Those who follow the releases of Hamster’s Arcade Archives on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 know that the developer clearly appreciates the shooter genre. Of course, this is partly due to the age of the games that Hamster usually works with, but in general there are about a hundred shooters. Arcade Arcade line up for now. However, only a fraction of them are NEOGEO games, so we probably shouldn’t expect most of these games to come to iOS. We are limited to the NEOGEO line and we are rapidly approaching the very bottom of this barrel. We have reached Ghost Pilots ($3.99) queue, pers.

Ghost Pilots appeared on NEOGEO during the first year of the system, when SNK was still trying to find its place in the hardware. The inspiration came shortly after its launch in January 1991. street fighter 2 struck in February 1991 with all the force of an angry bull, starting a fighting game phenomenon that NEOGEO was able to capitalize on. In those early days, one of SNK’s secret weapons was talent poached from one of its main competitors. Takashi Nishiyama is a person who doesn’t need to be introduced, but let’s go ahead and introduce him.

Nishiyama is perhaps one of the most important figures in the history of arcade games. He started his career at Irem and wrote two of his biggest hits: Lunar Patrol another kung fu master. He then moved to Capcom, where he worked on games such as Section Z, Trojan, Legendary WingsAnd Street Fighter. Yes, the first one. Sure, it wasn’t a patch for a sequel, but we wouldn’t have this game if the original hadn’t laid the groundwork. After he left Capcom, he was approached by SNK and started two projects for the new NEOGEO system, each representing one of his genre features from his previous work, with one of the two proving to be critical and influential. , the cult game for SNK. V another What Ghost Pilots.

Ghost Pilots is a vertical scrolling shooter for one or two players, although if you don’t have a pair of external controllers, you’ll probably be flying this mission alone. The action takes place during the Second World War, and you confront a huge part of the Nazi troops. What is your favorite weapon? Incredibly slow floatplane equipped with a standard machine gun and a limited number of bombs of one of several types. The cannon can be upgraded by picking up bonuses, and along the way, you can pick up additional bombs. Basically, this is an attempt to make a Toaplan-style shooter in a setting similar to that of Capcom. 19XX row. With Nishiyama’s experience and NEOGEO’s power, this should have been a lucky throw.

Well, even the best miss from time to time. Ghost Pilots extremely dull. It’s sluggish. The power-ups are so vanilla that they feel like they’re taken from an early 1980s shooter. There aren’t enough enemy types to mix it all up properly, and it only takes a couple of stages before you’ll probably get tired of the colorful planes flying at you. The graphics are good but hardly impressive for the era, only the bosses really showcase something interesting in terms of design. After the first stage, you can choose between two routes, which is perhaps the most interesting. Ghost Pilots does. None of them, unfortunately, are very exciting. It feels like the game came out half a century later than before.

We have the usual add-ons from Hamster that do their best to give the game meaning. The Caravan and Score Attack modes are as much fun as you can hope for in this game, and trying to make your way up the leaderboard gives the game the chance it needs. You have access to a lot of options for the game itself, and if you have an external controller, you can use it to play instead of a fully functional touch control. As mentioned earlier, the game supports two players at the same time, but you will need an additional external controller for the second player. As usual, there is no online multiplayer support.

Despite the additional modes and quality feed from Hamster, it’s hard for me to recommend anything. Ghost Pilots with any energy at all. Of course, it plays normally. You can spend a few minutes with it if you need to. There is certainly some decent content here for a shooter of its era. But it’s just not very pleasant. Your aircraft is too slow and your firepower too simple, making the core gameplay feel boring. It’s all very repetitive thanks to the limited set of enemies and the boring stage design. Is it worth a few bucks? I mean… May be? It’s not trash or anything like that. But you can certainly find nicer shooters for the same price, so I wouldn’t bother with that unless you’re craving that kind of game.

Dan, Grubb and Ian start their own wrestling show, fight for the title and learn not to give up on John’s Big Match.

Sit back and enjoy the Giant Bomb team unedited reviewing the latest video games.

March 20, 2023

Cast: Jeff Grubb, Dan, Ian

Posted By: Jan

Chia introduces players as the main character, exploring fictional islands inspired by the real-life island group of New Caledonia, offering hours and hours of laid-back exploration and creative game mechanics. While there are many things to do, you don’t have to do it all, so your time in the world of Chia will vary greatly depending on how much time you spend. want invest. If you’re wondering what to expect before diving in, we’ll give you an idea of ​​how much time you’ll spend with Chia.

How long is Chia?

An average passage of Tchia should take about 10-12 hours, which includes watching the main story and searching for additional items. However, the conclusion of the main adventure ignores much of what makes Tchia such an intriguing experience, as this open-world game is largely about exploring and finding various collectibles and challenges.