Heavy Barrel

"Where in Hell did I place those caster shells?"

As you know, if you know me already, I am a large anime fan. But time to time I wander from game genre to game genre to find games which may spark my interests. Heavy Barrel was definitely one of those games. I tested out many top-view military games such as the Ikari Warriors Series, Commando, and Iron Tank, but this one, by far, was the best.

Story:
Oh my God! There was a story? Wow... I must have been sleeping when that was going on. Plot? On the NES? Please, if you honestly thought that an action game for the NES would have had a plot, bend over so I can plant my foot in your ass. Unlike Ikari Warriors which takes place during Vietnam, Commando which takes place during World War I, or Iron Tank which takes place during World War II, Heavy Barrel takes place... I have not the slightest clue. To tell you the truth, the story behind this game baffles me. They just kicked me out of a plane and onto an enemy island. Well, I would certainly hope they were my enemy because I started annihilating them. I could have sworn that my mission was to annihilate an entire nation of little armored men.
P-l-o-t? What is this p-l-o-t? 2/10

Graphics:
Well, I must say that the graphics caught my eye. I am a fool for the older graphics, and this game had it all. Unlike some NES games, I could actually tell what I was shooting at. Wow, you could distinguish friend from foe? What a concept!
Very well done, I must admit. 10/10

Sound:
Sound? Damn... Hold on a second while I go and play the game to tell you. When you are trying to annihilate an entire nation of little armored men, it is rather difficult to enjoy the background music or sound effects... if there were any... Hold on.
...
Oh, yeah, there is sound. It sounds good- really good. I must make one complaint though. Have you ever watched a Rambo movie? The music sounds like that...
Sound effects? Check. Music? A-OK 10/10

Game Play:
We have ourselves a winner. Unlike the other games of its class, the weapons and item enhancement is rather different. By destroying certain emplacements or enemies, you get keys. Wow, a key. What can you do with a key? You can open up crates that have weapon upgrades in them. You have two types of attacks, your caster riffle and your grenades. By opening crates, you can change the weapon type. The riffle upgrades were very neat. They range from a flame thrower, which decimates about four men in a row, to a shot gun, which can knock down fields of men. I even obtained a vulcan cannon and used it to destroy a helicopter. Nifty. I must admit, even I want one of these riffles. The grenades on the other hand were a bit odd. I had grenades. They blow up. Wow, such a terribly difficult concept to grasp. When opening crates, I found that things became more confusing. I mean, grenades are just so damned difficult to comprehend already. I had everything from high powered cluster bombs... to... spike balls? Okay, this is getting odd... I think I will stick with my riffle, thank you. What else can you upgrade? Well, by opening certain crates, you can begin building a plasma riffle. Yes, a plasma riffle. I wondered for about half an hour as to what that little diagram of a riffle was in the corner of my screen. Every time I picked up gun parts, it would add it to the riffle. I thought they were standard casters, but I was completely wrong. I began to trip out when I saw the plasma waves being emitted from my riffle. I had sixty seconds of plasma energy to completely decimate a nation of little armored men. It does not get better than this. Well, it can get worse... A tank ran me over... That was not good...
Game play makes or breaks a game, and we all know, now anyway, that this section made Heavy Barrel. 10/10

Let me see those digits once more.
Story: 2/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Game Play: 10/10

We have ourselves a winner!

Buy or Rent?
Rent: If you have been using your NES as a coffee table, buy the table, and while you are at it, rent a copy of Heavy Barrel to give your NES a treat.
Buy: If you can find it, hey, even better! Call up a friend and have fun... I said have f-u-n!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/03, Updated 06/08/03