"Bring in the Clones."

As with most shooters, you come across games that seem to take from other, more popular ones to create a clone to eat your hard-earned money. The year is 1999, and you are in control of a military tank that is charged with withstanding a vicious onslaught from the diabolical Aquila. As strange as the premise might sound now, the game is actually something that you can fall into if you’re into the stationary scrolling games that give you some challenge and simplicity.

-The Game Play-

With ’99 The Last War, you have a game that plays just like Galaga, but has a strange link to games such as Centipede as well. In control of a small moveable tank, all you have to do is avoid the shots and take out as many enemies as you can. As you continue through the different stages, the enemies will get progressively harder until you have no opportunity to defeat them and end up expending all of your energy. One of the coolest features of the game is the use of the shield, which takes away from your energy bar that is located at the bottom of the screen.

As you roll through the stages, the enemies themselves will get harder and harder and change the firing patterns that come down the line. However, you’ll find that the fixed position that you’re in will require you to be quick on your toes with the joystick and you’ll have to use some strategy. With that in mind, the game is a two-player game that alternates, but leaves open the ability to have some pretty competitive games if you have someone willing to stand around the machine with you.

Control isn’t any more difficult that any of the shooters that you’ll find in the arcade, and in fact you might find that the simplicity that ’99 The Last War offers will be your undoing in the end. With the game having little of no true ending, the stages of enemies will test your ability to move your little tank around the bottom of the screen while constantly hitting the firing button. It is easy enough to forget that the game has a shield option and unless you keep in mind that you can use it to defend yourself, you may end up continuing more often than you really want!

-The Visuals-

Visually, the game is pretty simple in the way that it is presented. The enemies tend to move in a zigzag shape down along the screen and you’ll find that the designs range from small blocks to rather colorful looking aliens. The special effects here really aren’t all that impressive, but for an older game such as this, they do the job adequately enough. All of the backgrounds are simple as well, ranging from space locations to lunar surfaces down to city streets. The backgrounds really don’t have much going on in them, so you’ll be forced to pay attention to the action that is coming at you.

-The Audio-

Audio here is pretty sparse, with a simple tune rolling in the background throughout the entire game. The tracks don’t shift from one stage to the next, and though the theme itself is action inspiring, you’ll still find that the game could use a little more push to it. The sound effects are decently laid here, with plenty of explosions and effects from the falling aliens, though your tank seems to missing a little bit of the driving flare you might expect. All in all, this is a pretty average showing on the audio, though it serves its purpose without leaving much of an effect on you.

-The Verdict-

In the long line of clones, the only thing that this title has going for is the fact that you can use the shield against your enemies. The audio and the visuals here are simple, though they keep the theme of the game and will keep you interested for a little while. The addition of the shield helps with the game play and gives you a little more diversity in the way that you play the game, though you might find that there isn’t much else going for it. No extra weapons and no extra additions to the play will make this a one-time gig through the clone world. With the game play being pretty much cut and dry throughout all of the stages, you might find that this game is worth a buck to play just to say that you’ve played it, if nothing else!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/02, Updated 08/06/02