Mobile Light Force 2

"Twitch gaming fun at a cheap price.."

First off the original Japanese title for this game is Shikigami no Shiro... Okay, I know that the cover for the North American release on this game sucks, but come on we should be thankful that XS games is bringing us these little titles that otherwise would not have been released over here. I have to agree with the boards that some of them have been stripped down a little too much, however like I said let's just enjoy what we have access to, especially those of us who don't want to play MOD games with our PS2. And at $15.00 and below, ALL shooter twitch gaming fans should run not walk to find this game!!!

Graphics: Pretty good, I must say when you are being attacked by psycho bears and little girls in pink tu-tus among other strange anime styled monstrosity's you shoot first and ask questions later, the graphics are bright and colorful and very smooth, <butterfly face boss comes to mind>.Seamless progression between levels also.

Gameplay: What can I say, you have 6 characters to pick from, each has his/her own style of shooting, pick one of them and go kick some but.. I like the guy that holds the guitar case, he's pretty cool looking. Five stages of shooting mayhem spread across 3 sublevels each, the game as all shooters go is a bit short and I haven't found any extras to speak of yet, but all around I can see myself playing it over again in the future.

Sound: Not much to complain about here, my suggestion is you adjust the volume of the sound lower than the music, sit down crank the bass and volume on your home theater <the only way to play games. '-), any true shooter fan will appreciate the music that starts right at level one, it kinda gets you pumped for what's about to thrown in your face ahead. Sound effects are standard shooter fare, and I read somewhere that the voices have been changed from the Jap version, I only recall robotic threats and taunts and your death scream. No complaints good sound all around.

OK, let me sum this up, i'm a fan of any shooter that I can get my hands on, thank you XS games for porting over a great little title we may not have gotten our hands on otherwise. I may not agree with some of the original things being taken out, but the game still is a lot of fun to play and has an excellent price point... and will hold me over till the next release. Shooter fans rejoice we have some great titles to look forward too as this may be the last year of the true shooters, R-Type Final, Gradius, Ikaruga, Don Pachi and I heard a new Star Soldier game.. grab em while you can!!!!!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/03, Updated 04/15/03