Rambo: First Blood Part II
Sega Master System
Nostalgia Factor:
I'm really happy I've put my foot down and I've only been reviewing games I've never played before. Sometimes it feels like nostalgia gets in the way of whether or not a game is any good. If I have never played it before I can judge it on its own merits.
Up next is 1986's Rambo: First Blood Part II for the Sega Master System. I've heard good things about this game and I have definitely never played it before, so this was an easy choice for me to check out.
Story:
There are no in-game story sequences and I don't have access to this game's manual, so I can't tell you anything about its story. But does it really matter? You play as Rambo and you're here to cause some chaos.
The levels range from jungles where you fight against camouflaged assailants to the city where you fight against police officers. There's some attempt to tie into the movies here, but I don't remember Rambo destroying a series of computers and a big blue face in any of the movies. That's the final boss of this game.
Gameplay:
I was a bit apprehensive the first time I played this. I thought Rambo moved too slowly. Your aiming was inaccurate, and you couldn't fire at a very rapid pace. You had to take weird angles to be able to shoot anyone or blow up any huts. I got shot all the time, and would use up all my lives very quickly. You only get three lives to start this game, and there are no continues. Die three times, and you have to start the entire game over again.
I almost gave up on Rambo but I am glad I stuck with it. I decided to cheat and use save states (for the fourth review in a row! I'm sorry for being such a dirty cheater!). But it turned out to be worth it. I ended up making it deep into the game, eventually beating it. I was able to see new levels and fight through new characters and areas I would have never been able to see otherwise. I ended up having a great time with the game, and every now and then I still come back to it and try to do it with no save states. I usually can't make it through the second level.
As far as gameplay goes, Rambo is a shooter similar to titles like Guerilla War or Gun.Smoke. You move your character around the screen as it scrolls upwards. You shoot at enemies as they shoot at you. The game becomes bullet hell at times, so be prepared to be dodging enemy fire left and right. If you get hit once you die and lose a life.
You can earn power ups as you play by throwing grenades at huts or little buildings, which blow them open and free a prisoner from inside. They'll toss you a power up, like more grenades or grenade upgrades. Managing grenades is key to doing well as you play this game. If you can build them up, they become more powerful and send out a wider encompassing blast that destroys your enemy immediately. These can be used to clear out dangerous areas pretty easily, so I'd advise you to use that to your advantage.
Other power ups are dropped randomly by enemies, like the ability to shoot a farther-reaching gun or items that clear the screen of enemies in a flash.
At the end of each stage you make it to a wall, where you have to defeat a barrage of enemies coming at you from all directions. Stay alive long enough and the wall starts to flash, at which point it can be destroyed.
There are 5 (or 6?) stages in total. I forget. And I'm not going to look it up because I'm lazy as shit. But at the end of the game you fight against a set of computer consoles and a big blue face. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
We never get an explanation.
Graphics:
At first glance, this game doesn't look like much. When I first started playing this I was wholly unimpressed. It wasn't until I really started playing attention and making it deeper into the game that I began to appreciate its graphics. I like the bright colors and the well defined characters and enemies. The levels all have a lot of personality. The whole game has a classic charm to it that I just can't deny.
Sound:
This game has some pretty good, catchy music to it. It seems to fit the tone of the game quite well. There's one particular tune, the one that plays when you're fighting the wall at the end of each stage, that I think is really great.
The sound effects are unremarkable, but like the music they fit the tone of the game perfectly.
Overall:
This game was a pleasant surprise! I've heard people say that it is good before, but for some reason I didn't expect to like it coming in. At first I thought my suspicions were true, but the more I played the game the more I began to like it. Yes I was only able to beat this game using save states, but I can easily see myself taking the time when I was a kid to master this game and beat it. If I had this game growing up, I would have loved it.
As it stands, this is one of the better games I've played since I started going back and playing all these old games. I can definitely recommend this to anyone interested. There's even a two player mode. Hey, maybe I can check this out with my toddler someday when he is old enough! That's a great thought. I hope it happens.
THE GRADE:
B
1984:
1985:
Onward we move with another title from 1986,
the arcade version of Jackal
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