Phalanx

"Fly the friendly skies..."

Earlier this year, a craving developed within me. It was an insatiable hunger, a yearning for something that I had yet to experience. That craving, of course, was a desire to play some shooting games on the GBA. I had played just about every genre on my favorite little handheld, but there was a gaping hole in the shooting game section of my collection. After some searching, I came across Phalanx, an obscure shooter for the GBA. Out of some pure inner hunger, I picked up the game and feverishly played through it. Thankfully, Phalanx had enough to satisfy my appetite.

I found this game on the used rack at EB Games. Unfortunately, this game came without any sort of instruction booklet, so I was left in the dark as to what Phalanx was really about. I'm fairly sure that it has something to do with invading aliens and the planet of Delia being under siege. Unfortunately, we're only given a brief introduction in the form of an anime cut scene at the beginning of the game. With this lacking story, only one thing if for certain: Your name is Rick Sanada, and you're about kicking ass and taking names. You must pilot your trusty Phalanx A-144 through the countless alien enemies and save Planet Delia from utter destruction! Or something like that.

Okay, so maybe we can just ignore the plot. The real meat of this game revolves around shooting everything that crosses your path. You can shoot ships, monsters, and just about everything that moves besides your ship. Since the basic premise can become mundane after a few levels, we're given the opportunity to pick up various types of guns and bombs. There's everything from lasers to homing missiles to help you perfect your path of destruction on Planet Delia. For being the most powerful spacecraft in existence, the Phalanx is pretty puny on its own. You have to pick up power ups in order to get weaponry with different capabilities and power. Once you've gotten enough space age equipment at your fingertips, you can toggle among the variety of weapons depending on the circumstances. Are you being faced with some lumbering giant ship that refuses to go down? Try hitting him hard and fast with bombs and lasers. Is that a swarm of aliens trying to pick on you? Take them out with your weapon's special attack and watch as the enemies are blown into oblivion.

Aside from the various weapons and their capabilities, there isn't much else in terms of gameplay. You can just leave your finger on the fire button and focus on maneuvering around enemy fire. Some of the levels have a few obstacles thrown in to make the trip a little more interesting. Since the Phalanx has a limited amount of shielding, you can only get hit so many times before crashing. Thus the only real difficulty is making sure that you maneuver your ship and avoid unnecessary damage. There are only a few levels, but this game lacks any kind of password system in case you lose all of your lives. That means that if you end up dying enough times, you'll have to start the game over from the very beginning. Trust me, it can be quite irritating when you die on the fourth or fifth level and have to start afresh. But as long as you keep your eyes on your surroundings and enemies, you shouldn't have any trouble blowing them into space rubble. And for all you shooter fans out there, this game also tallies your scores at the end of every level and ranks you against the top computer scores. At least you'll have something to strive for besides completing the game.

Luckily, this game is also pleasing to the eye, so you can enjoy wonderful visuals as you blast that alien scum out of your way. While this game doesn't take full advantage of the GBA's graphical or audio capabilities, the presentation still comes out as above average. The backgrounds are rendered with a fair amount of beauty. Sometimes you'll be flying amongst the clouds as you make your way toward Planet Delia. Sometimes you'll be underwater, where everything is wrapped in a thin veil of blue tint. While these backgrounds are nothing truly special, they are still better than some of the other ported games that have come to the GBA. All the explosions and laser shots happen right on cue with the appropriate graphics and sound effects. Hen you take out multiple enemies, the skies become speckled with the flames of the damaged vessels. Unfortunately, the audio quality is the direct opposite of the game's decent graphics. The music is completely forgettable, just a mix of beats that tries too hard to be dynamic and engaging. Also, most of the sound effects tend to be muted when compared with the loud booms of the explosions. While the audio adds to the overall presentation, you won't be missing much if you play the game with the volume on low.

So, where does this leave one the best shooters that the GBA has to offer? If you're a shooting game fan, don't pass this game up. If you're a collector, be on the lookout for this game, as it is uncommon to find. If you hate repetitive gameplay and want something a little deeper, you may want to look elsewhere. Sadly, there isn't much of a story. You're just a hero with a cool name and a powerful spaceship. This game has decent graphics but limited audio quality. The gameplay is varied through its use of the different weapons and their capabilities. The stages are very similar, but the use of obstacles and excessive enemies make things a little less dull. Also, the need for maneuverability and the lack of a continuation password system makes the completion of this game a somewhat difficult task. But if you're up to the challenge, your trusty Phalanx will be waiting for you.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/04