"You'll never find my air fortress! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Game Play-
6/10

This particular game is weird. It is half side-scrolling flight shooter, half side-scroller in general. It is like a combination of R-Type and Metroid, only with better everything. The space shooter plays like R-Type or Darius Twin, those were two very good games. The enemies looked like they were taken right out of R-Type and Darius Twin, except that they do not look like mechanical flying fish. The side-scrolling action part is like Metroid, only not as cheesy, and without the extra items. The colors, the energy meter, and the exploration make this part like Metroid. So why did I give this particular game a six-out-of-ten in the game play department, this particular game is too easy. I almost beat this particular game the first time I played it. But that does not take much of the fun away, it takes very little, in fact.

Audio-
6/10

The music in this particular game is weird. The sound effects I have no complaints about, but the music is weird. The music in Air Fortress is like futuristic, or techno-like sounding. I know, some of you, I should say most of you out there would not agree with me, but this is just how I see and describe things. And the music in this particular game fits the level pretty well. Especially in the flight-shooting parts of this particular game. But after a while, the music gets on your nerves. They were able to live with the hollow, synthetic sounds of the NES then, now we can listen to music on our PSX, sometimes worthy of Carnegie Hall.

Graphics-
6/10

The graphics in Air Fortress are okay. The flight shooting parts of this particular game are reminiscent of R-Type or Gradius. The graphics in the side-scrolling platforming part of this particular game looks like Metroid and those underground levels in Super Mario Brothers. So that's okay, but the enemies could have used a little more detail. Overall, the graphics are not half-bad.

Enjoyability-
7/10

It gets annoying after a while, and it can be easily beaten. The game is worth a buck, though. It’s not a complete waste of money. You do get to continue your progress using the password save system.

Score-25/40

Overall-
6/10

Air Fortress is surprisingly a good game, for a buck. I’ve recently realized how annoying this game can be. If you liked flight-shooters, side-scrolling platformers, or both, then Air Fortress is perfect for you. This game is surprisingly enjoyable. The levels look nice, the music sounds good, and the graphics are good, but they could have used more detail. Really the only problem with this particular game is that it is too easy. So go out and buy Air Fortress at Hollywood Video today, I am pretty sure that you have a buck to spend on something, why not make it a good old Nintendo game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/01, Updated 05/20/02