Assault City

[Stan]

At first I didn't receive a response and I thought ian was a gonna be a peein on us, but lo and behold, he comes back! What will it be? Just what? Can you wait? Can I wait? Can anyone wait? Tomorrow will tell!

[ian]

Well, it’s my turn this week, and I must say; I’ve had a hard time choosing. There aren’t too many good games people don’t know about. But after much deliberation, I have chosen for this week’s GOTW:

Assault City


So this week’s game is Assault City. Possibly not the best choice, but I struggled to find a good game this week.
I first played this game back in my youth, I remember I had the joypad version and I loved it. I have just recently acquired the light phaser version but have yet to play it, but I’m pretty sure it would be even better. It’s an exclusive game to the SMS, so you won’t find it on any other system (at least I think).

So it’s shoot-em-up game, where you control a target on a moving screen to shoot stuff, just like Space Gun. When you first start up the cartridge we are treated to the story of robots taking over along with some atmospheric music, very Terminator-esque, in a good way. Then comes the title screen, with some excellent theme tune music. Now the next part is quite clever. You are taking to a practice shooting whereby depending on your results, decides what difficulty the game will be played at. Then it introduces our character, Joe, and starts the game.

I think the gameplay is great, quite fast and frantic action and plenty of surprises. The graphics are fantastic. The backgrounds are excellent, the robots are great, especially the bosses. The music is superb, really pulls you into the action. Its difficulty curve is spot on; it’s not too easy without being too hard. It’s only let-down I’d suppose is the lack of features. You can power up your gun as go through but that’s about it, there’s not too much variety in gameplay. Overall though, an excellent game I think, and greatly under appreciated. The box art is brilliant too.

So give it a good go, you probably won’t be playing it too long but its fun hour or so to kill. Hope you all enjoy.

[Jo Musashi]

I don't have this game but back in the day I would have bought it for the cover alone. I've always enjoyed Japanese mecha or designs influenced by them.

[Tonto]

Arrgh! I just got rid of this game recently cos I thought I probably wouldn't play it much. Can anyone tell me whether the Light Phaser version is better than the pad one?

[Stan]

I like this game. I'd definitely say the Light Phaser version is WAY better. Must play and beat.

[dezanuebe]

nice choice, mybe it´s just me, but i like the light phaser version a lot!!!

[JellyCrystals]

I have a lot of trouble with this game... I can't move the pad around fast enough and I die really easily... So havent played this one much. Have been trying to find a phaser copy for about 6 months. Might have to give it another go though.

[Jo Musashi]

So there are actually two different versions of the game, one supporting the pad and the other the phaser? I wonder why Sega didn't/couldn't put them both in the same cart. Look, it's even affecting SMS gamers years later

[RaccoonLad]

I haven't played it much, but I found the Phaser version to be too hard (haven't played the pad version).
But then, I find pretty much EVERY phaser game too hard.

[Stan]

I think this game is rather good. The levels lack variety, but overall it's a lot of fun. Haven't played the pad version yet, so I can't compare, but the Phaser version is a BEAST if you play the level high enough. I think the setting idea is pretty damn cool, but you can cheat it and make the game easier for yourself with it in the process. No problem for me, I tried it on the Level 3 setting and got my ass reamed on the first level in seriously like 10 seconds. Really a cool idea to have the game set its difficulty based on how well you do at the opening training sequence. Nice touch. I wonder if you get a better ending if you complete it at a higher level? Anyone?

[CRV]

stanstepanic said:

No problem for me, I tried it on the Level 3 setting and got reamed on the first level in seriously like 10 seconds. Really a cool idea to have the game set its difficulty based on how well you do at the opening training sequence. Nice touch. I wonder if you get a better ending if you complete it at a higher level? Anyone?

I think the highest level you can get is 3. You'd have to be braindead not to get through that training level. The targets don't shift very quickly. And no, I don't think there's a better (or worse) ending.

One thing that needed improving (that hasn't been mentioned) is the cutscenes. The text is a little hard to read and many of the screens go by too fast.

Otherwise, it's a pretty good game (the Phaser version, anyway) with some very frantic action and some nice graphics.

[Stan]

Rough game. I could have sworn there was a level four or five, but I'm probably wrong. Can't test it now to figure it out because my collection is packed up for the move this Saturday.