1943: The Battle of Midway

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger."

This is a great vertical-scrolling shooter. 1943 is superior to 1942 in every way imaginable. This game even seems to have an ending. The fighting has been made much faster. More enemies come after you, providing more challenge and less boredom. There are even bosses in this game, which is always a good feature, because it provides closure to levels unlike 1942. The story seems to be that you are a pilot during World War II and get assigned missions where you must destroy an enemy super-ship.

Gameplay/Control: 9/10
The control is very responsive and your ship is easy to handle. When you push a button your ship will do an action accordingly.
The gameplay was vastly improved. The ship moves faster than in the original, therefore the gameplay is faster. Basically you scroll upwards while enemy planes come downward at you. You must shoot them or avoid them. Some planes will shoot bullets or missiles at you, which you must avoid. Wave after wave will swarm at you until you reach the boss of the level, which you must defeat in order to move onto the next level. In addition to firing the main guns of your ship you can also fire special weapons that damage a larger portion of the screen and are excellent when used during boss battles. Between levels you have the option of upgrading your ship so that it has more offensive power, defensive power, speed, or better special weapons.

Graphics/Sound: 9/10
The graphics are pretty good. You can easily tell what your enemies are and whether or not the are firing on you. The background is pretty good and scrolls so that you are not always looking at the same thing throughout the entire game.
The sound is decent. It makes a little explosion sound whenever you blow up a ship. The music can get annoying if you play the game long enough, but it is good background music all the same.

Replayability: 8/10
I can spend hours playing vertical scrolling shooters like this. It doesn't matter how many times I beat them; I just keep playing them over and over. This is just me and you may have differing opinions on the matter. It is the same game each time and you really will not experience anything new. However, if you are up for a challenge you can upgrade areas of your ship that you do not think will benefit you. Download the game and buy it if you can find it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/02, Updated 08/31/02