre-selecting from a list, but you have no real control over ball location or accuracy.

- Colour palette is garish (which, at times, muddies the excellent sprite work) and the music (while catchy) does get repetitive.

Smash T.V. (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
Released: 1991

Smash T.V. is an action game that was originally released in the Arcades in 1990.

It supports 1-2 players (co-op) and the objective is to destroy single screen waves of enemies in order to be crowned Smash T.V. Grand Champion. There's four stages and on top of your default Machine Gun, you can also collect power-ups such as Missiles and Ninja Blades. While you can play with one controller, two can be combined that allow you to strafe independent of your movement; this inspired control scheme makes the gameplay so much more enjoyable, as without it it quickly becomes unmanageable due to how overwhelmed you'll be with enemies and incoming bullets. The action is frenetic (its non-stop nature keeps you fully invested throughout) and I also like how the stages mix things up in terms of introducing different enemy types. The option to collect scattered prizes is an important facet of the gameplay too, as it adds a fun risk-reward element where you sometimes have to put yourself in harms way to collect big points. The game's most impressive feature though is how little slowdown occurs despite the large number of sprites on screen at the same time. While there's only four stages, each is lengthy and the neat option to choose your path to the boss gives it replayability, especially if you're a high score chaser. It can get repetitive after some time though, as you're essentially doing the same thing with no variance. The music also cuts out frequently which dampens the atmosphere and dilutes the excitement of an action-packed TV show setting. The voice samples are low quality, but they do add personality and there are many memorable lines such as: "Big money, big prizes!"

Smash T.V. is great in short bursts (particularly if you're looking for some mindless shooting action), and its twitch-based gameplay is perfectly complimented by the dual controller option. It does wear out its welcome rather quickly, but as long as you keep your expectations in check there's certainly some fun to be had here.

Random trivia: In 1992, the game was released as Super Smash T.V. on the Super Nintendo.

Nightshade (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software

Publisher: Ultra Games

Released: 1992

Nightshade is an action-adventure game that's exclusive to the NES.

As Nightshade, your mission is to save Metro City from the evil crime boss Sutekh. There's over 100 screens and the gameplay involves searching for clues and picking up items to solves puzzles. You can wander freely around the city and pressing Select allows you to access your inventory, examine items and talk to strangers. The game immediately throws you in at the deep end, as you're tied to a chair and need to shuffle to the other side of a wall to avoid an exploding bomb. It's fun seeing developers take some chances by instantly throwing a life or death puzzle at you! Four lives are available and each time you die you're forced to play mini-games in order to survive. In one of these you're strapped to a moving conveyor belt that's heading towards a deadly press machine, and your only option is to quickly figure out how to escape! The city-based action is slow-paced and while none of the puzzles are particularly clever they're not too cryptic either. The world is huge and engaging, with tons of unique areas to explore, and interesting, yet bizarre characters to interact with! There's also some action elements such as having to rescue a girl from the outside of a burning building by climbing ladders and avoiding fire; moments like this break up the slow pace and add some variety. Occasionally you'll take part in combat screens where the objective is to drain your opponents' life-bar using punches and kicks. Some enemies have entertaining attack patterns (especially the bosses) but the controls are clunky and delayed. This leads to many lost lives and it doesn't help that the game has no save option!

 

Nightshade is unlike anything else I've played on the NES and it's great to see a game that would normally grace 8-bit computers find a home on a console. It does have some obvious flaws (especially the shoehorned combat mechanics) but as a whole it's a good adventure game with a large, open world and an intriguing plot.

 

 

 

Random trivia: This was supposed to be part one in a series of Nightshade games, but all subsequent titles were cancelled.

Days of Thunder (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software

Publisher: Mindscape

Released: 1990

 

Days of Thunder is a NASCAR racing game that's loosely based on the 1990 film of the same name.

 

You play as Cole Trickle, a rookie driver attempting to win the eight-race Series Cup. The objective is to rack up points in each race by beating 15 other drivers; extra points are awarded for placing first in a lap, or for leading the most laps throughout a race. The polygon, 3D graphics look impressive and while races only take place in a small window it's a good trade-off for the smooth frame-rate. There's also a few interesting ideas here, especially the Slipstreaming where you gain more speed by tailing a car in front of you. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't up to snuff and the difficulty is extreme from the outset. Turning corners and judging your spatial distance in relation to the barriers is tough, mainly because your vehicle is positioned far away from your viewpoint. This is problematic, as clipping the side of the track on just a handful of occasions results in you needing to pit for repairs; while this is realistic I found the unforgiving gameplay to be off-putting. Even trying to pit is a pain as you must be at a certain speed while positioning yourself perfectly in the assigned area; failing to meet these exact requirements sees you briefly entering the pit before being kicked back onto the track. This is infuriating when you're low on fuel or your car is damaged, as you'll need to complete another lap while trying to avoid complete immobilisation. If you do reach the pits you control each member of your team and position them to repair the necessary parts of your car. It's fiddly cycling between them but once you get the hang of it it's a decent diversion and I love that you can multitask to speed up the process.

  

Days of Thunder is an interesting attempt at a NASCAR style simulation but the action is too unforgiving and demands extreme precision at all times. Unless you have some serious patience it's likely to 'drive' you up the wall due to its infuriating gameplay that's devoid of any real fun.

 

 

 

Random trivia: The game was also released on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1992.

Aussie Rules Footy (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: Mattel
Released: 1991

Aussie Rules Footy is a sports game that was released exclusively in Australia.

The three modes on offer are Single Match, Season (knockout tournament) or Kick to Kick (training). 18 teams are available including some from the Australian Football League (AFL) such as Adelaide and Geelong. As you start a match the action is zoomed in to centre field for the bounce and it looks fantastic with large player sprites. It then zooms out and you use the A button to pass or jump and B to kick downfield or tackle. As soon as you gain possession of the ball you're swarmed by relentless opponents who give you little chance to settle in. Each player on both teams also runs at exactly the same speed so you can't really use strategy to your advantage and breakaways are impossible. Passing is also a huge issue as the ball doesn't travel directly to your team-mate; instead it either lands in open space or being intercepted by opponents who are always one step ahead of you. Attempts to try and regain possession always end up in mindless button mashing which isn't very satisfying. If you do manage to get closer to the goalposts a set of white lines appear at the bottom of the screen to indicate how far away you are from them. The orange line in between them moves quickly from side-to-side and it's up to you to time your kick to score points. It's a great idea but as mentioned above the punishing A.I. makes it tough to be accurate as you have little space to freely work in. In my opinion the game would really have benefitted from difficulty settings to make it more inviting to newcomers. The umpire voice samples are nice though, as is the TV style commentary between quarters.

Aussie Rules Footy is a massive disappointment as the gameplay is clunky and the brutal difficulty setting is quite frankly unnecessary. It's just a shame that this is the only AFL game on the NES as it deserved a much better representation of the sport than what Beam Software developed here.

Random trivia: The next AFL sports game didn't appear until Cadability published AFL Finals Fever for Microsoft Windows in 1996.

Bad Street Brawler (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: Mindscape Inc.
Released: 1987

Bad Street Brawler is a side-scrolling beat-em-up and one of only two games to officially support the Power Glove.

You play the role of Duke Davis and your mission is to protect the city streets from lawbreaking thugs. There's 15 Force Move attacks in the game but only three are randomly assigned to you before each stage. Examples include a Pile Driver and an Aeroplane Spin and they can be activated with the A and B buttons pressed separately or simultaneously. The range of enemies is varied and includes Punk Rockers, Spies and even Gorillas! Although you never gain weapon abilities the bad guys carry items such as bats, knives and guns; if you defeat them and collect these weapons you'll gain bonus points at the end of each stage. The gameplay is unbelievably repetitive with nothing to break up the action and getting through all 15 stages is a test of endurance. The time limit in each level is very short so you'll find yourself rushing through rather than enjoying the beat-em-up action. Using the Power Glove is very unresponsive and your character moves too fast so you can't really pull off precise attacks. It's pretty unusable but thankfully you can plug in a standard controller and things work much better. The attack moves are decent but I would have preferred to pick which ones to use in each stage rather than having them randomised; this would have added more strategy and increase replayability. It would have also stopped the frustration that sets in when you're given useless attacks (i.e. Arm Spin) or moves that take too long to wind-up (i.e. Roundhouse Kick). The music is painfully generic with standard blues riffs and the tracks soon get repetitive and irritating.

Bad Street Brawler is a poor game with little variety and not enough freedom in the attacks. It's a bad first showcase for the Power Glove and while you'll be forced to reach for a standard controller just to make it playable you still find yourself getting bored very quickly.

Random trivia: The game was also released on the Amiga, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS.