Mobile Light Force 2

"Solid"

Basic: This game is a vertical shooter. There are 6 selectable characters, each with their own unique firing pattern and sub-weapon. You have 3 lives for every continue, and 9 continues in total. Analog control is supported, and of course a second player can join usually at anytime. Features include a gallery, practice mode, and an arcade mode. Practice mode lets you practice levels you have beaten (in arcade mode) without continuing.

Gameplay: This game has a very nice 'arcadey' type feel, like it should have. A normal shoot'em up game will satisfy most with a quick fix of button mashing fun. Mobile Light Force 2 is no exception. Yet to truly master the game, you must learn how to fully utilize your character's sub-weapons, bombs and strafe-speed. Using the game's practice mode can help you figure out all of the enemy's patterns and increase your skill at vertical shooters as well. Controls are tight, as they are needed to strafe within pixels of pixels. Powering up involves collecting coins left from defeated foes. There are many ways to increase the amount of coins left behind. This adds to more innovation towards gameplay as well as strategy. The bosses need to be tackled very strategically, more so later on in the game.

Visuals: The visuals are what you should expect. A very good use of colors. It is very easy to tell the difference from friendly fire and enemy fire. Most of the game is in hi-res, but that leads to large gaps of frame loss (more noticeable when you get hit and you lose a large amount of coins). The eye candy is given in large amounts, such as the bombs, the bosses, the boss special attacks, and explosions. The game has an anime feel to it, mainly from the characters and the sounds. The detailed backgrounds sway as you move from side to side but remain generally unnoticed while your playing. In stage 1-2 you can actually read some of the signs. The boss designs look amazing and have such original designs for a shoot’em up game. A few that I can recall are well, all of the dragon looking bosses.

Audio: Not much can be said of this 12 track game. Music varies from techno to calm easy listening music. Although, the music does have some depth to it, something that most shooters do not contain. Sound effects are exceptional, ranging from that light sabre sound we love so much, to a robot tank stomping along the road. Voices were on the low side of the quality spectrum, as they were uneven. A few characters are just too hard to understand while others’ voices seemed out of place. For one, De Jon Kim and his yippees sound like they were stolen from Mario. The more understandable dialogue is colourful at best. Vanstein’s “You bast---.” is one of the better quotes.

Replay: Replay most likely needed to beat the game. Also, we all know that 2 players is always more fun than 1. With such different weapons, playing the game as a different character is like going into a sword fight with a dagger instead of that long sword you had before. Different characters need different strategies.

Last: Would I buy this game if it was priced as high as other games? Probably not, maybe because I'm not a HUGE fan of these type of games. This is a good solid game, a must have for fans of the genre. Buy this because the game is fun, cheaply priced, and also because vertical shooters are in decline. Even with its’ ugly box art, ugly menus, and that ugly clerk at the video game store looking at you funny. Later on this game will be, if not already, hard to find. The store I bought it from only had one copy. You probably won’t be able to rent it anyway, mainly because this game isn’t mainstream (I only looked into it because of this site).

Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/16/03, Updated 04/16/03