Knife Edge: Nose Gunner

"What? Wat do you mean I'm not supposed to be a kamekazi fighter?"

First off, let me say that Knife Edge was very difficult for me. I still haven't beat it to this day, and I am extremely skilled at video games. It's difficult to the point where you won't wanna play it after the first time through, or you get far and die. In my opinion, don't waste your money on this game. This game is so un-popular that you probably won't even hear about the game to consider buying it. But if you must know about it, keep on reading.

Game play- 3/10

It's the same thing throughout the entire game. Your the pilot of an auto-piloted aircraft, and you simply move the cross hair around the screen and shoot at the enemies that appear. You will probably be bored with it by the time you start the second level. It's a simple concept sure, but simple doesn't mean easy. Your health is represented by percentage points, which you can increase by shooting special shield repair upgrades you find throughout the levels from time to time. Your Vulcan lasers (main gun) can be upgraded by shooting the Vulcan laser power-ups you see floating around the levels. You can use a special weapons, but they don't do a whole lot. It's an easy game to get the hang of, but not easy to enjoy.

Difficulty- 10/10

There are probably three games that I have never been able to beat throughout the course of my life, and this is one of them. First off, just because you have the ability to "dodge" in this game, does not mean you can "dodge" every attack that comes your way. The average attack gives 6-8 percent damage to your shield, and boss attacks can do more than 30 percent in later levels, so you can assume that you won't very long unless you dodge like there's no tomorrow. There are only two pickups, that's right, TWO pickups you can obtain throughout the game that will help increase your offense/defense. The first is a Vulcan(main laser) upgrade that slightly increases the power of your main gun. Once you have collected six of these power-ups, you cannot power-up anymore, which really sucks. The second is a shield repair pickup. These handy little guys give your shield a considerable boost in percentage points. Unfortunately, they are seldom found throughout the later levels, which just adds to the difficulty. Bosses take tremendous amounts of time to defeat, and usually only have one weak point. All are usually coated with layers of turrets and can take up to 15 minutes to beat alone!. I have played this with three friends before, and we still couldn't beat it. It's just difficult past the point of enjoyment for me.

Control- 7/10

Well there is one good thing about this game. The controls are simple, and are really easy to get the hang of. I must say your fingers might get a bit sore though. You fire your Vulcan lasers by holing Z, and that can get your finger hurting after a while. You can shoot special weapons by pressing A, which is as easy as it sounds. Dodging is where it gets a bit tricky. You can “dodge” enemy fire by pressing any of the four C buttons. This will cause your ship to shift a little in the direction corresponding with the C button you pressed. It is helpful, sure, but you only stay “dodged” for a little bit, so sometimes you end up “resetting” right into enemy fire. But basically, controls are nothing to worry too much about.

Music/sound- 5/10

The music throughout each level isn't that bad really, it's kind of catchy actually. The sound isn't too bad either. Mainly explosion sounds, little “bangs” and “booms” and the sounds of your lasers and weapons firing. Not too much to judge on here really. The Vulcan's firing endlessly can get to be annoying, and your ship says “warning” every second that your health is in the red, but other than that there's no real quality to the sound. Like I said earlier, just mainly explosion sounds.

Story- 2/10

Simply put, the story sucks in this game. There is no creativity in the storyline, if you ask me. I don't even understand it, it's so vague. This is what I made out of the story: Well aliens have invaded Earth and whatever other planets you play on, and you are assigned to take them all out. THE END. Ok maybe not the end, but you probably won't get any more than that out of it then I did. There are three characters in this game, yeah, three. One is you, one is the commander that talks for a couple seconds between missions, ad the other is some doctor that talks for a couple seconds throughout the whole game. Once again, nothing to really go on.

Replay value- 2/10

In other words, there basically is no replay value. The only reason I don't give it a 1 is because you will probably play it through again to try and beat it, if you didn't make it the first time. And maybe again with some friends, because you want to beat it with them, or just because you're bored and have nothing else to do. There isn't really a reason to play it through again, other that to try and beat it again. If you did it the first time through, your gonna do it again. Just because there are different paths to choose, doesn't mean it changes everything. You won't notice any difference from one path to another, other than the scenery and some enemies in different spots.

There is one accurate word I can thing of to describe this game: BOOOOOOOOOOORING! So don't waste your money on this game, get one of the many great games for the N64.

Final rating- 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/06