"I think this game is better off in the Arcade halls..."

After Burner has been a great hit in the Arcade halls, and it's been transferred to the good old NES, so now you play it the pool of comfort you call your home. It has been developed by SEGA and Tengen, two excellent companies (well, SEGA's a bit better, to be completely honest), so the hopes are pretty high for this one.

In this game, you are the pilot of a F-14 Thunder Cat, “the leanest, meanest fighting machine ever made” (according to the manual, at least). Apparently, Intelligence has found out the locations of two important documents, with which the enemy can take over the world, and it's your job to steal them from them. You'll need to fly your F-14 across 23 different stages, and you will be attacked by many, many enemies. Luckily, you have a license to kill, so fill up your guns and missiles, stock up on fuel and let's go!

I said there were 23 different stages, which is true, but unfortunately, 21 of those are exactly the same, but with different backgrounds. There's sea or some land, there are some bushes on the ground and there's a sky. That's basically the scenery you'll see all game long. The two other stages are a welcome diversion, in which you'll have to steal the documents. Have you ever seen Star Wars? Well, it's like the Death Star trench run by Luke Skywalker, only this time it's in a canyon and you're surrounded by cliffs and towers. It's very fun to do, and brings back some fun when you've done basically the same stage ten times in a row. There are only four different types of enemies too, and usually they move around so fast, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between them. An addition to make the enemies a bit more different is the guided missile. Every once in a while, a missile will be following you from behind, and you'll need to shake it off of your tail, all the while avoiding enemy fire. This is all a bit of a shame, really, as it makes for a bit repetitive gameplay.

Enemies come from behind too, but they can't shoot you while they're behind you, so I don't really understand why they're there. The enemies who are coming towards can most definitely shoot you down, and will do so frequently. And by frequently I mean at least twice a stage, while you only have three lives to complete all the missions. This just goes to say this game is very hard, and clearly not meant for new players. Enemies appear almost non-stop, and they often shoot at you before they are even visible themselves. They come in groups, solo or with two, and they often make hard to predict movements, added more spice to an already pretty difficult game. If you're a hardcore shoot ‘em up lover, you'll probably be able to handle this game, but I though it was too hard.

Luckily, we have some cool moves too. Your F-14 smoothly moves from left to right, and with some practise you can even do some barrel rolls (turning your plane around while maintaining the same altitude; it's like a screw in a rollercoaster). We have weapons too, including a cool Vulcan gun with unlimited ammo. You also start the game with 70 air-to-air missiles, which are restocked every few levels. These missiles are heat-seekers, so when you get a lock-on, they hit automatically. This helps you out quite a bit, but even with these missiles the game still is no piece of cake. The After Burner the title refers to is the speed boost your plane can release every once in a while, which make you go faster for a short time. I personally found it more difficult to play while activated, but I can imagine some people use it to escape from those enemies.

The graphics are pretty clear; it's easy to see the enemies, and your plane is clearly visible all the time. That said, the backgrounds look plain, dull and uninspiring. They really should've added some more detail to that, even if you're mostly too busy to look at it. Just going to 21 almost the same looking stages will get you eventually, and the different stages which really stand out are too far in between, and way too few. The sound, however, is pretty cool and exciting. Of course, we're talking about an old NES game here, but I really like the music. It's pretty fast, fun and keeps you on your toes. The sound effects of the guns and missiles aren't that cool, but they certainly do their job. Another handy feature here is the “ping” you hear when you lock onto an enemy plane. I have no complaints in this section.

Seeing how the game has 23 stages and is very difficult, it will take you a while to complete it (that is, if you don't cheat). More reasonably to expect is that you will play a few stages, then go play something else. It's a perfect game to play for a few stages, then put away and go do something else. It probably can't hold your interest for very long, but you'll be coming back for a few stages every once in a while. Too bad the game doesn't have any password function, but then again, you don't really need it when all stages resemble each other a lot.

All in all, After Burner is a nice game, with fun sounds and not so fun graphics. It has a lot of action, enemies and shooting, and you can pick it up and play every moment. It's a bit too repetive for my taste, but then again, shooting is what this game is all about. Try it out some time if you can, you might like it!

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/05