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It’s not like the game tells you what’s going on, you know? There’s no cinematic
intro explaining why you’re on this...motorcycle spaceship thing. All you know is that you’re
going from meadows to deserts to this freaking Circuit Board Land, and unless you shoot the
other flying...things...they’re going to shoot you.
That’s all we know. That’s all we need to know.
And so imagine my surprise when I learned that...no, the game does have a story. In
fact, you’re playing as some hot young coed. And that spaceship thing? It’s actually
a hovercraft. A long, cylindrical hovercraft...with two thrusters. I’m sure that its design
has nothing to do with the fact that, uh...she’s not wearing pants.
Hopefully, there’s a saddle. She should really be using protection.
But the most surprising thing about Burning Force isn’t the deftness with which your
coed rides her rocket. It’s the fact that...the whole freaking thing is a lie. All the worlds
and robots and lasers...it’s all some kind of test she has to pass in order to graduate.
There’s no crazy future war here. And finding that out before you play?
It’s like an M. Night Shyamalan movie in reverse.
So you’re only doing this to graduate...and since it’s 1990, you can’t even see your
coed’s cleavage. Not a great start for Burning Force, but surprisingly, the game does make
up ground in other areas. The game is pretty much Space Harrier: The Tribute Album, as
its heavily inspired by SEGA’s groundbreaking shooter. It’s also nowhere near as good,
but it is a decent game in its own right.
So her little test is six days long. That’s just another way of saying the game has six
worlds, each of which is divided into three levels. Some of them have you driving the
hovercraft, others pull a Redbull and give you wings. But across them all, the game is
always on-rails. So you steer, shoot what you can and avoid what you can’t.
The game plays well enough, and since it only uses three buttons, the controls are pretty
simple, as well. But I couldn’t help but feel there’s just not much here. There’s
only a few different weapons to collect, which makes the game feel limited, and the enemy
placement can sometimes be a bit erratic and messy.
So it’s far from a great game, but as an early Genesis release, I guess some of its
problems are kind of understandable. So if you’re really into Space Harrier or even
rail shooters in general, it’s at least worth a try. Thanks to our pal Benjamin from
New York for sending us Burning Force for the SEGA Genesis.