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| Air Zonk A Turbo Grafx 16 classic shooter reviewed on 10/17/2001 by Wesley Pollow |
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"Air Zonk is the classic spin off from Hudson's hit game, Bonk. This classic shooter can best be described as the "the best shooter you've never seen" due to the PC Engine's obscurity."
Okay, so PC Engine wasn't that popular. The 4 of you out there that know what a PC Engine is already know about this game. Air Zonk is Hudson's spin-off series to Bonk. Rather than being in a prehistoric world, like Bonk, Zonk takes place in a futuristic world of androids and space travel. Also unlike Bonk, this game is a classic shooter (horizontal, and fast paced), instead of a platformer. If you are one of the many who is starved for a good classic shooter, then this is the game for you. The story is very simple, mainly because this is a classic shooter. This is about twitch dodging, and grotesquely large weapons. I suppose when it's you against thousands of ships, it's only fair. King Drool (of Bonk fame) has unleashed robots on the world, and an android that suspiciously looks like Bonk (but way cooler) has decided to take on Drool with his friends. The whole gang wears cool black shades. It's the good guy trademark of the game. Being a classic shooter, the gameplay formula for this game is simple, yet very entertaining. You are constantly flying toward the right, and enemies most often come at you in attack formations, or patterns from the right. You have a rapid-fire button, and a charge up button, not unlike R-Type. The charge up shots split into multiple shots on contact, making them quite useful. A maximum charge will result in a large full screen explosion, but takes quite a bit of time (which you won't have a lot of in THIS game). There are quite a few weapon types in the game, almost all of which can be charged up. The fully powered charge is always the full screen explosion. To top it all off, you can also get a partner to follow you around and fire at your opposition. Get the item that causes this 2 times, and the result is that Zonk and his partner combine into one being, and have very strong fire power. You lose the charge-up shots, but it's so powerful that most people won't care. The play control is generally great. The game is fast paced, and very responsive. The only real downside is that the D pad is a bit too sensitive. You will definitely be "twitching" to make refined movements. The over-sensitivity has caused some people to compare controlling Zonk to trying to control a housefly on Jolt Cola. I haven't had too many problems with it, but this games control is fast enough it may best be left to the hardcore classic shooter gamers only. The graphics are very 16-bit, but we all know that isn't always a bad thing. The graphics are cartoon-like, and fun to watch. This might not be for every shooter fan, because "cartoon-like" isn't usually what they are going for. This game style is sometimes known as "comical shooter," and is quite common in Japan. The bosses, as well as the weapons, are large and a bit goofy. The music in this game ROCKS! It may be on a basic 16-bit synthesizer, but it is very well composed music. Anyone who enjoyed the music of the Mega Man series, Sonic series, and the Kirby series will love this game. The music is energetic, and fast paced, much like the game itself. This game synth style is very addictive to the hardcore gamer. The classic shooter is an acquired taste these days, but I highly recommend this game to any fan of the genre. Over all, this is a very fun game, but some may find it a little weird at first. Those who find it too weird to take seriously as a game may want to check out Gradius 3 on Super NES, or Raycrisis for Play Station One. PC Engine, and Super NES have a ton of great shooters, so if this doesn't cut it, you have some options.
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