"Beautiful..."

1941 is a third sequel to Capcom's 1942 franchise. As a veteran of 1942 and 1943(I demolished this game with a partner), This is a pleasant game indeed! In 1942 and 1943, you get to take on the overwhelming Japanese Imperial Navy all by yourself(or with partners). This time, you(or with your partner) get to take on mighty(and I DO MEAN MIGHTY)Nazi Germany!! I played this game when I was about 13 years old, now I have this game on MAME. You start your dog fight on the sky of the Atlantic ocean, end up having an INTENSE showdown within deep in the heart of the Germany! Oh, before I go to detail about this game's review, during WW2, pres. FDR's primary concern was to defeat Germany first. Play this game and you will understand why.

Graphics: Very fine, flawlessly drawn to say the least. your ship is very good-looking, enemies are drawn nicely detailed; especially bosses and bigger-sized planes. smaller fighters' images are just... Average-looking, but they are certainly not bad. Every time you clear a stage, a detailed picture of an enemy boss going down in flame while you make an escape is TRULY a sight to behold. Backgrounds also are really, really good; stage 4's Paris city is bright, stage 1's Atlantic ocean with clouds and few warships, few of them is up in smoke and burning, is smooth, and Germany's rural landscape with clouds in stage 5 looks pretty; for those who love the scenery of rural area, you will love this particular landscape; you must first reach stage 5 to view this scenery, though...

Controls: I do not have any problem with controls, although I DO WISH my plane could move a bit faster when I go up or down, straight or diagonally. Moving left or right is fast enough. Still, the control is comfortable to handle. You should be able to get used to it quickly.

Items: there are few items that help boosting your firepower. #1. machine gun, #2. laser(no doubt the most powerful weapon), #3. missiles with wide range. #1 is your typical standard weapon, #2 is good against bosses, especially later ones, #3 shoots at broader range. #3 is the weakest of the three but since it covers wider area, obtaining this weapon is critical in later stages. When you reach to the last level, choosing the right weapon is VITAL for your survival!! I personally choose #3 weapon almost at all times once I reach final stage. One weapon lasts up to 60 seconds. If you fail to get a weapon second time, 60 second will wear out you will regress to shooting weak guns. Once you grab a weapon twice in a row, your weapon's durability lasts up to 99 seconds! In 1943, the durability lasts shorter than that!! The longer time is a good thing, ladies and gents... And every time you clear a stage while your weapon time is running short, the next stage, the time will be restored to 60 seconds, thank you Capcom!!
There are also two supportive items; #4. two dual side mini-planes, #5. your own ghostly images!! When you obtain #4, you have two little planes attached to your left and right flank. You know what they do... #5, Ah, ghostly images of yourself. It triples your firepower, stays with you and follows you wherever you go until you either die or switch your item to #4. Other items are also Pow and full-life giving yashichi but I assume you know what they are and what they do.

Challenge: 1941 has a really, really decent difficulty curve; 1941 does not really starts to get hard until stage 6, the final stage. I tore and ripped Nazi forces apart left and right in this game until I reached stage 6. Stage 6 is a whole different ball game, I warn you; in this stage your maneuverability skill will be pushed to the limits, and being a bit lucky won't hurt you either during this bloody battle. Oh, your plane still can take hits even after your energy is completely depleted; if you have 6 energies and took 6 hits, you are still alive!! You WILL die in 7th hit, though. THIS IS A GOOD THING!! TRUST ME!! I, most of the time, died at stage 6. Stage 6 is also very long; you get to fight with 3 sub-bosses before finally confront the final boss(imagine final stage of Metal Slug 3). But to my surprise, most people did not even make it to the final level; most died at stage 2 and 3, a very few made it to stage 5 but... I was the only one ever to made it to stage 6 in my town's arcade. I did not find this game that difficult, but for most people, it probably was.

fun factor: Blasting Nazi forces is really fun, and really tough in this game. War is heaven here!! Hordes and hordes of enemy planes fly from every direction to molest you, enemy tanks, AVs, AA guns harass you with SALVOS of bullets, twin-motored helicopters surround you, enemy bosses will strafe you with (literally)saturating amounts of bullets, flames, missiles, etc.. Bosses, they will mutilate you with their overwhelming firepower if you don't have strategies to beat them. But to me, 6 stages are short. I wish I play more stages; maybe 4 more stages??
What? A letdown? Yes. A letdown. You see, the final duel with the last boss is really unfair one. Final boss is hidden in the form of 3rd sub-boss. This sub-boss shoots annoying homing missiles that are almost impossible to dodge, so I must shoot those missiles down, but it shoots at any place, anywhere, and without warning; and this sub-boss, constantly moving around, has a 4-way cannon on the tail, laser-shooting wings on each sides, machine gun on front. I have to watch for those, too. But the homing missile was always the weapon that RAPED me. By the time I kill this sub-boss, I am left with... One or No energy to fight the REAL boss. No full-life yashichi is offered to me... It is UNFAIR!!! This contributed the factor I rarely beat this game. I beat this game only twice on a credit; once by myself and second time with partner. How I did it I just don't know....

Sound: Different music for each stages; different music for each bosses; I LIKE THAT!!!! Companies do not make games like that nowadays except fighting games!!! Ending tune is rather peaceful, and relieving(after all the miseries you had gone through).

Final thought: If you can find this game in your arcade, Play it!!! If you can't, emulate it!!! Beg your local arcade to get this game!!! I have this game on my computer!!! This game maybe old, but it can mutilate you like no other shooters!! As for me, I gotta go and play this game, gotta beat that third sub-boss and final boss on a credit!! And I will not rest until I master that!!!

9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/01, Updated 10/08/01