Action 52 (Genesis) - Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

35. Shootout   

You play as Billy Bob that reincarnated to present day someone in shooting range at some night carnival. What's the prize? Killing this may or may not be stuffed animal is the only prize you get. The control is D-pad to move your hand left or right. Pressing "C" button to fire your gun. Judging by the looks of it, i would like to say it's your typical six-shooter. But it houses lots of bullet, indicated by bullet counter at the top center. Be careful though, if you run out of bullet you lose a life. How's that even works? Does the stall attendant murder you everytime you lose all the bullets in a round? Or the loss is engraved so deep in your heart that you feel want to die? If you finish destroy all these target, you proceed to next stage while your bullets are restocked to the full.

 

I like to show you how small the bullet is. So you need to aim the gun carefully. In the early part of the level, the targets are cramped in line. But when they're thinning out, is the point where you have to be more accurate with your aim. There's not much variation after first stage. So i quit pretty early

The game is pretty basic yet too simple. At least playable than Game #18 Billy Bob.

My rating score: 5 / 10

36. Bombs Away

You play as this John Doe running along this land that is bombarded from unknown sources. From the looks of the huts, this game is in setting of Vietnam War. Maybe? The control is D-pad to move the guy left or right. Pressing "C" button to jump that higher than the huts! I think he's experimental subject of super soldier serum. Kind of like Captain America but, the serum only enhance his jumping ability and nothing else. Your objective is simple: dodge the bombs until duration is over.

 

What kind of bomb is that? They're fat thing with 3 propellers and toy wheels. Naturally, they have bigger hitspot than any conventional bombs that fell before me, so there's that. Come to think of it all bombs in this game works in unusual way. They don't explode when touch the ground. They just slip off further into the ground. Demoman_sf12_badmagic10.wav

 

If they touch me, i'm self exploded leaving my boot singed. I think they're one of eco-friendly type bomb. They don't destroy environment unnecessarily, they only trigger self human explosion if they touch their target 

The core gameplay is still raw. If the player given weapon with limited ammo that can be used to destroy bomb, the game will be better.    

My rating score: 3.5 / 10

37. Speed Boat

 

I assume we're doing speed boat race here. The control is: D-Pad to move your speed boat but that's about it. No other button to jump or whatsoever. Which is shame because i could use button to jump pass these so many obstacles. At first, i though the stone or log can be used as impromptu ramp to make my boat jump but no. They're just deadly obstacle

 

What's with these fishing boat on our race course? This route supposed to be neutral from fishing activity! Also what's with that fisherman? Constantly throw and draw fishing line while moving back and forth. What kind of fishing is that? No wonder they don' get any fish.

 

Scout_sf13_magic_reac03.wav. My rival boats can sails through obstacles and even the fishing boat without harm. When i do that, i got demolished.

 

Hey, man! What the freak. You can't just block my way with invincible boat like that. That's cheating! *CRASH*

This race is so unfair! There's only obstacle over obstacle. That's it.

My rating score: 1 / 10

38. Dedant

 

Dedant or perhaps Dead Ant is the mutant ant that able puke red unhealthy projectile and i assume control of it. The control is D-Pad to move the dead ant around and "C" button to shoot the red vomit to top direction. I'm fighting other insect such as red ant and caterpillar that due to its green color, able to bland with this lazy-designed background. I mean you can clearly see that it's just  that 1 grass tile that copy-paste into 4 tiles like this.   

 

The game plays fine until there's spider that invincible to my deadly vomit. I try to bite using my jaw but to no avail plus i'm dead in process. By that i mean approach them mandible first. There's no special button for melee attack, you see.

 

Ok. This is ludicrous. There's more spiders and they won't go away. How am i supposed to do? 3:

 

This is even worse. There's too many spiders! Thus i'm cornered and there's little i can do here. The only way to remove spider, is to die intentionally thus the screen is reset from all enemies. That's hardly fair.  

It's shoot em up with single screen and invincible spider that can neither be destroyed or go away.

My rating score: 1 / 10

39. G Fighter

 

It's horizontal shoot em up akin to G-Darius or Gradius. It can't be helped! I have to associate this game with those famous game because the game asking for it by putting "G" letter first on the title! The control is D-Pad to move your ship around and "C" button to shoot fireball on right direction. Enemy's projectiles are the same with mine, but they can be differentiated in motion. Because my bullets certainly won't move toward me.

Would you look at that! The ship design resembles the one in Darius. So my salty remark is not out of mark. G Fighter doesn't have boss stage with the shape of fish. Or there's none at all, even. But you should expect that because Action 52 is collection of small game with low budget (and i'm not sure that Sega approved this). Clearly boss fight is no go, at all.   

 

Oh drat! I have been killed by the power-up container from Thunder Force III. I've never felt so humiliated! I wish i can shoot to left direction.  

Being unable to shoot backward is annoying because most enemies come from behind. Boring background and ships. When i die, my ship let out eerie scream instead of sensible explosion sound.

My rating score: 3 / 10

40. Man At Arms  

 

I play as this crossbowman that defend this castle from those invaders. I think i have played Tiger Handheld game like this exact but the castle is in bottom instead in the top like in this game. The control is D-Pad to move the crossbowman left or right and "C" button to shoot arrows. The enemies bear a shield but my arrows can pierce through it and kill them. They think that shield made of cardboard can make me faltered but no! You can't fool me, bastards! 

 

On the 3rd stage there's new enemy. That burly creatures that could be giant bear or troll or whatever big creature in medieval fantasy setting that you can think of. They can be taken down with 1 arrow, much like regular human soldier. So what's the point of their deployment, then? Like in Game #19 Sharks, deceased enemies can block your projectile during their death animation thus provide cover for their living comrades. Keep that in mind.

 

Once the enemies reach my castle's wall, i instantly surrender. The white flag is so cute. I wish the king send more men to defend this castle. Or at least have someone (other than me) to make moat around the castle. #-_-  

 

To maximize my effort to defend this castle, i have to shoot them before they even show up on the screen in rather orderly manner. But when one of them about to reach the castle, i hurry to dispatch them otherwise it's game over. I forget to tell you that not all enemies move straight to my castle, some of them move diagonally but in rather-comedic way, they walk away beyond the screen. Good for me!

 

The game is finish after 9th level. Huzzah!

This game is pretty fine even with the mechanism of killed enemies block your arrows. Talking about cannon fodder. *shrugs*

My rating score: 6 / 10

41. Norman  

 

You take control the grey tank. The control is D-Pad to move around and "C" button to shoot the cannon. For some reason your enemy green tank  don't have ability to shoot their cannon. Oh, i get it. To make up for their ammo scarcity, they deploy more tank that outnumbered you significantly. Even without their ammo, those tanks are still a dangerous threat tanks to their deadly touch.

 

Like in previous games, there's more enemies if you finish more level. So naturally further level is getting harder than before. For some reason, enemy's infantry can kill my tank with mere touch! So unrealistic!

 

Also weird is how the infantry die by my cannonball. Looks like they melt from head to their torso. Are they filled with volatile nitroglycerin? Maybe that's why my tank is destroyed once they touch it.   

The enemies can outnumber your tank but they don't have ability to shoot projectile at all. While your tank is the exact opposite, solo but it can shoot cannonball on everywhere. Although there's no diagonal aim. The core gameplay is kind of balanced and not frustrating.

My rating score: 7 / 10

42. Armor Battle

 

This is essentially 2-players duel version of Game #41 Norman. The control is D-Pad to move your tank around and "C" button to fire your cannon. Anyone who can land 10 hits first, is the winner. First level goes on normally. But on later stages, your cannonball's flight is altered. I think this is less make sense than Game #10 Star Duel because it takes place in outer space where there's no gravity or exist but in certain direction for gameplay's sake. But this game is about duel of conventional tank in conventional battlefield. There's no good logic behind the reason why the cannonballs fly in deviated way. Moreover, the deviation is relative to cannon's facing instead of general relative to bullet. For example: on one level, cannonball that i shoot when i facing right is distorted to top direction. But when i shoot the cannonballs while i facing left, they fly straight and normally. Soldier_sf13_magic_reac01.wav 

Probably one of the worst duel game. Your aim is restricted to 4 cardinal direction. The bullet deviation don't make sense and badly implemented.

My rating score: 5.5 / 10

43. Magic Bean

 

This game is clearly based on fairytale "Jack and The Beanstalk". You control Jack climbing up to giant's castle by using D-Pad and that's about it. Anything that the giant throws  is lethal to touch. Is that horseshoe? Makes me wonder how big is the giant's horse and does he ride on it on weekend along the wide expanse of the cloud? Or maybe the horse is Pegasus? So many mysteries!

 

It goes without saying that on next level the giant throws more stuff at you. 4 of his shoes? Aren't that too much? But they work because i have no room to dodge all of this scraps! I'm restricted not only to the thrown stuff but also to giant beanstalk itself. I can only move around 1/3 portion of the screen and that's not helping me in the slightest.

 

Here's the goal: The giant's castle. However that castle doesn't look like belong to the giant's. I mean look at that doors! They are the size of Jack's! The castle only enough for giant to sleep inside and that's still cramped. You don't need to reach the castle to end the level. You can let the screen scroll high enough instead. Did i forget that the game is auto-scrolling? My bad. After finishing a level, you will be sent back to the ground level and must climb to the castle again. It feels like there's Toad inside of every cloud castle and tell Jack that the enchanted goose is in another castle.  

Solid auto-scrolling and dodge em up game. Even though there's occasion where the hazards makes you cornered badly plus there's beanstalk's width that restrict your movement. The vine obstruct anything including you so it's rather cheap.

My rating score: 7 / 10

44. Apache

 

It's vertical shoot em up with undersized sprite and walls on left and right. The control is D-Pad to move the Apache chopper around while "C" button to fire machine gun. The enemies are enemy red chopper, plane with the shape of triangle (no, it's not my beloved F-117A Nighthawk. It's way too ugly), and tank that may or may not from Game #41 Norman.

 

Suddenly my chopper is destroyed! What hit me? Are the enemy's bullets is smaller than mine (that barely seen without pausing the game)? So unfair! Heavy_sf13_magic_reac01.wav

Bad shoot em up game with sprites with sub-standard size.

 My rating score: 1.5 / 10

45. Paratrooper

I assume control of a nameless soldier and his mission is to collect these grey crates. All of them. D-Pad to move him around and "C" button to shoot whatever projectiles is that. It's clearly come out from his center. Maybe he has chest that can shoot energy projectile akin to Iron Man^tm. Like in Game #41 Norman, this soldier is unable to shoot diagonally. I think this game is mixture of Game #24 Mousetrap and Game #41 Norman where you have to deal with enemies with deadly touch while collecting all randomly-placed items in the screen. Those grey lines are either wire fence or small river where you can't pass through them but your projectiles can.

 

Much like in Game #19 Sharks, your character will turn into pool of blood if he get killed by the vicious robot. That's horrible.

Even with the absence of diagonal aiming, the game is quite good and playable.

My rating score: 6 / 10

46. Sky Avenger

I like the title "Sky Avenger" because it's so accurate. I take control of green helicopter that avenge sky bombers that kill Bombs Away guy. The control is D-pad to fly around the green helicopter and C button to shoot rocket. I hope you don't mind about horizontal shoot em up that starts you from right to left because this game is like that. What a rebel/creative [pick that you see fits]

The sky is filled with enemies. Red helicopters, blimps, and fighter planes(?). I know that they reuse the place from Game #36 Bombs Away but i think they should consider about the scale. If the Bombs Away guy compared side by side with these aircrafts, he's as big as King Kong in the movie. Also the hut become proper 2-storey building in this scale.

Simple gameplay. It could get some extra feature, though

My rating score: 5.5 / 10

47. Sharpshooter

 

This game takes place in the largest gallery shooting in a night festival. But you don't shoot harmless target boards or dolls. No. You have to shoot these monsters that can outright kill you! The control is D-pad to move the sharpshooter left or right and "C" button to fire his gun. This game is like Taito's Space Invader but the enemies come out individually. Each with their own pattern and behavior.

 

The game is too easy and i get bored. So i let myself die on purpose. The death animation is not gruesome or rather too soft. It looks like he becomes sleepy and slowly taking a deep sleep. Maybe these monsters covered with sleeping powder and ammonia. They're not so bad, now that i think about it.    

The game is fairly ok but it's boring for long run. Either you become asleep or the cowboy in the game become asleep or maybe both of you become asleep.  

My rating score: 4 / 10

48. Meteor

 

You're controlling a earth defense ship shooting at incoming burning meteors. Curse you, Sephiroth! D:<

The control is simple: D-pad to move left or right. While "C" button to fire the anti-meteor lasers. There's not much strategy here. You can ignore moving the ships and mash the fire button and wait until the duration over then you can move on to next level and do the same thing. There's no pressure on protecting the city. It's invincible, so what's the point? If the city is vulnerable like in Atari's Missile Command, the gameplay will be solid but at the same time it becomes more tedious.

The game is easy, boring and unpolished. But it's playable on your own pace. 

My rating score: 3.5 / 10                                                                                                               

49. Black Hole

 

You're controlling wingless spaceship (probably Starship Enterprise from Star Trek) that get stuck within aforementioned black hole. The control is: D-pad to move the spaceship around and "C" button to fire the photon torpedoes. I thought the gameplay like Game #48 Meteor but that's not quite true. Because the stage ends with destroyed enemies quota that's unseen. So this time i'm force to seek the enemies actively. The background of gritty blue with black void that scroll automatically scroll anywhere, doesn't make the game more enjoyable. :(  

It's simple shoot em up game with eye-ritating background and force you to engage enemies actively. Very bad!     

My rating score: 2 / 10                                                                                                                   

50. The Boss

 

Presumably, the boss is this anthropomorphic of green lizard that dress like detective or maybe gangster. He have to collect all dollar bills along this fire escape to finish a stage. The control is D-pad to move the boss to left or right and also to descend or ascend the ladders around here.

 

Obviously, things don't go that easy. There's enemies spawn from left or right corner. That's where "C" button come in handy. It's to shoot the handgun. Even though the enemies look carrying gun, they don't fire any projectile ever. The main problem comes from getting off the ladder while enemies come after you. Grabbing the ladder from standing still in platform is no problem by simply pressing up or down near the ladder. But thing doesn't go smoothly when doing the otherwise. It's very finicky to let go the ladder which makes you open to enemy's deadly touch.   

Simple game but with some serious problem in mobility. If the developer utilize other button to deliberately let go the ladder or to jump. The game will be better.

My rating score: 4.5 / 10                                                                                                               

51. 1st Game

 

I hope you don't get your hope too high for the final game, because it's just Goddamn Pong! There's no horizontal movement to spice thing up. Lame! Engineer_jeers01.wav    

What else can i say about this game? It's just freaking Pong! Go play Super Ping Pong for definitely better Pong game in Sega Genesis!  

My rating score: 1 / 10  

 

Finally i wrap all of the Action 52 games on Sega Genesis. Plus rate them one by one. I feel like this last part is filled with boring action game. At least there's no dull minesweeper or sliding puzzle. That's quite something. I think.

Onslaught (Genesis)

In late 80 to early 90s, there's number of games with barbarian protagonist which inspired by Conan the Barbarian. I reckon Nextgrand's Onslaught (1991) on Sega Genesis/Megadrive is one of them.

That's awesome title screen. Although there's misinformation here compare to gameplay: 1) No one wield axe 2) Those giants with intimidating helmet are nowhere to be seen 3) Assuming that female is 2nd player, this game only for 1 player 4) Also no playable female character. There's DOS version of this game but i persist on playing the Sega Genesis version because DOS version has less bright color tone (probably because it's released in 1989) and Genesis version obviously has easier control scheme (on 3-button controller) than random buttons on keyboard.

 

As per usual i check the option menu. Good news! There's control scheme this time unlike the terrible sport game Riot. But what's this "mode"? Ok. I have the manual at my disposal. Moreover it's for Sega Genesis Version, for real. Unlike when i reviewed Riot, i have to resort to manual for different version than i played. Let me see. Mode is about item management method, there's 3 mode: 1) Tutor, is automatic on both picking items and item selection 2) Assist, picking items is automatic but item selection is manual. 3) Human, is manual on picking items and item selection. First time, i use the "tutor" mode and it feels broken. So i decide to use "assist" mode this time. I let difficulty at "amateur" because i don't think i can take on "professional" difficulty.   

 

Once i hit "begin game", it leads me to this strategic map immediately. There's no backstory here unless you read the manual. Gargorian rules the land with dictatorship. A kingdom under that reign is Kingdom of Strakmar which is ruled by Donkar. After 20 years of cruel dictatorship of Gargorian, Donkar decides to carry a (vague conspiracy) plan to liberate his peace-loving people but he fails to do so. Thus he's imprisoned to death. Balthusar, Donkar's only son along with several loyal warriors revolting against Gargorian reign. Not only for the sake of avenge Balthosar's father but also to liberate not only Strakmar Kingdom but also entire land, from Gargorian. We assume the role of one of Balthusar's warrior  who wear nothing but leather short, how ensuring [medium sarcasm]. You can see the player's status on the left of map. You are given randomly generated name. In this case, i assume someone named Grimuz and his status is "scum". Thank you, game! [Strakmar Kingdom-sized sarcasm]

In this map screen, i can move the cursor with D-pad and selecting area to attack with "start" button. Brown squares are enemy's territory. The red area is our territory. You're given 1 area which is your homeland. For now i can only have access to 2 brown areas or that shiny circle area. Shiny circles are magic temple which i will explain later on. From now, i choose this Gobrot's territory to attack.

 

There's Grimuz, chilling near the ladder safely. Luckily, enemies won't turn around. They are either keep moving to one direction or standing still while manning the artillery. The control is simple: left or right on D-pad to move. Up on D-pad to either jump or ascend a ladder. Down on D-pad to either crouch or descend a ladder. "A" button to scroll item selection to left. "C" button to scroll item selection to right.  "B" button to use selected item which mostly weapon to deal with these enemies.

 

Turns out i can move around the siege safely from ground level. Take this mace from behind, my dear enemy! Clonk! Hey! Come back here so i can kill you for real! Unfortunately, their artillery counts as separated unit from its operator. So if the artillery destroyed, the operator will bail safely and you have to chase after him if you (really) want to kill him. This spiked mace is pretty shabby weapon. It requires significant time to swing, with short melee range, and deal the least damage. But you can hit enemies in the back or front during swinging animation. If you happen to exhaust the mace (which requires 8 times usage), it will spawn in your inventory after some time.

 

Then i found small crossbow. I never thought to see a barbarian character using smarter weapon like crossbow but here we are. Killed enemies will drop item but it won't last for long. Naturally, these melee chumps are easy target for this crossbow weapon. On the other hand that cannon that partially shown on right side of the screen, is not easy target for the crossbow because it attacks me from distance and there's bit loading time when i shoot my crossbow. Luckily cannonball can be easily avoided by jumping over it.

 

This naptha bomb is perfect to deal with artillery nest. Because it emit explosion that last quite long, it can destroy both artillery and the one who man it. The bomb also perfect for clearing mine as Jurassic Lost World taught me long time ago. Why yes! There's mine that explodes if you step on it in this game. See the one behind soldier who's in front of me. Yes. That blinking yellow sphere. That's the one. It can only detonated with either naptha bomb or your feet. If you happen to out of weapon, you can step on the landmine and the explosion can kill enemies near you at the cost of your health. Pretty lots of it, in fact.    

 

Suddenly, Grimuz kneel and weep. What happens? Maybe he can't take the horror of battlefield that filled with dead bodies anymore? But i think the dead bodies is neat decoration. Let me read the manual. I see! Do you see the flag meter on both left and right inventory box? If it's filled to the top, my battle flag is captured and enemies win by occupying the battlefield. If you let enemies run to offscreen, the bar will be filled. So ignoring enemies, is not good idea.   

 

Because of that loss, i'm forced to defensive side which is not different in function than in battlefield except with different layout. This time, my health is depleted. Game Over. The health bar is on the most right of the HUD. It's red scroll and it will drain as you take damage. The blue scroll on the most left of the HUD is energy meter. If either health/life or energy meter depleted to zero, the warrior is dead and it's game over. Although i have no idea what's energy meter for or how it depleted. Not yet.

 

I retry the game but this time i use control mode Tutor. As you can see, it's broken. I can just spam "B" button mindlessly and i win. I won the battlefield and now i'm into offensive stance where i storm enemy's castle, alone like always. But when i have these demons at my side, who need companion of low soldier, right? You can see that i swing mace on thin air lots of time. That's because i try to get rid of the mace so i can pick more demonic summon weapon. There's no command to discard weapon, you see. Ok. Let's retry with control mode Assist again, next.

 

This time , i'm playing as Naffskum. You can see enemys status in area that you want to attack, on the right of the map. The most important status is: warband  which gives you the idea what army composition on the battlefield. For example: Mercenary consists of knight, spearmen and ballista. Ballistic consists of soldier, ballista, and cannon. Hillman consists of soldier, ballista, and spearmen.

 

WHAT THE FREAK IS THAT THING? According to manual, it's called tower. I wonder how it's able move back and forth? Maybe it's powered with pedaling from chaps on bottom level. This is mounted unit. It carries certain on-foot units and it's able to give you damage contact if it runs over you. Like artillery, destroyed mounted unit will spawn related units that was within it. In tower's case, 3 spearmen will be spawned when it's destroyed. You can dodge spear by crouching but you will get run over by the tower itself.

 

My general tips should you play this game is: obtain black scroll at all cost, besides red scroll that replenish your health by 25%. When you activate the black scroll, your inventory will be filled entirely with either green scroll or yellow scroll and remove any items that you kept before. Green scroll is Death Spell and it acts as screen-clearing bomb. Naturally, it's great to clear all enemies on screen regardless how big their health is. But keep in mind that artillery and mounted unit protect their occupant from 1 instance of death spell. Yellow scroll will summon red demon that will burst into 8-way fireballs. It can destroy both artillery or mounted unit along with their occupant. But the demon spawns at the spot where you activate so you have to be near the enemies in order to make it more efficient.

 

These knights also wield mace like me and net more score than defeating the soldiers. I think they're also more durable than the soldiers. I have my hand on this large crossbow that deal bigger damage than its small counterpart and they're practically sitting duck for my crossbow here. However, the large crossbow requires longer loading time than the small crossbow. So you have to keep your distance from the enemies even more should you want to use this large crossbow.

 

There's enemy's banner on the right corner of the battlefield then i took it. After defeating some enemies, i declare victory over this battlefield. Cm_demo_gamewon_rare_04.mp3

 

Winning once isn't enough to conquer a land. You have to win at least 2 battles. If you won in battlefield, you take assume offensive role and storm enemy's castle. As per usual, enemy's flag can be found on right corner. That stick with shiny symbol. Yes, that's the one. You take it by simply walking over it. Once you do that, flag meter won't rise with enemies run out of screen. They are treated as fleeing instead of occupying the battlefield so you can take breathe easier. Eliminate few enemies after that and you will be victorious. I think it's pretty neat touch that my banner and enemy's banner are related to the symbol of cult where we belong.       

 

But wait! You have to defeat enemy's leader before you can truly claim this land as yours. So what's this enemy commander look like. A giant human with large melee weapon that can breathe fires from his mouth, given the setting of barbarian. I hope you have high expectation similar to that because...

 

...he looks like medieval robocop cosplayer with 4 arms. It's really bizarre. Fighting enemy leader always in this mode called "Mind Duel". According to manual: every enemy leader's arms consist of 7 links (or to be more accurate orbs). They represents his health. Each arm's link is destroyed when the enemy leader get 3-4 hit of your projectiles. So you need to hit him 21-28 times! You're controlling the disembodied hand on the screen's border. Left on D-pad to move the hand clockwise. Right on D-pad to move the hand counterclockwise. "B" button to fire the projectile called "Mind Blast". My winning strategy is easy and simple: hold left on D-Pad and mash that "B" button as many as you finger can muster. Think that every "B" button press will send your nemesis some excruciating ache that will make them scream in agony and probably send them to nearby asylum.

Now i know what energy meter is all about! EVerytime i get hit in this "Mind Duel" phase, the blue meter is drained instead of the red ones. To summarize it: Red meter is health bar in battle mode. Blue meter is health bar in "Mind Duel" mode.

 

If you stay in the map screen for too long, this message appears. Maybe there's change but i can't see it yet. Medic_sf12_badmagic08.wav

On to next battle...

 

Naptha bombs only detonated on ground impact. So any enemy comes in contact with the bomb while in mid air, is safe from harm! It's better to engage moving enemies with crossbow instead using the bomb. However in this rare case where the tower can't run me over because it's on different platform, i can use the bomb efficiently. Another use of the bomb is to kill enemy that spawn at the edge of screen. This method is less efficient with faster enemies but it's better use than nothing.

 

Spearmen constantly lob spear at you. Naturally, he can outrange you if you wield mace. But they keep jauntily walking at you so their range advantage is diminished by their own clumsiness. You can crouch to dodge their spear plus you can swing your mace while crouching. So let them do what they want until they approach and you can give them painful bludgeon on their hip. But you can't shoot your any crossbow while crouching, though. Keep that in mind.  

 

Obviously, the conventional weapon pale in comparison with demon magic. You can activate them whenever you want. While jumping, standing still, crouching, or walking. Plus the demons can kill anything or anyone within single hit.

 So i wonder what's the good thing about the conventional weapons compare to these demon magic. I don't think they drop more frequently than the demon magic (e.g. white demon magic, blue demon magic, and the yellow scroll). The item drop is evenly distributed, in my experience. According to the manual, the demon magic last for 4 uses (while the yellow scroll only for 1 use). So there's that. Also you can't collect item of the same type more than 1. Unless you use the black scroll which remove every slot in your inventory with either green scroll or yellow scroll.

The blue demons will move around you and homing on available enemies. The white demons have the same behavior with blue ones but they last shorter and move slower yet shorter. But once they expire, they will turn into red demon that will burst into 8-way fireballs.  Heavy_sf13_influx_big04.wav

 

This time the enemy leader is chieftain. He is not different than enemy commander except for the head part. Sorry, pal. Your glorious long moustache can't save you from my mind blasts.

 

I have conquered 3 areas but my status is still "scum". It's pretty hard to make the game acknowledges me. So as i've said before that the shiny circle on the map is magic temple. Blue circle is water temple. Light green circle is swamp temple. Darker green circle is forest temple. Brown circle is mountain temple. For now, i can only go to water temple. I mean i can go to that swamp temple on the south from the cursor. But i need to liberate 3 more areas to get there.

 

Entering magic temple will take you Mind Duel against the guardian temple immediately. Like usual, i hold down the left button while mashing the "B" button. I take damage from him in minimum way. Nuff said. Do you see that horrifying face on the top of the screen? That's harmless item container. Usually, it drops blue scroll that instantly refill your energy bar when picked up.

 

So what's the benefit of winning the mind duel? During mind duel, the item container entity drop talisman besides energy scroll. Usually you will get water talisman from water temple, swamp talisman from swamp temple, and so on. These kind of talisman allow you to travel through related area. Thus water talisman allow my cursor to go through water areas. Then i check this swamp temple.   

 

I record this mind duel into animated gif so you get the idea how i deal with each and every of mind duel. Yes, i'm doing it lazily. But it works well so there's nothing to fix there. -_-

But then...

 

I lost my water and swamp amulet on the battlefield! They're removed due to black scroll's effect. I get softlocked! Amulets shouldn't be in inventory that i carry in battlefield! There's use of amulets in battle phase. They will erase all enemy's projectiles on the screen. That's barely useful! Obviously, it's not worth to sacrifice the ability to walk rough terrain for projectile-clearing magic. So i can't return to my starting area. Let's hope there's no rebellion on areas around it. I have no choice but to travel to that mountain passage. Luckily i can get to that mountain temple without the need of any amulet and get mountain amulet later.

By the way, my status change to beggar! What kind of beggar that single-handedly conquer 5 area from horde of vicious warband? Go figure! 

 

In this battle, we're introduced with cavalry. Naturally, knights must know a thing or two about equestrian. At first, i was overwhelmed by these cavalries. But i find the anti-cavalry solution. With 1 hit of magic mace, the horse goes down. You may think mace isn't exactly anti-cavalry weapon unlike spear or pike which is the tried and true weapon against cavalry due to their length. But then i remembered infantry unit in Age of Mythology called "Katapeltes" which is infantry armed with mace and excel against cavalry.  Anyway, magic mace is effective against these charging horsemen. Note that i say "magic mace" which deal double damage than regular mace. Maybe you can use the regular mace against them but you have to take some damage in process. The magic mace icon has blue background. While the regular mace icon has red background.

Heya! What are you cooking, doc? Do you know about method to fend off soldiers attacking castle by pouring them boiling water or oil from battlement? That's what this guy do. Obviously, it doesn't work well here because i'm on the same level as him! Ballista and cannon work better against me than this guy who keep stirring and pouring hot tomato soup below. He's both worst chef and artillery at the same time. Congratulation, dummy!    

 

Yes. Yes. Keep what you're doing, dolt! Ignore the scream of your comrades or white demons near you. The only way for him do better is if you keep walking on lowest ground level so don't do that. Seeking higher ground often good idea.

 

They're disciplined. So disciplined that they following order to fire their cannon to the left and they can't be bothered to look back where i throw a bomb at them. Lo. I'm stealth bomber!

Sometime bag of gold dropped from above. Once i pick it, it will fill one of slot in my inventory and you can see it on the most right of my inventory right now. When activated it will raise my glory. The baffling thing is only for score points! So the money bag's purpose is nothing but to fill the empty slot in your inventory unnecessarily!

 

I don't need any siege machine to storm castle successfully. Why would i need catapult or trebuchet when i have deadly demons at my disposal, huh? Also they are kindly open the drawbridge for me. They have good sportsmanship, i tell you. 

 

In this battlefield, i encounter these monks which are the suicide bomber in this game. I like to fight them because they're slow and fragile. If i manage to shoot them down, they create explosion that kill other enemies. Demoman_specialcompleted12.wav

 

Then there's clones of my warrior but with longer trouser berserkers. They swing their mace in one direction while standing or crouching alternatively. Obviously, they're weak to any of ranged weapon. If only they have mind to walk up to me and smash my torso with their mace.  

The enemy leader is lord. I think he's the best looking enemy leader in this game but he's still weak to my cheesy strategy. That's all i can say.

 

Finally, i arrive at  mountain temple. The background looks like coffee beans to me. What do you think?

If you happen to lose in mind duel, you don't get game over. You are just kicked out of magic temple with condition the same as before entering the magic temple. The game is generous sometime.  

 

Now i encounter Amazons. They're not as special as other infantry. Except maybe they swing sword faster. So i advise you to deal them from distance.

 

The enemy leader is demon which is similar to temple guardian. The game has exhausted everything on me and i feel exhausted myself with these all same battle and mind duel.

 

There's still long way to go to starting point. But at least there's nothing bad happens there. Hey my status goes up to Merchant now! My plan was stop the playthrough when i defeat at least 1 boss. But apparently those mind duels are the only boss fight that we can have here. Pretty disappointing, i must say. There's lore about each of cult's leader. For example: Nuada the God of Silver Hand and the leader of Hand Cult, is Celtic God of war has appearance of a man with an artificial hand. It's said that he is invulnerable to any magic. Or Brobek, The Sun God and the leader Brobek cult, is weather deity and controls all of Gargore's weather. He can cause unlimited damage if angered. Hey! I just realize my warrior Naskum, is from Brobek Cult! Or Shesh, The Dark God and leader of Shesh Cult, has appearance of normal human but he's powerful wizard and possess the ability to strike opponents down with two death spell projected from his eyes. Look at those epic lore! I thought i have to defeat each and every of those cult's leader/deity but no. Maybe there's plan for that kind of boss fight but scrapped and we are left with these rather monotonous battles and very identical mind duels.

Oh, look. There's skull icons on those land beyond the mountain range! Skull icons on map means there's undead plague. Let's check that undead plague then i can quit.

 

These wizard behave exactly like spearmen only they throw lightning bolt from their wand instead of throwing spear. Oh look! Some of them ride a magic carpet. I will show them a whole new world...netherworld!

 

Finally, i can reach the plagued land. I was afraid getting softlocked for second time because i lost my mountain amulet. But this time, i can go back to mountain temple easily through my lands anytime. Plague spreads to adjacent lands everytime that "time has passed" message appears. Let's what other unique symbol on the map this time. There's eye symbol near bottom right corner, which is oracle that tells me hints. It will be much better if the oracle is near my starting point because this game barely tell you any hint from starter! There's also red cross symbol on far south of my starting point which means crusade. Enemies in land with crusade symbol deals double damage. As if the game isn't already difficult for me. -_-#

 

There's skeleton soldier armed with pitchfork trident. Unlike other enemies that fall down a la Super Mario when defeated, skeletons explode into bones. Other than that the skeleton behaves identical to other walking melee infantry. But somehow you get 15 score point defeating them while other melee infantry  gives you 10 score points when defeated.

 

There's also skeleton monk that instead exploding themselves like their mortal counterpart, they spread around skull that later become skeleton soldier. Medic_sf12_badmagic07.wav

 

Of course, there's undead cavalry. No need to raise that flag, you undead smug. We know that i'm fighing against undead, hinted by you, your comrades, and your horse. Now, i really have a bone to pick with all of you!    

 

After defeating non-undead Lord *lame!* that leads the undead army in mind duel, i have cleansed this 1 land from undead plague. My status become sergeant. I think i'm good for now!

Nextgrand's Onslaught (1991) is refreshing take on video game with barbarian protagonist. Usually barbarians depicted as mindless brute with skimpy cloth and well built muscles and usually armed with melee weapon only. However this one able to use crossbow, bomb, and even array of magic. He even up for magic duel! Sadly the gameplay core need thorough overhaul to make it even more enjoyable. My advice is: button for weapon select only 1 button, 2nd button to use melee/main weapon, and 3rd button to use selected sub-weapon. Glory in this game is just score point! In around early 90s, score is everything in video games. But for today, it's next to useless. If glory is currency to buy upgrade or item, the game will be so much better. Instead fighting temple guardian, you will engage trading if you enter the magic temple where you can buy related amulet, sub-weapon or upgrade for your barbarian with said glory. Or maybe recruit computer-controlled partner that will help you in battle akin to Magic Sword. The only way to heal yourself is to rely on blue and red scroll that refill your energy and life respectively. Each scroll refill roughly 25% energy or life. But you have to make space in your inventory in order to pick up and use it. In heated battle it's pretty hard to manage your inventory especially if you want to make room for the red scroll that's very essential in battlefield. To make thing worse white scroll has quite identical color as blue scroll. While yellow scroll is quite identical to red scroll. Yellow scroll is pretty fine though because it can summon powerful red demon when activated but white scroll is pretty useless because it only cause enemies on the screen stand on the spot. Clearly artillery which already immobile unit, don't feel harmed with the immobilize magic. If only there's health/energy refill item that instantly heal you when picked up regardless of space in your inventory, the game will be better. Also amulets should be in separated pool from battle item inventory. Speaking of amulet, there's more than just for passing rough terrain. There's one that instantly conquer a land, remove undead plague, or remove crusade. There's no need for 3 phase of battle because the game becomes really tedious to play. There's should be only 1 battle and after that mind duel. Simple! Also add the boss battle i mentioned that consist of same phase: battle and mind duel.

Your barbarian only have 1 life (which can be considered realistic). But you can restart where you left off by soft resetting the game while in game over screen. But due to emulation error, the game crashes instead. The game isn't meant to be finished within 1 sitting. You can have password if you soft reset the game while in map screen (maybe). But -again- the game crashes if i reset the game via emulation. So if you play this game in emulation, might as well as use savestate instead. Perhaps the DOS version has appropriate save/load feature. The music has rather slow and mild pace but it's pretty memorable.

Onslaught (1991) is rough game and it takes forever to finish. But i respect the creativity of the gameplay. Set aside the inventory management problem, the battle is enjoyable and pretty good. The hit detection is appropriate. The jump is bit floaty and slow but it's not big problem. There's not much variety on battle except from enemy set variety. My suggestion is you play it for 5-8 lands. There's not much variety beyond that. I wish the game will get remake with redesign from my idea. -_-