"One of the best, and least known, shooters ever made."

Strike Force is one of my all time favorite arcade games, but few people seem to have ever even heard of it. In fact, at the time I wrote this review, GameFAQs didn’t even have an entry for the game at all. So what is Strike Force?

Think of it as the successor to the arcade classics Defender and Stargate. It was made by Midway in 1991. Unfortunately this was during the Street Fighter II craze and few people were interested in playing a Defender style shooting game. Relatively few arcades even had the game, and soon it disappeared into obscurity. This is a real shame, as this is one of Midway’s best games, and is easily one of the best shooting games ever made. See, Americans can make good shooters. I’ll take this over the slew of copy-cat Raiden and Gradius style games made in Japan any day.

The Plot:

The Saurians, a lizard like race, have invaded the local star system. It’s up to the Strike Force to drive them off each planet, rescue the helpless colonists and ultimately destroy their mothership, the Apocalypse.

The Gameplay:

You control the fighter/dropship. You can attack targets directly, or deploy marines along the surface to help. There’s a ton of different weapons to collect, such as homing missiles, bombs, shields, napalm and many others. You can stockpile them and switch between them at will. This gives you far more options in combat and more room for strategy than your typical shooter. You’re also given free reign over the star system, so you can attack the planets in any order you want, and attack the Apocalypse whenever you want. However since there are no powerups inside the Apocalypse, you’d be well advised to clear most of the planets first to build up an arsenal. The ability to choose your planets adds another means for strategy, since different planets have different powerups and different enemies.

The Graphics:

Wow. This has got to be one of the most impressive looking 2D games ever. Compared to other games of its time it was truly awe inspiring. It’s bright and colorful, very well animated, and everything just looks like a lot of effort was put into it. If there’s one word to describe this game’s graphics, it’s “outrageous”. Anyone who’s played other Midway action games, like NARC, Smash TV and Total Carnage, know that they really have a flair for wanton destruction. Well this game beats them all. Big explosions, lots of debris and body parts flying all over place and intense weapons fire, both yours and theirs. It’s a shame so few people got to see this game in action.

The Sound:

The music was good for an arcade game, but nothing really memorable. Midway’s never been real good with music. They are good at sound effects though, and this game is no different. Again, if you’ve played other Midway action games you know what to expect. The explosions sound appropriate, and the voices are pretty good, at least for the time.

The Good:

This game is hands down one of the best shooters ever. It’s nice to play a shooter that involves more than just holding down the fire button and weaving between bullets. This game requires more than just reflexes, it requires actual strategy and skill to play well. You have many weapons to choose from, and staying alive is largely a matter of using them effectively. You have a lot of freedom to do things how you want, instead of the usual straightforward sequence of levels and powerups found in most shooters. The graphics are extremely impressive and the sound is quite good too.

The Bad:

No matter how much I like a game, I always mention bad points too. The biggest problem is that it can be very hard to stay alive. Although you have a radar, like in Defender, it’s hard to watch it while dodging bullets. Often something will quickly fly in from off screen and kill you before you can react. Another problem is the amount of stuff flying around on the screen. It looks really impressive, but sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between harmless debris, and dangerous enemy fire. Some people may find the game overly difficult and frustrating because of these problems. However, if you play it enough you’ll get the hang of it.

Finally:

If you like shooters, PLAY THIS GAME!. This game deserved so much more success than it got. While other companies were churning out dime-a-dozen type shooters, Midway made a quality game that requires actual skill to play. If you can, please give it a try.

One other thing. Normally I wouldn’t say this, but in this case I’ll make an exception. The arcade version of this game is nearly impossible to find, and no home version was ever made. The only conceivable way most people will ever see this game is with an emulator. Fortunately MAME does run this game. If you know what MAME is, please give this game the try it deserves.

I give it a 9.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/01, Updated 02/09/01