1942

Wilco! Roger! Chocks away! Flaps at forty degrees! And so on... Hollywood would have us believe that wars involving the American military are easily-won affairs, featuring lots of soldiers who look like extras from Dawson's Creek, and hordes of computer-generated enemies that were added in afterwards. Of course, war isn't that easy at all. In fact, wars are horrible things. Thankfully, Capcom has taken the brutality, violence and needless death of Second World War dogfights, and turned them into a cracking shoot-'em-up for the Game Boy Color! Hurrah!

Bogey

In this port of the prehistoric arcade original from Capcom, you (or you and a friend in two-player mode) must fly your fighter plane deep behind enemy lines, destroying wave after wave of the opposition's aircraft and trying very hard not to think: 'This is just Centipede with improved graphics!' You'll be staggered to learn that there are – gasp! – power-ups to collect, and – cor blimey! – big bosses to defeat. Don't despair though, because 1942 has the important GBC ingredient – that being gameplay – in spades. Right from the off, you're plunged into a top-down, vertically-scrolling dogfight straight out of the old war movies. At times the sheer volume of enemy aircraft on your case is quite mind-boggling, and this is where the game really excels – the action just doesn't seem to let up!

While the gameplay is addictive and exciting, 1942 falls a bit short in other areas – most notably the graphics and sound. Bearing in mind that this is the same console which gave us Alone in the Dark last issue, the visuals are a bit disappointing. Still, this is an accurate conversion of a true arcade classic, and as such, it's pretty damn fine. 1942 is a great example of how to make a simple, entertaining game without relying on graphical frills. Worth investigating if you're lacking a decent vertically-scrolling blaster. “1942 has the important GBC ingredient – that being gameplay – in spades”

Pros

• Manic wartime blasting action
• Quite a challenge, especially on the later levels

Cons

• Graphics and sound are quite dated
• Blasting can get a bit samey after a while

BOTTOM LINE

CONTROLS

• B: Barrel roll
• A: Shoot
• Select: Not used
• Start: Pause
• D-pad: Steer plane

ALTERNATIVES

• Airforce Delta: Konami (Reviewed: Issue 48, 75%)
• Thunderbirds: SCI (Reviewed: Issue 47, 90%)

RATING

• Graphics: 3 / 5
• Audio: 2 / 5
• Gameplay: 4 / 5
• Challenge: 4 / 5

Now you are Super Ace of the Second World War! Dare to complete all the 32 levels shooting all the enemy planes. Your aircraft looks like Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighting against Japanese "zeroes". You are also able to dodge by performing loops. The screen is scrolling down imitating your flight, Ayako Bomber appears in it's upper part from time to time (be sure to strike it down) and there are also a lot of power-up, such as phantom plane, two machine gun, bonus points, extra loops or kill'em-all weapon.

You'll need a lot of patience to fly from Midway to Tokyo and destroy all the Japanese fleete. Sound is pretty annoying, background changes every four levels, all your enemies look alike and, eventually, your ultimate goal is high score. However, this 1985's game from Capcom was very popular and even remains popular nowadays!

Released in 1985, this vertically scrolling shooter for one or two players, a conversion of the arcade game, was published and developed by a Japanese company, Capcom Co., Ltd.

It is World War II, the story takes place in 1942 and you take on the role of "Super Ace", a brave fighter pilot. There are 32 levels to go through and the goal is to reach Tokyo and destroy the entire Japanese air fleet. And before you reach the main city, you will travel through Midway, Marshall, Attu, Rabaul, Leyte, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Each level you start and end on an aircraft carrier. Then on your plane you fly to struggle against enemies over sea and land and shoot them all down. You get some different power ups to increase your firepower and chances of survival after destroying certain plane formations. There are such power-ups as two machine guns, two side planes, extra loops and so on.