"Go up against Cuba's army... Alone!"

Introduction

This game is magnificent! You play as Fidel Castro and you get to take down Cuba's army by yourself or with a friend. I've never played an NES game that is absolutely filled to the brim with action from start to finish. This game is Ikari Warriors on steroids! Magnificent, absolutely magnificent!

Story-10/10
The story in this game is really good. Even though it's pretty basic, there is a lot underneath the surface that makes the story really cool. To the first time player the story is about a fictional person going to a fictional island and freeing it from an evil dictator. But this story is really about Fidel Castro and his overthrowing of Fulgencio Batista. Every step of the way you were reminded of your task to overthrow the dictator. After each level, you were briefed on your progress and this really helped me get into the game. You can really imagine yourself running through the jungles trying to defeat an evil dictator! The game would not be a much fun if you didn't have the back story. It's that simple.

Graphics-7/10
The graphics in this game are all right. There are plenty of NES games with better graphics but they get the job done in this game. Explosions look like explosions, grenades look like grenades. There is a decent amount of variety in the graphics but that's only on a level by level basis. On certain levels towards the end the graphics will look dull and boring because it's all grey. The soldiers all look the same as well but you'll be able to distinguish the different types of soldiers by their uniform colors. The boss's graphics are also boring because their either the size of a regular soldier or they are some sort of tank or helicopter. Not much variety in the boss department. Overall, the graphics do a great job of getting the idea of the game across to the player and the relatively simple graphics is what allows the massive amount of objects seen on screen to be possible.

Sound-8/10
The sound gets an 8/10 for a variety of reasons. First off, the sound in this game is very good. The majority of the tunes are catchy and all of them are tunes you can blow up tons of soldiers to. There is a lot of variety with each level getting their own song and only a few songs get repeated throughout the game. Unfortunately, those are some of the boring ones. Two points were deducted because while the variety was magnificent, good songs for all the levels would have been preferable and only a few levels had really good songs. It's great that they tried to have variety because variety in music for NES games really isn't something that happens that frequently. But they didn't do good enough. There are no horrendous songs though, and some people might like them all.

Gameplay-10/10!
The game play for this game is absolutely marvelous! You have to play this game to believe how amazing the game play is. You start the game with unlimited ammo and grenades. Yes, unlimited grenades! You also have the opportunity to get such weapons as machine guns that spray bullets all around, flamethrowers which can kill soldiers underwater and two types of rockets: One that ejects shrapnel, and another which doesn't. You also get to control a tank which is extremely fun because you get to just annihilate anything and everything. When your not in the tank, you die with one hit which is the largest problem with this game. Sure, you get unlimited lives, but because of the huge amount of weapons being fired at you you die a lot and it really disrupts the game play. Unfortunately, you can never just go barging through the levels killing everything in site because you will get killed a lot. If only they had put in an invincibility code... Anyway, besides for that one small problem, the game play is great. You can kill soldiers by shooting them or blowing them up, and you can even kill soldiers who have surrendered. Fun. The bosses in this game are fun to fight as well although the only strategy you need to defeat them is to just shoot and bomb them. Still fun though. Lastly, you also have to rescue your captured comrades. Overall this game is a joy to play either alone or with a friend. You will not be disappointed!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/05