Banshee
| Developer: Core | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Core | Sound: |
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| Year: 1994 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Shoot’em up | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 2 simultaneous | Rating: |
8/10 | |
This high-energy shooting game, with a steampunk atmosphere, brings to mind the arcade game 1942 (1984), at least the first level, where you face off against propeller-driven fighter planes over the ocean.
The next part is reminiscent of SWIV, due to those convoys of wagons crossing the screen from left to right (which you need to shoot down quickly) and the helicopters, launching swarms of missiles in a 360° arc…
By level 3, you’re flying over a charming Victorian town, teeming with little soldiers straight out of cartoons. They leave pretty red marks on the ground when you spray them with machine gun fire, in the style of Cannon Fodder.
In addition to its multiple influences (I almost forgot The Chaos Engine for the overall graphics), there are a few fresh ideas: collisions with the scenery (bridges, buildings), weather effects (rain, fog, snow), and those famous bonuses that let you keep your weapons after losing a life (this is offset by the absurd number and resilience of enemies in the later levels!).
If I had to nitpick, I’d point out the soundtrack, which is somewhat below the standards of the genre, and incidentally, the status bar which takes up a lot of space on the left side of the screen.
The images are taken from the CD32 version.
If you like this and want more, I recommend Battle Garegga (arcade, 1996) on the MAME emulator, and the entire Raiden series.
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