"Gonna take pollution down to zero..."

Our world is in peril. As you read this, the polar ice caps are melting due to global warming. Somewhere out there, a forest is slowly being ripped asunder to make the paper that we take for granted. Those factories that build your vehicles, computers, video game consoles, and every piece of machinery you own are emitting noxious fumes into the atmosphere. Think of how many plastic bottles you've tossed into the trash can in the past month. Now over a hundred years after the advent of American mass production, we are only beginning to understand how our industrial-dependent society has affected the environment. If we don't change something soon, the Earth will be inhospitable for human life…

Okay, you know what? Forget all that. Chances are, you probably don't give a damn about environmentalism. But in the realm of Eco Fighters, the environment is of the utmost importance. Some evil corporation has gone out of its way to design the most wasteful, toxic, and downright yucky machines to loot and plunder nature's bounty. They've left a path of destruction that has turned a rainforest into a barren wasteland, blackened the sky with a thick layer of smog, and even covered a coral reef in sludge. Needless to say, these guys need their asses kicked. Enter the Eco Fighters, an elite band of Greenpeace extremists/wannabe environmental saviors. Mounting their trusty Flying Machines of Death, they venture forth in a daring attempt to wipe out pollution.

That's right, these guys don't bother with protesting or political lobbying; they go right for the source of their problems. In this quest for nature's salvation, you'll be recruited by a leery old man named Dr. Moly and sent to various levels to blast your way through whatever pollution hurled your way. As you traverse the desolate wastelands of the corrupted Earth, you'll be piloting a fighter planed armed with a series of upgradeable weapons, including laser cannons, missiles, flamethrowers that can somehow work underwater, and even a gigantic wrecking ball that defies the laws of physics. These supposedly environmentally friendly weapons of mass destruction can be further upgraded by picking up power-ups dropped by Dr. Moly's robot sentries or snagging the floating crystals dropped by defeated enemies. Armed with such a devastating array of weapons, you'll take to the skies and obliterate every flying beast, maverick tractor, and CO2-spewing flying fortress that gets in your way.

That's assuming, of course, that you don't get yourself shot to hell in the first thirty seconds of the game. Though Eco Fighters is a sidescrolling shooter game, not all of its enemies come at you in organized waves from the opposite end of the screen. Instead, you'll be rushed from all sides, be it from the rows of mutant birds on your left, flank, the tanks slinging fireballs at you from the ground, or the Star Wars-esque fighter plane gliding in your flight path. In order to save yourself from the onslaught, your vehicle has been equipped with a rotating arm that can be used to aim your weapon. See that flock of monstrosities coming behind you? Use the joystick to swivel the weapon arm around, mash the attack button, and watch as your enemies are blown into flaming bits. The trick is keeping pace with the game's enemies and making the necessary corrections to your weapon's aim. Blast your way through a few levels of polluted wasteland, and you'll have saved the Earth from getting too filthy.

Though the game is short and mildly sweet at best, its presentation features more than enough detail to keep you playing through the end. The game goes out of its way to glorify nature in its most beautiful splendor, and then drastically alters the backgrounds to show off pollution's effects. The adventure begins with you flying into a mountainous area filled with lush forests as far as the eye can see…at least, until you scroll over for a few seconds. The endless rows of green foliage abruptly end with a bleak expanse of tree stumps and drab color pallets. The vivid array of neon-colored coral, schools of fish, and gleaming ocean waters give way to a dark oil slick, giant enemy crabs, and mechanical turtles. Factor in some poorly translated dialogue and some annoying off-screen Japanese chatter, and you've got a game that's both fun and gorgeous for its time.

Eco Fighters was originally designed not by a professional at Capcom, but the winner of a contest in Japan. For a concept thought up by some random gamer, this arcade shooter works remarkably well. The plot may be a little cheesy and campy compared to other games of the genre, but everything else about the game is solid. It breaks from the usual gameplay formula found in most shooters, forcing you to adapt to a situation where you're being attack from literally all sides. The rotating weapon aiming and superb hit detection make the game easy to learn, though difficult to master. Though ultimately too short for its own good, the game's highly detailed portrayal of the struggle of nature against pollution make the experience all the more worthwhile. Who knew that ecology could be so fun?

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/06