In 1986 Mindscape released Rambo First Blood Part II. The officially licensed game of that goes along with the movie series. The game review archives are littered with failed movie inspired titles that failed to inspire gamers. However, Rambo First Blood managed to take a tried and true formula established by the popular title Ikari Warriors and gave it an aesthetic that matched the popular film. The result was a fun engaging vertical scroller that is still enjoyable to this day.
Graphics
The games graphics were on par for the titles of its time. The enemies look reminiscent of films antagonists. And the jungle terrain is well rendered given the number of pixels the developers had to work with. The game features enough diversity in enemy avatars and backgrounds to keep things interesting during your playthrough. Portions the game attempt to mimic a 3-D perspective by having your player move under the canopies of trees.
This effect while visually pleasing can negatively affect gameplay as it becomes difficult to see the oversized circular bullets that opponents will be firing at you. Speaking of the bullets black or silver may have been a better choice for the color than white. The white bullets while highly visible are a bit gawdy. The game does do a good job of using the limited hardware of the time. It renders large numbers of enemies to the screen without slowing down.
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Overall, the graphics in this game are above average for the time I give it 3/5.
Sound
If you are anything like me, you have a nostalgia for the simple sounds of early video games. The sleek midi ditties that keep us bobbing along as we side-scrolled our way to high scores. This game has a slick little soundtrack that isn’t too repetitive. This is one of the games where you will find yourself humming along as you blast baddies with softball size bullets in a virtual jungle. At times I found myself trying to time explosions to go along with the beat. While the music is well done the sound effects could have been brought a little more to the foreground. The game does a great job of rendering multiple enemies but, when the battle heats up it feels like many of the sound effects are truncated to accommodate a small resource buffer.
Looking at the whole package here I would give the sound 4/5
Gameplay
This is always a difficult category for retro titles. Gameplay elements in 1986 were simple and repetitive. Game developers were hoping they could find a small core of in game activities that would keep player interested for the duration of the title. It was the ability to create nuance on a few simple mechanics or to add a small additional mechanic to an existing formula that really made some games shine. Rambo First Blood does not deviate from the formula. In this game the main gameplay involved scrolling vertically on a screen and shooting moving targets that return fire. The character does have some versatility he is able to shoot diagonal and horizontal.
The game also adds in a strafing mechanic that allows your character to move horizontally while firing vertically or any combination thereof. This gave me the feeling of being able to capably handle the challenges presented by the game using a variety of tools. One issue that stands out with the gameplay is the laggy controls. The controls in the game feel sluggish and there is just enough latency between button presses and on-screen activity that players will notice the delay.
The gameplay for this game is good for its time I give 3 / 5.
This retro title from the great 80’s provided hours of movie inspired fun for gamers. Despite its few flaws many of which were common for games of the period, the game delivers on fun factor and will be aesthetically pleasing for fans of the film.
Pros
- Major Movie Nostalgia
- Good Music Score and Sound Effects
- Great Ikari Warriors Remake
Cons
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- Sound effects are occasionally truncated or muted
- Laggy Controls