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1942
By Leroux

The game 1942 is a simple one, but I've never played a game that I loved and hated so much at the same time. The year is 1942, and you take the role of an American fighter pilot and attempt to destroy the entire Japanese air force all by your lonesome. The genre is vertical scrolling shooter.

Love

I love the length of 1942. It's thirty-two levels long, practically four times the size of some of the more acclaimed shooters.

I also love the intensity of the action. While most levels begin unexcitedly sluggish, the action soon picks up the pace and thrusts enemy upon enemy at you. Two of the most typical enemies are the gray ship that swoops down, usually in groups, dropping one lone bomb on you from a short distance. The other common enemy is the green kamikaze. While they don't have any attack, they fly around the screen in constantly changing patterns, and when numerous ones erupt onto the screen at the same time, it will take skillful dodging in order to save yourself. In time you won't even be thinking, just reacting, the way any good shooter should force the player to succumb to. Rule numero uno: You think you die.

I love how basic the power-up system is. Pinkish ships fly onto the screen and move around in a predictable pattern. If you manage to destroy the whole set before one can retreat, you'll be rewarded with a power-up, which can be picked up simply by flying into it. The power-ups are basic, although none are useless. One of the more helpful ones attaches two smaller ships to your ship. When you combine the one bullet these lone ships spew with the two you shoot per shot, you get four. You also get a recipe for Japanese disaster, as their planes will quickly be reduced to smithereens. If you somehow manage to pick up the power up that allows you to increase your ship's two shots to four while this is in affect, you'll wind up controlling a monstrous sized ship firing six bullets at the same time. This is advanced warfare.

Hate

I hate how 1942 is thirty-two levels of the same thing. There's no difference between stage thirty-two and stage one, stage eight and stage twenty-five. Sure every now and then a stage will end with a boss, but I hate them too. Somehow they manage to be about twenty times the size of your miniscule ship (this is no exaggeration either), and they release bullets in clusters and clumps, following no set pattern. They trap you on a small strip of the screen, and unless you're deeply religious, they'll pulverize you in a matter of seconds your first few confrontations.

I hate how plain the backgrounds are in 1942. It just reinforces the fact that every level is the same. You'll fly over water so boring it makes puddles seem exciting. Every now and then you'll reach a big clump of tan and green, otherwise know as land. Land is even worse than water, as while slightly more exciting to look at, kamikaze ships will easily blend in with the green, and you'll probably wind up maneuvering directly into one if they don't hit you first.

Worst of all, I hate the way 1942 sounds. It's nothing more than a primitive series of beeps and more beeps. The sound of gunfire is more similar to that of static and made worse by the fact that it never ends, unless of course you do the inevitable and mute the game. The one music sample that plays at the start of every level is upbeat and inappropriate. I hate it.

Indifference

Somehow, 1942 is enjoyable, addictive and fun to play, despite the fact that some qualities of the title are despicable. Capcom's 1942 can be compared to the more current Pokemon games, in that it's tedious and obnoxious, but despite, it still manages to keep you playing in most cases. I hate this game. I love this game. It gets a seven.

My Score: 7/10

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