U.N. Squadron

"What in the world does the U.N. have to do with any of this?"

I'm not really sure what Capcom had in mind when they decided to go with the name "U.N. Squadron." Heck, I don't even know if the U.N. that they are referring to really is the United Nations. However, if it is, I really have no inclination to why they would use that name for this game.

What they did end up with is a pretty decent shooter that's filled with destruction, explosions, and difficulty, although the actual legitimacy of that difficulty can be put into question.

The premise begins as you being one of three pilots, Shin Kazama, Mickey Scymon, or Greg Gates, fighting against a hoard of mercenaries and given, at least at the start $3000 and a F8E Crusader in order to do your dirty work. The pilots get to choose their own missions, as ewll as outfit their planes according to both the amount of money they have and the available weapons that may be oufitted on the plane. Completion of the mission, as well as destruction of enemies, and any unused weapons all add to your earnings after each mission.

Graphically for the SNES, the game is pretty mediocre, and decent at its best. This is not an incredible looking game with anything new or exciting, but rather pretty straight forward in its looks and effects. There are plenty of different styled ships and enemies to see and destroy, but for the most part, the colors and actual details of the game come off as just normal, lacking the polish of some of the better games for the system.

What the game does have is some pretty good music. This is really not something new; Capcom arcade shooters and games are pretty popular in terms of their soundtracks, and this is no exception. Sounds themselves, however, again border on the mediocre. Explosions and such are again are there, but they really don't stand out too much.

U.N. Squadron does introduce some pretty good ideas in terms of actual gameplay. The actual idea of you outfitting your own ship, or buying your own plane, gives the player a sense of being more of an actual mercenary than just some guy destroying things. Of course, you end up doing just that; you blow stuff up, and a lot of it at that. The idea that three guys can stop an entire mercenary corps is pretty ridiculous, but so is Galaga and Ikaruga. No complaints there.

The main problems with the game, however, comes in terms of the actual game handling and difficulty issue. The ships in the game feel almost too responsive; the ships feel more like a person moving the cursor on a computer scren with a mouse rather than a ship flying through the air, and the result can be a cause for concern in terms of accuracy.

And then there is the difficulty. Ok, this is a hard game, no question about that. However, there is two types of difficult: legitimately difficult games and cheap difficulty. U.N. Squadron is a balancing act between the line of both of these realms.

Elements of legimate difficulty is definitely welcomed and in some ways pretty creative. Damage taken on the ship results in a "burnout" time which you need to recover from before affording to get hit again. The limited number of weapons also forces the player to depend either more on the ammo they have or on their trusty vulcan cannons. Smarter players will also know what weapons to purchase based on situations, rather than wasting money and buying everything in bulk. And yes, there are a ton of ships to knock down.

However, between this is realms of cheap difficulty used to mostly just aggravate the player. For one, you do so little damage compared to against your enemy counterparts that it is almost ridiculous, even after levelling up your ship. The game is difficult enough with so many enemies, but to make your own ship that much weaker just makes the game a little unfair for you. Also, free bombs may also not have been a bad idea in order to attack enemies that are not reachable by the ship's guns, bombs which in the first place do not do that much damage at all and are only useful against 1 hit enemy tanks. The semi-automatic fire of the vulcan cannon is also bothersome at best, and reallyt he gun does not fire fast enough to make enough of an impact if put on semi-automatically.

Even with these shortcomings, you still have a pretty funny shooter, if not slightly addicting. This is not a game for the weak-hearted, and yes, you will become frustrated after playing the game for a little bit. Still, I really wonder what the U.N. has to do with any of this.

Graphics: 6/10
Music: 9/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Fun: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/05