Your planet has been overrun by the meanest mutant vegetation ever created in a genetics laboratory. It's taken over buildings, labs, fighter craft... even people! And it's getting bigger... and meaner... with each passing second. But it hasn't taken over you. Now, you're going in on a mission to deliver a POWER STRIKE! You have a special attack ship with the ability to use weapons you free from the ground. The action is hot and heavy. The enemy is coming faster than you could ever believe! So fight hard and fast. If you don't turn the mutated vegetation into a giant tossed salad, they'll turn you into toast!
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A solid, but derivative vertical shooter.
Sometimes when playing retro titles the hardest part isn't choosing which game to play but which version of it. In the case of Aleste after seeing peoples opinions varying I decided to try both the Master System original release (known as Power Strike when released outside of Japan) as well as the MSX2 port released 5 months later.
I ended up playing the MSX version first which is why it's the version I'm reviewing, (that and the cool cover art anyway). The game is, for those unaware, the first part of a shoot 'em up series across several consoles ranging from Master system to Sega CD and beyond that is still going. You play the role of Raymond Waizen piloting the fighter ship Aleste trying to take down an infected supercomputer who when going rogue injured his girlfriend Yuri. This is all told in a short anime style cutscene before the game throws you into the action. And action it is! I was impressed by how smoothly this game ran with a ton of enemies and effects though sprite flickering was happening quite a lot as the MSX tried not to set itself on fire.
Aleste plays from a vertical view point with surprisingly fast scrolling. It is a fairly simple game due to the era, (remember this came out in 1988) with only two buttons for weapons. A base gun which can be upgraded with power chips for more salvos per shot and a type of gun that is interchangeable by power ups. These power ups are numbered with each number representing a weapon type from 1-8. The weapons are varied from forward lasers, spinning balls, waves etc. Though I found two of them completely useless the others were all strong in their own ways. One feature I did think was neat was the power ups move vertically away from you on the screen until you collect them. This means that it's unlikely you might pick one up by accident you don't want unless you play very front facing. It also means that selecting when to shoot a power up does matter as too quick and it will go off screen almost instantly. Of the weapon types available my favourite is no. 7 which acts like a ball of energy on the front of your ship acting like a battering ram and shield which destroyed bosses in seconds when available.
Of course the bosses themselves were easily crushed with any weapon frankly because it became apparent quite quickly they were all exactly the same following the infected computer story theme of panels and turrets in grid formations firing at you. In all honesty the bosses were brain dead and easy lacking any imagination or flair. It's rather disappointing when the main level is so much harder than the repetitive end stage challenges. To add to this the levels are extremely long with the same enemy patterns throughout meaning I found my attention drifting at times due to the monotonous nature of the action and challenges.
when starting the Master system original Power Strike after finishing Aleste it was a bit of a surprise to see there is no animated cutscene, in fact the whole first city level after it also wasn't there. Whilst the story context is less smooth I found it to be a more compact experience overall and the rest of the levels didn't feel quite as long or drawn out because of it. In fact Aleste on MSX took me about an hour and 10 minutes where as I finished the Master System version in about 45. Power Strike generally felt faster actually, the ships and pace the game moves at was really impressive. It made the smooth MSX version feel slow comparatively but equally because of that this game felt really bloody hard. Getting overwhelmed and dying happened a lot and the weapon power ups which have timers when used felt less frequent to boot. Dying is also a brutal result losing all your power chips to your base weapon really setting you back with no real way of getting back up to the power level quickly. It's either quite easy at full power or a brutal slog with little in between with mistakes punished unequivocally.
The visuals for both systems will be a matter of preference. I think I do prefer the MSX's smaller sprites, more detail and slightly less vibrant colours. Both games look pretty good though and there is something satisfying about Power Strikes chunkier visual design. What is more of a clear difference is the music where the MSX's capabilities really outshine the Master System. I like the soundtrack generally on both platforms but the quality difference is night and day. Compare Level 2 (starts at 6:15, could only find one video) with it's counterpart to see what I mean. Enjoyed both versions when playing, they have their charm but one is a far beat above the other.
So overall between the two of them the MSX version to me does edge out the Master System. Aleste's added cutscene, opening level, music and easier difficulty made it the better of the two. That's not to say the Master system's incredibly fast pace, and more compact experience don't have positive merits however.
As a game for either version though? Happy I played it but it's just fine. Some nice music and power ups but overly long and unvaried levels with no boss variation what so ever do leave the overall game feeling forgettable. For 1988 though? I bet this was pretty rad. I was only 4 then though.
+ Fast paced action.
+ Neat power up system make weapon selections easy and choices of them moving away tactical.
+ Nice soundtrack with some ear worms.
- Pretty hard.
- Levels are too long and repetitive.
- Bosses are just all the same.
I ended up playing the MSX version first which is why it's the version I'm reviewing, (that and the cool cover art anyway). The game is, for those unaware, the first part of a shoot 'em up series across several consoles ranging from Master system to Sega CD and beyond that is still going. You play the role of Raymond Waizen piloting the fighter ship Aleste trying to take down an infected supercomputer who when going rogue injured his girlfriend Yuri. This is all told in a short anime style cutscene before the game throws you into the action. And action it is! I was impressed by how smoothly this game ran with a ton of enemies and effects though sprite flickering was happening quite a lot as the MSX tried not to set itself on fire.
Aleste plays from a vertical view point with surprisingly fast scrolling. It is a fairly simple game due to the era, (remember this came out in 1988) with only two buttons for weapons. A base gun which can be upgraded with power chips for more salvos per shot and a type of gun that is interchangeable by power ups. These power ups are numbered with each number representing a weapon type from 1-8. The weapons are varied from forward lasers, spinning balls, waves etc. Though I found two of them completely useless the others were all strong in their own ways. One feature I did think was neat was the power ups move vertically away from you on the screen until you collect them. This means that it's unlikely you might pick one up by accident you don't want unless you play very front facing. It also means that selecting when to shoot a power up does matter as too quick and it will go off screen almost instantly. Of the weapon types available my favourite is no. 7 which acts like a ball of energy on the front of your ship acting like a battering ram and shield which destroyed bosses in seconds when available.
Of course the bosses themselves were easily crushed with any weapon frankly because it became apparent quite quickly they were all exactly the same following the infected computer story theme of panels and turrets in grid formations firing at you. In all honesty the bosses were brain dead and easy lacking any imagination or flair. It's rather disappointing when the main level is so much harder than the repetitive end stage challenges. To add to this the levels are extremely long with the same enemy patterns throughout meaning I found my attention drifting at times due to the monotonous nature of the action and challenges.
when starting the Master system original Power Strike after finishing Aleste it was a bit of a surprise to see there is no animated cutscene, in fact the whole first city level after it also wasn't there. Whilst the story context is less smooth I found it to be a more compact experience overall and the rest of the levels didn't feel quite as long or drawn out because of it. In fact Aleste on MSX took me about an hour and 10 minutes where as I finished the Master System version in about 45. Power Strike generally felt faster actually, the ships and pace the game moves at was really impressive. It made the smooth MSX version feel slow comparatively but equally because of that this game felt really bloody hard. Getting overwhelmed and dying happened a lot and the weapon power ups which have timers when used felt less frequent to boot. Dying is also a brutal result losing all your power chips to your base weapon really setting you back with no real way of getting back up to the power level quickly. It's either quite easy at full power or a brutal slog with little in between with mistakes punished unequivocally.
The visuals for both systems will be a matter of preference. I think I do prefer the MSX's smaller sprites, more detail and slightly less vibrant colours. Both games look pretty good though and there is something satisfying about Power Strikes chunkier visual design. What is more of a clear difference is the music where the MSX's capabilities really outshine the Master System. I like the soundtrack generally on both platforms but the quality difference is night and day. Compare Level 2 (starts at 6:15, could only find one video) with it's counterpart to see what I mean. Enjoyed both versions when playing, they have their charm but one is a far beat above the other.
So overall between the two of them the MSX version to me does edge out the Master System. Aleste's added cutscene, opening level, music and easier difficulty made it the better of the two. That's not to say the Master system's incredibly fast pace, and more compact experience don't have positive merits however.
As a game for either version though? Happy I played it but it's just fine. Some nice music and power ups but overly long and unvaried levels with no boss variation what so ever do leave the overall game feeling forgettable. For 1988 though? I bet this was pretty rad. I was only 4 then though.
+ Fast paced action.
+ Neat power up system make weapon selections easy and choices of them moving away tactical.
+ Nice soundtrack with some ear worms.
- Pretty hard.
- Levels are too long and repetitive.
- Bosses are just all the same.
Played the MSX version this time. Despite actually having an opening cutscene and even an additional level, I think I altogether prefer the SMS version. The screen is larger/sprites are smaller on the MSX version, so enemies more easily build up in large numbers (something that the persistent sprite flickering and slowdown suggest is beyond the prudent limits of the system). Enemy patterns also feel more repetitive, particularly in the level missing from the SMS version (I think) and particularly with an enemy that spirals vaguely towards your ship, which takes far too many bullets to kill for the high numbers it spawns in with.
Game Review - originally written by Spinner 8
Yep, here it is, Compile’s classic shooter. Hold the Spacebar, and shoot at multiple vertical-scrolling enemies. This version is really different from the one most people are used to (on the Master System), but the main gameplay is the same. Oh, and there is some serious slowdown going on here.
Yep, here it is, Compile’s classic shooter. Hold the Spacebar, and shoot at multiple vertical-scrolling enemies. This version is really different from the one most people are used to (on the Master System), but the main gameplay is the same. Oh, and there is some serious slowdown going on here.
Yeah, I got no history with this series, and no background info to go off of, so we’ll just jump right on in this time, ALESTE! Or Power Strike if you live outside of Japan, which sounds extremely generic in comparison, so I’m gonna keep calling it Aleste. This is a game from a series that I haven’t really heard of until recently, and I am a fan of shoot-’em-ups (as you could probably guess), so I decided to check it out, and I gotta admit, this one is pretty fucking sweet. I had a pretty good time with this game, but of course, it isn’t perfect. Nevertheless, in terms of other shoot-’em-ups that I have played from around this time period so far, it has a lot going for it compared to others.
The story is about revenge mostly, which is incredibly cliche, but then again, no one cares about the story in a shoot-’em-up, the graphics are pretty good of course, having a lot of action going on at once, the music is fine, although a lot of the tracks sound very similar to each other, the control is solid of course, and the gameplay is very fun, with how much power you can obtain and dish out, but still pretty tough at the same time.
The game is your average 80s shoot-’em-up, where you control a spaceship, fire two different kinds of weapons alternatively or at once, defeat many enemies thrown and shooting at you at once, gather a wide assortment of powerups to take on threats, and defeat bosses along the way. It is all pretty much what you would expect, but I think what makes this game for me specifically are the weapons and powerups. For your main shot, you can get a bunch of P icons to not only increase the firing rate of your weapon, but also giving you a double and triple shot with the more icons you end up collecting. Let me tell you, getting all of these powerups and mowing down through hordes of enemies is incredibly satisfying, and it was really fun keeping up with all of the action.
Not to mention, there are plenty of sub-weapons that you can get to fire as well, symbolized by numbers. Depending on what number you shot and collected, you would get a new weapon such as a laser shot, a moving laser shot, a projectile that acts as a shield, and a wide shot, which may be my personal favorite of the bunch. Not only does this selection of weapons provide a lot of different weapons to try out, but offers a lot of strategy and fast reactions similar to Gradius, where you gotta think fast about what weapon you should grab and use quickly before it is too late. Although, I will admit, not all of the weapons are really all that great, and frankly, after trying them all out, you’ll probably only use one or two of them whenever you get the chance.
With all that being said, this all comes at the cost of the game’s difficulty. Much like other shooters at the time, this game is FUCKING HARD, as there are plenty of enemies thrown at you all over the place, with there being very little room for error. Again, having the powerups to use does help make things more manageable, but things still tend to be pretty tough. Not to mention, if you die, you lose all of your upgrades, which is to be expected from a game like this, but considering how long and circumstantial it can be to get these powerups back, it can feel absolutely devastating when you die in terms of difficulty and versatility, meaning that dying is almost not an option if you wanna reach the end.
Aside from the difficulty, some other problems with the game would be that be a lot of the bosses feel very similar, usually being just a formation with the same amount of weak points, or a tiny ship that flashes the same colors before they die, and it does get repetitive after a bit. And speaking of which the game itself is also pretty repetitive, given how many stages you go through that contain basically the same setup with the same enemies flying at you constantly. In addition, it feels like the stages go on a lot longer then they need to. Sure, it enough to where you won’t beat the game that quickly, which is good, but again, given the amount of repetition in the game, it can feel like stages are dragging on after a while.
Overall, despite the brutal difficulty, unforgiving punishment, and the lack of variety with regular gameplay, I still had a really good time with Aleste, and I am glad that I did check it out, making wanna check out what the other games in the series are like. I just hope that they don’t kick my ass as much as this one does.
Game #222
The story is about revenge mostly, which is incredibly cliche, but then again, no one cares about the story in a shoot-’em-up, the graphics are pretty good of course, having a lot of action going on at once, the music is fine, although a lot of the tracks sound very similar to each other, the control is solid of course, and the gameplay is very fun, with how much power you can obtain and dish out, but still pretty tough at the same time.
The game is your average 80s shoot-’em-up, where you control a spaceship, fire two different kinds of weapons alternatively or at once, defeat many enemies thrown and shooting at you at once, gather a wide assortment of powerups to take on threats, and defeat bosses along the way. It is all pretty much what you would expect, but I think what makes this game for me specifically are the weapons and powerups. For your main shot, you can get a bunch of P icons to not only increase the firing rate of your weapon, but also giving you a double and triple shot with the more icons you end up collecting. Let me tell you, getting all of these powerups and mowing down through hordes of enemies is incredibly satisfying, and it was really fun keeping up with all of the action.
Not to mention, there are plenty of sub-weapons that you can get to fire as well, symbolized by numbers. Depending on what number you shot and collected, you would get a new weapon such as a laser shot, a moving laser shot, a projectile that acts as a shield, and a wide shot, which may be my personal favorite of the bunch. Not only does this selection of weapons provide a lot of different weapons to try out, but offers a lot of strategy and fast reactions similar to Gradius, where you gotta think fast about what weapon you should grab and use quickly before it is too late. Although, I will admit, not all of the weapons are really all that great, and frankly, after trying them all out, you’ll probably only use one or two of them whenever you get the chance.
With all that being said, this all comes at the cost of the game’s difficulty. Much like other shooters at the time, this game is FUCKING HARD, as there are plenty of enemies thrown at you all over the place, with there being very little room for error. Again, having the powerups to use does help make things more manageable, but things still tend to be pretty tough. Not to mention, if you die, you lose all of your upgrades, which is to be expected from a game like this, but considering how long and circumstantial it can be to get these powerups back, it can feel absolutely devastating when you die in terms of difficulty and versatility, meaning that dying is almost not an option if you wanna reach the end.
Aside from the difficulty, some other problems with the game would be that be a lot of the bosses feel very similar, usually being just a formation with the same amount of weak points, or a tiny ship that flashes the same colors before they die, and it does get repetitive after a bit. And speaking of which the game itself is also pretty repetitive, given how many stages you go through that contain basically the same setup with the same enemies flying at you constantly. In addition, it feels like the stages go on a lot longer then they need to. Sure, it enough to where you won’t beat the game that quickly, which is good, but again, given the amount of repetition in the game, it can feel like stages are dragging on after a while.
Overall, despite the brutal difficulty, unforgiving punishment, and the lack of variety with regular gameplay, I still had a really good time with Aleste, and I am glad that I did check it out, making wanna check out what the other games in the series are like. I just hope that they don’t kick my ass as much as this one does.
Game #222
Joguei até o estágio 5, mas perdi meu save porque o save state do emulador de MSX por algum motivo não funcionava direito, e vou parar por aqui mesmo.
É uma boa sequência espiritual para Zanac, tudo que aquele jogo fazia bem, aqui funciona melhor, os power-ups são mais interessantes e melhor balanceados, as hordas de inimigos são maiores e mais difíceis de se lidar, e continua sendo muito charmoso, brilhando bastante em todos os aspectos estéticos. Porém, também mantém os problemas de seu antecessor, os bosses são repetitivos, e as fases continuam longas e pouco variadas, muitas vezes reutilizando padrões de ataques inimigos, mesmo que aqui a variação dos inimigos em si seja maior.
É uma boa sequência espiritual para Zanac, tudo que aquele jogo fazia bem, aqui funciona melhor, os power-ups são mais interessantes e melhor balanceados, as hordas de inimigos são maiores e mais difíceis de se lidar, e continua sendo muito charmoso, brilhando bastante em todos os aspectos estéticos. Porém, também mantém os problemas de seu antecessor, os bosses são repetitivos, e as fases continuam longas e pouco variadas, muitas vezes reutilizando padrões de ataques inimigos, mesmo que aqui a variação dos inimigos em si seja maior.