1943 Kai

"Blast Away"

With the next installment of the 1940 games on the TG-16, come visual improvements that have yet to be paralleled in the series to this point, including background shadowing and several different types of fighter designs. Other than the visual face-lift, nothing much has changed in terms of the game play or the audio, but the visual is enough to take notice of. You take control of a fighter plane and go through several stages of overhead shooting action in a little fighter plane that takes on a ton of enemies from all directions, trying to stay alive throw a hail of bullets!

-The Game Play-

The flip trick, as well as the weapon upgrades and the bonuses still appear where they should, even though the addition of a cooler looking laser was nice to see. You still roll through several different stages, fighting off the enemy while trying to capture the goal of blowing up everything in your way. All you have to do is maneuver your fighter plane around a screen full of enemies while firing off shots and collecting as many points as you possibly can before you are either shot down or the stage ends. That’s all that you have to do, and the only thing that works against you is your patience because the game stages are so damned long it seems, that your butt goes numb from sitting there for too long!

The stages themselves really never change from one to the next, with the main enemy of the stage being a huge battleship that fires of continuous bullets and you have to try and strafe the different targetable portions of the ship in order to defeat it. The challenge really rests on your ability to clear the different waves of enemies, which can range from small ships flying in from either side to larger ones that float ahead of you. Through this, you’ll collect power up items that will allow you to upgrade your gun and therefore help you on your way to victory overall! The flip trick is performed with the start button, weapons are used with the firing button, and the movement of the plan hasn't changed one bit! If you're looking for anything else on top of it, you won't find it here, as this is merely a topical upgrade.

The new weapons require nothing special, only the presses of your firing button, so the fact that the game controls are familiar is a definite plus! The control is all still here, including the roll option, which will ultimately save your skin from getting blown out of the sky! The easy to learn, but hard to master back and forth will take practice when it comes down to the heavy fire that blazes across the screen, so learn and master ways around the incoming fire, and you'll do fine! Gamers who have any sort of experience in this type of game play will find that the game really isn’t all that hard to figure out and play with.

Beginners may have some trouble in the later stages when it comes down to actually making it through the incoming enemy shots, but it’s nothing that a little practice and some patience can’t accomplish with some time thrown in for good measure. While not the most scientific of shooting games, what it does do is create a gaming environment that is rather addictive and makes you want to kill everything on the screen that looks like an enemy. Something else that comes into effect when you play this title is that the simplicity of the game play, the controls and the fact that you have nothing advanced that you have to do in order to successfully defeat the game.

-The Visuals-

This is where the game has changed the most. For the most part, you're no longer dealing with your plane being a fighter jet, but more or less an older biplane that can duke it out with the best of them! The stages have also been revamped to give a fuller and richer look to the game that include explosion fires and cloud shadows on the islands far below! While this may not seem like much, compared to 1941, this version, visually, kicks the crap out the original in every way! One gripe that I personally have with the game, and that most people will see is that the game really doesn’t variate from one stage to the next. This is something that is noticeable, but it really depends on how much of a stickler for detail and variation you really are in the long run. Special effects are limited to the planes exploding and even that really isn’t much of a leap from the first title, so be prepared to see more of the same but with slightly better color!

-The Audio-

The sound is back, but something more of a kick to it. Each stage music has something a little different with it, and the droning of the planes as they come in for their attacks drone with a heavy buzz! Explosions, propellers buzzing and gunshots ringing round out the audio roster. With the same theme with the variations on the damned music that stuck in your head from the first game, you’ll find that it has been recreated and spruced up just slightly for 1943 Kai! The sound effects are also of the same origin, in which your planes exploding and the machine gun fire is all blaring and blazing through your television speakers. What would have been nice to see, is some variation on the game music, because once you’ve heard that damned March of Midway tune, you can’t get it out of your head for weeks.

-The Verdict-

Same game, different planes. Later stages bring higher challenge, and the screen will fill with the failing parts of your blown up plane if you're not paying attention! Use the flip button accurately, and you'll save yourself some quarters, let yourself fly headlong into it, and you'll be watching the continue countdown yet again! Kai isn't really another game, but more of a visual upgrade. With shadow effects, a couple of impressive weapons and the familiar control make Kai a wonderful upgrade from 1941.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/02, Updated 10/02/02