Sega Nerds

ATEI Show 2007 - Part 7 - After Burner: Climax

Posted by Graham. Filed under Arcade, G, Review, Video. Tagged with After Burner, Exhibition/ Show.

 

At the show many of the games on display had only a few cabinets to play with, but After Buner Climax was different.  While it may not have been the Sega’s star display, they were certainly keen to show it off. 

They had some six  or seven stand alone cabinets, in three varieties.  The actual games are no different from each each, it’s the cabinets themselves that are different.  The first (and worst) was a basic cabinet, with which you just sit down and play the game.  The second (which I got to play with) was a bit more advanced, offering seat titling -side to side- alot of fun.  It was also slightly bigger than the first.  The last was the better the cabinet itself was a little larger, with a bigger screen and had more points of tilt action, side to side and front to back- adding for extra realism while playing.

For anyone that doesn’t know After Burner is quite an old franchise of Sega’s - not sure when it first came out, I’m assuming during the 80’s but I certainly remember playing on it alot during the 90’s. (I could check Wikipedia, but that would mean selling my soul to the devil -I’m afraid).  It has recently come back into the lime light with the upcoming PSP title- AfterBurner: Black Falcon- and this lovely arcade game.  The franchise games are speedy shooters, in which you race across the skies in a fighter jet.

In AfterBurner: Climax, you play the member of an elite squad of Fighters called G.H.O.S.T, and it’s up to you to stop the uprising of a military source, before they launch a nuclear attack on a neighbouring country. (The country name is just given as “Z”).  Just a little side note.  The G.H.O.S.T squadron (in AfterBurner) is also part of the same team that forms up the other Sega title- ‘Ghost Squad’ Sega’s hit lightgun game.

Enough of this crap though.  What’s the game like?

Well first off the game is very, very pretty- the graphics are quite outstanding.  The level of detail appears to be very high, as you may be able to see from any screenshots of the game.  The thing is the game does not need to be too well detailed, because it is also unbelievably fast- meaning that you (literally) only see objects for a second or two at the most- but this just shows the dedication Sega put into the title.  Graphics don’t make a game, but it’s certainly good when a company puts the effort in, especially when it’s not totally necessary.

     

The gameplay, as I have said, was incredibly fast.  You zoom across the skies, avoiding enemy missiles and shooting down any targets that you eye can catch fast enough.  For anyone that has played the original games or any other Plane based shooter, you should know the rough way the game plays.  Rather than the flight-sim style plane games you usually find on home consoles, where one has a large arena in which to fly around and take down their targets or complete mission objectives, you will find yourself on rails - of a sort- being pulled along in one direction.  You can control where you turn, but it’s only within the confinds of the screen, to avoid objects coming at you, and you also get to cotrol how fast or slow you are travelling, sometimes it is necessary to slow down to avoid flying into the back of a slow moving craft or speed up to avoid any missiles on your tail.

AfterBurner: Climax also offers a ‘new’ feature, ‘Climax Mode’ (hence the games title).  When you find yourself faced with perhaps too many opponents or oncoming missiles, pull the accelerator lever back and then thrust it forward to send your plane flying faster forward at ‘Mach’ speed.  In this mode all other aircraft and missles will seemingly slow down, giving you more time to pick your targets or avoid any dangers.

  

Another nice feature of the gameplay is the choice of level path.  It’s just like Outrun, at the end of a stage you get a choice between two paths to take.  So one way you may fly over an ocean taking out enemy ships and planes, the other route might see you flying above a vast desert canyon avoiding missile turrets.  This gives the game more replay appeal- and has been proven to in games like Outrun and Outrun 2.

The cabinet itself is also very cool.  The one I tested, was the second best, offering side to side motion.  As you may expect as you tilt your control stick, the entire seat also tilts, to give the feeling of actually being in the plane.  The tilt action is quite sharp- partly due to me yanking n the control stick in a fit of gaming passion- and can be very sudden, so you really do need to wear the provided seatbelt.  But for anyone who dislikes the tilt action of these games, will be ok, as you can turn off the cabinets motion.

Well so far the game sounds pretty much perfect huh?  Unfortunately it isn’t, I’m sorry to say.  While the game is very pretty, very fast and alot of fun, it is also very flawed.  As you do not have free reign of the planes control, it is often quite difficult to target all your on screen enemies- the restricted movement on screen hinders your progress, so quite a lot of the time one will find themseleves just trying to avoid most things, rather than shooting them.  Part of the problem is that the targetting system takes too long to lock onto enemies, you fly so fast that often by the time you do get a lock on the target is almost off screen.  You do have the standard vulcan cannons (bullets) on your plane, but they rarely seem to do much damage.  You can also try and slow down to allow more time to target, but slowing down often leaves you open to rear attacks and fast approaching missiles.  Which also leads me onto another problem, alot of the missiles that come your way are almost impoossible to avoid.  You can dance around the screen as much as you like, but when you have 5 or 6 oncoming projectiles, you are likely to get hit.  You can try and shoot them down but, again, that is quite a feat in itself.

These problems were not always there though.  Some levels I could fly through without get hit once, but on others I would be so overcome that I would die 4 or 5 times in the space of a minute.  But with all that said and done, the game is still alot of fun.  Sounds crazy I know, but the dying just adds to the fun of the game and the challenge. 

A short clip of the game at the show- this is the better of the cabinets featured, with the full motion capabilities.

While there wasn’t one on show, Sega do also provide a two player cabinet, which allows for co-operative play through the cammpaign.  It’s a pity this wasn’t available, as I would have very much liked to have played it.

  

Overall a cracking title. But marred by a few difficulty flaws.  The speed and challenge will mean that the game is more suited to the more experienced gamers out there, not one for total beginners I feel.

Display Impression: 9.  Game Originality: 7.  Graphics: 10.  Sounds: 8.  Playability: 8.   Funfactor: 8.  Overall Experience: 8.