Sega Master System Reviews A-E

Its name would suggest a side-scrolling brawler, but Action Fighter is actually a vertical road shooter along the lines of Spy Hunter. Its bright, colorful arcade graphics feature inviting palm trees, building-lined city streets, and ports with shimmering blue water. And there's certainly no shortage of action. You begin on a red motorcycle, where you tend to be knocked around by other cars and cyclists on the road. As in real life, you need to retaliate by shooting them from behind. This is the first game I've played when you earn points by shooting ambulances. Your speed is determined by how high you are on the screen, and it's best to move at the same rate as other traffic. Keep an eye out for the red Sega truck, which effectively upgrades your weapon from a weak peashooter to devastating rockets. Collecting letter icons in the road lets you upgrade to a sports car and eventually a jet! At that point, the game turns into a Xevious clone as you shoot down aircraft and bomb targets on the ground. The concept behind Action Fighter is absolute money, but a few rough edges prevent it from being an elite Master System title. First off, I hate how you instantly explode when you touch a freakin' guardrail. Since the road tends to suddenly branch or become narrow, you'll be crashing on a regular basis, disrupting the flow of the game. If the guardrail just slowed you down, that would have made the game much better. By the same token, I found the controls to be extremely touchy. There's nothing worse that being outfitted with brand new weapons, only to suddenly veer into a guardrail accidentally! Other flaws include the cheesy looping soundtrack and the fact that your score doesn't truly seem to convey how well you played. Action Fighter is fast and addicting, but could have benefited greatly from some fine tuning. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

The Master System was in way over its head trying to handle a graphically intensive shooter like Afterburner. You view the action from behind your F-14 Tomcat, shooting down enemy planes that quickly scale in from the horizon. You can fire machine guns or unleash missiles that lock onto enemies. The action begins with an animated sequence of your plane taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier, and I have to admit it looks pretty cool. The graphics are not the problem with Afterburner - it's the animation that sucks. The frame-rate is so choppy it's hard to tell what's going on in the heat of battle. When your plane goes down in flames you usually have no idea what the [expletive] hit you. There's little sense of speed or control. You can survive by shooting like a madman and continuously performing barrel rolls, but that's not much fun. Your heads-up display is sparse with a useless map in the corner and no score displayed. The planes are exceptionally well detailed but the flat scenery is dull. Are those trees sticking out of the ocean? Those gray "smoke" circles that trail your plane before you crash look absolutely pathetic. The music sounds like it's being played on a toy piano, so unless you're a toddler it's not likely to pump your adrenaline. Lacking even a minimal degree of playability, Afterburner for the Master System should have never seen the light of day. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

This overhead shooter has elements of Berzerk and Robotron, but doesn't come close to delivering the frenetic action of those classics. Your mission in Alien Syndrome is to rescue the crews of seven alien-infested space stations. Moving your soldier between contiguous rooms, you must locate and touch each crew member before the exit opens. Alien Syndrome's graphics are pretty slick, and pulsating background music ratchets up the intensity. The space stations look generic, but each stage introduces a new set of large, colorful aliens. Predictably, the first set is inspired by the creatures from the Alien films (except they are red). Although the aliens look terrific, they aren't very bright and tend to wander aimlessly. Your initial firepower is woefully inadequate - a peashooter that fires about three feet. The severely limited range forces you approach aliens to kill them, and it's usually safer to avoid them altogether. I recommend you upgrade your weapon as soon as possible to lasers or fireballs. Each stage ends with an obligatory boss encounter on a black screen with just you and the monster. I will admit that some of these shape-changing freaks are pretty disgusting. The one thing I hate about Alien Syndrome is how the aliens simple materialize out of thin air with little warning. Not only does it look cheesy, but it accounts for too many cheap deaths. I also found the controls to be somewhat slippery and inexact, making the game harder than it really should be. Alien Syndrome is certainly playable but ultimately unremarkable and forgettable. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

This is a generic shooter if I ever saw one, but that doesn't mean I didn't have any fun with it. Astro Warrior is a vertical scroller that gives you full range of movement around the screen. The game throws waves of choreographed enemies at you (like Galaga). You also fly over pseudo-3D platforms with plenty of squares to shoot out (like Xevious). And naturally there's a big ol' boss at the end of each stage. The first thing that bugged me about this game was the lack of a rapid-fire button. In order to get off a lot of shots, you need to tap the fire buttons incessantly, which is annoying and hard on your hand. The gameplay is good though. The enemies come in all shapes and sizes and there's never a dull moment. The bosses are large but static; they simply float side to side while dropping bombs on you. The repetitious background music got on my nerves. The best aspect of this game is the power-ups. In the first stage, you can accumulate a great deal of firepower, and this can carry you a long way. Unfortunately, once you die, it's back to the weak single-shots, and after the first level the power-ups are few and far between. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Black Belt features the worst box cover art in the history of games, with a single foot in the lower left side of its plain white box. How lazy is that?! The game itself isn't half bad. Black Belt's fighters are realistically-proportioned and the kung fu action is non-stop. The first stage takes place in a courtyard as a parade of henchmen who all look exactly the same approach from both sides. You can punch and kick in a rapid-fire fashion, causing foes to literally shatter into block-shaped chunks! Good times! The real challenge is trying to snag the food icons that occasionally travel across the top of the screen. You need to press down-and-up to leap, and it's hard to get the timing right in the heat of battle. Periodically the thugs clear out and a sub-boss appears to break up the monotony. These specialized martial artists each have their own distinctive fighting style, and many carry weapons. At this point Black Belt is already on par with most fighting games of its era, but then it takes things to the next level. The end-of-stage boss battles are presented in a "close up" view with larger, more detailed characters! They don't exactly fill the screen, but for the Sega Master System, they look positively huge. And these guys really mean business! The best strategy is to let the boss unleash his fury, and then move in to land a few quick hits when he's catching his breath. Upon defeating a boss, your character will automatically unleash a flurry of rapid-fire kicks or punches as a "finishing move" of sorts. It's kind of awesome, but mostly silly. Black Belt won't win any awards, but if you can embrace this game in all of its absurdity, you might be surprised by how much fun you have. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

I'm going to venture a guess that this was Sega's first foray into 3D, because they clearly had no idea what the [expletive] they were doing. Blade Eagle 3-D is your standard vertical space shooter with formations of alien ships and cannon-fortified space stations. But there's a twist. Using button 2, you can toggle between high altitude and low, making your ship appear larger (closer) or smaller (further away). In theory, you can attack aliens on two separate planes, but it's never quite clear which one you're lined up with. The 3D effect is not good, and it made my eyes dry out. You'll experience a lot of double vision that will have you wondering if you're looking at a pair of objects, or just bad 3D. Not only is it hard to tell what you can or can't shoot, but you also don't know what things can hurt you! Unfortunately, that means you'll need to assume that everything can hurt you all the time! Your only saving grace are the power-ups. If you can crank up your firepower and tack on a few escorts you can inflict substantial damage - at the cost of substantial slow-down. Unfortunately, you'll often pass through a vital power-up because you're on the wrong plane! Ugh! The visuals improve with the second stage which features metal towers rising out of water, but the steep difficulty makes it hard to get that far. Blade Eagle 3D is an ill-advised title that serves as a cautionary tale for future shooters with 3D aspirations. Note: This game requires the Sega 3D glasses. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

I enjoy games with depth and intricate strategy, but sometimes I just want to blow [expletive] up. Bomber Raid gives Master System fans the destruction they crave. This vertical shooter puts you in a WWII bomber against plane squadrons, tanks, destroyers, and submarines that actually submerge. The vibrant graphics are extremely easy on the eyes with bright orange beaches, deep green foliage, and inviting blue waters. The action begins with a nice cut-scene of your plane taking off as your crew waves you on. Once in the air you can fire your cannon rapidly, but alas, there's no rapid-fire option. That said, I felt lucky as hell to own a rapid fire attachment (bump up the grade by a letter if you own one). The second button is used to unleash cluster bombs. Bomber Raid's gameplay is simple and fun as you blast targets over jungle, desert, and sea locations. The looping enemy planes and huge destroyers look great, but what in the heck are those rotating flying square things supposed to be? Keep moving when tanks or cannons are in the vicinity, because their turrets are always trained on you. Bomber Raid's power-up system is bizarre. The icons appear almost constantly! Most reveal either a weapon boost (P) or speed increase (S). At first the weapon icons cause your narrow missiles to become longer, which frankly doesn't make much of a difference. After collecting a few more your shots become wider, and eventually you're firing large circles. Enjoy it while it lasts, because losing a plane puts you all the way back at square one. The speed power-ups are helpful at first, but eventually your plane becomes hard to control, at which point you'll want to avoid them like the plague. On rare occasions you'll encounter a special power-up which adds an escort plane (or two) by your side. These escorts would be great if they didn't tend to fire sideways and backwards! WTF? Also annoying is the monotonous, happy-go-lucky music. Your high score is displayed at the end of each game, egging you on to try again. Bomber Raid could have been better designed, but at least its heart is in the right place. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

Long before pirates were cool, Captain Silver ruled the Sega Master System. This captivating side-scroller isn't a perfect game, but it's damned close, and probably the most compelling adventure I've played on the system. Assuming the role of an old-world adventurer named Jack Avery, you jump and swordfight your way through towns, pirate ships, tropical islands, and caves. The rich background graphics are superbly illustrated and bursting with color. The two buttons are used to attack and jump, and power-ups (purchased or found) will augment these abilities. You'll also collect letters along the way, and it's fun to spell out "Captain Silver" to earn a free life. Your first few foes are pretty tame, including giant wolves (which resemble teddy bears), green pumpkins, and Cheshire cats, but later you'll battle bloodthirsty buccaneers, skeletons, and witches. Five fierce bosses include a Cyclops, dragon, and a pirate ghost. Captain Silver's elaborate musical arrangement really embodies the feel of a swashbuckling adventure. On the downside, there's no score to gauge your progress, and no password to save your progress. You'll contend with occasional cheap hits as well, such as touching a small bird (ouch!) or falling into a fountain (whoopsy daisy!). But these are pretty minor complaints when you consider how immensely playable and madly addictive Captain Silver can be. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

This action-packed helicopter game was available on many systems, but this version is easily the best. It's also the most difficult. Your mission is to rescue hostages in enemy territory while avoiding enemy fire. The graphics are sharp and well defined. From the architecture of the buildings, to the clouds in the sky, to the tiny animated people, there is plenty of attention to detail. A nice surprise is the ocean level, in which you need to rescue prisoners from ships at sea. This is a great idea, and although it plays the same as the land levels, it looks fantastic. As I mentioned before, the difficulty is fairly extreme; you'll take ground fire from cannons, tanks, and jeeps, as well as air fire from enemy planes. You can't stay in any place for long, especially when picking up prisoners. This is one exciting game. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

I wasn't sure what to make of this game the first time I played it. Dead Angle is a cross between a first-person shooter and a lightgun game, and you can see the yellow outline of your character's upper body in the middle of screen. You move a crosshair around to aim, and by pushing the crosshair against the sides of the screen, you can scroll the scenery side to side or up and down. When gangsters in suits emerge from the scenery (and sometimes from thin air), you use one button to shoot and the other to duck. Apparently you're only susceptible to incoming fire when a bad guy is positioned directly in front of your outline, which is when you're suppose to hit the duck button. Dead Angle constantly warns, "Do not stand in front of enemy", but that's easier said than done. The duck button doesn't seem very effective, and I prefer not to use it. Dead Angle is certainly unique, but I don't think it turned out as well as Sega had hoped. For one thing, the crosshair movement is clumsy, making it hard (if not impossible) to aim precisely. Occasionally you'll find a machine gun that lets you spray bullets, which is easily the highlight of the game. The gangsters are large, realistic-looking, and nicely detailed (some in pin-striped suits), but their movements are awfully choppy, making them much harder to hit. Once you die, your character yells "ouch!" in a wimpy, high-pitched voice. The scenery includes the streets of Chicago, the docks of New York, and a hotel, but there's not a whole lot to see. I'll give Sega credit here for trying something different, but Dead Angle is only mildly amusing. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

This is a lousy version of the classic two-player fighting game. The characters aren't very detailed and the backgrounds are plain. There is a tremendous amount of flicker, which makes the two-player version nearly unplayable. The control is fair, but this game doesn't deliver much in the way of fun. Too many hits are required to take out the bad guys, and they always manage to get in a few cheap shots. Throwing barrels and using weapons provides the most satisfaction, but these are sparse. When there's only one bad guy left, he tends to hang out at the edge of the screen, making you wait for him. The sound effects and background music are both pathetic. This game is a chore to play. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

This motorcycle game reminds me of Excitebike for the NES. You ride on a diagonal-scrolling screen, jumping ramps, passing other vehicles, and trying to make it to the finish line before time runs out. The ten levels take you through five environments, including country, ruins, desert, marsh, and mountains. The graphics are nice, but the scenery isn't very spectacular; basically trees and rocks. And what's up with the color? The trees and the mountain trails are both blue, which makes it look like I need to adjust my TV. It's really an endurance test to make it through all ten races. Each race lasts a minute or less. Between races you can use your bonus points to upgrade your bike, and the upgrades make a dramatic difference. I wasn't exactly hooked on Enduro Racer, but trying to make it through all ten races is a worthy challenge. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.