Vapor Trail

"A nice Genesis shooter that costs $2 at Funcoland..."

What can I say? It's cheap, it's a nice 2D vertical shooter, and it's for the Genesis...

Vapor Trail was one of the early vertical shooters released for the Genesis. It has a strictly Wolf Team/Renovation/Tengen classic feel to it which is one of the main draws. Some humorous Garbled voices fill the cart to make you ask over and over...''what did he say?!'' I think of Vapor Trail as an improved version of the Genesis game Raiden Trad, though the color scheme could be improved (and the Genesis has the capabilities to do so). Some of the themes are really catchy and the gameplay is very decent (especially for the time). So grab your ripped jeans and head back into the time warp in your attic for a trip back to the '80's ooooooh...

Graphics: 8/10
Nice solid shooter graphics with no signs of slowdown. Explosions are decent and the screen gets pretty flustered sometimes. A little bland at times however, a little like some Tengen games *cough* Grindstromer *cough* Nothing to wet your pants over...but still nice.

Sound: 8/10
This stuff is gooood! Aside from one of the game's biggest flaws, lack of enough tracks, the ones that are there are excellent and some of the finer on the system. Unfortunately ALL the levels have the same track all the way through (except for bosses). And although it's a nice lengthy track, I think renovation could've been more original.

Gameplay: 9/10
Definitely above average here...you choose between 3 ships that are equaled out very well: a medium fast medium strength, a slow strong strength, and a fast weak strength ship. The levels are quite lengthy with power ups a plenty to keep the gamer thinking of old Raiden days. The difficulty is just right, and even though it's hard I do think they give a little too many continues...but in the wake of Contra this is not something to complain about. It's not MUSHA, but it is decent.

Replay: 9/10
If you have a Nomad you'll play this a lot simply because it's a shooter. If not, you'll still come back to it often just to revisit those classic 2D shooting days in a different style than most.

Overall: 8/10
It's not one to hunt down on ebay, there are other much finer shooters out there, but if you come across it, but it because you'll certainly be getting your money's worth.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/02, Updated 02/25/02