#14: U.N. Squadron

Flaming unicorn ho!

I don't remember playing much UN Squadron as a kid but I definitely remember playing a lot of it on an emulator when I was living with Aidan. UN Squadron is a shooter game the way shooter games should be made. The game starts with a choice of 3 characters each with their own strengths and weaknesses so you can customize the way you play the game right off the top.

I chose Shin because I thought he was a girl and I always play as the female character in a game when possible. It turns out this game was based on a Japanese anime (Area 88) and he merely looks feminine. Each character has a special ability. Shin needs to pick up fewer power packs on a level to level up his ship. Mickey makes better use of the special weapons. Greg recovers from damage faster.

They don't call me The Insane for nothing!

Recovering from damage faster is another great innovation in this game. When you get hit by anything you don't instantly die. Instead you get put into critical status where a second hit will kill you. After a short period of time you recover and can again take a free hit. There is a limited number of times you can do this on a level (I think 4 or 5) before you're permanently in critical status and will die to the next hit. I think this is fantastic. You don't need to play perfectly in order to win but you do have to play consistently well. One mistake doesn't doom you unlike most other shooters.

I still say Shin is a girl.

You also collect power-ups in a smoother way than in other shooters. Throughout a level there will be red enemies that you kill to get pick-ups. You have a POW number that goes up with each one you get and persists between levels and between deaths. Then at certain POW thresholds your plane levels up and gets stronger guns. Shin's ability decreased the number of these things I needed at each threshold. Unfortunately I actually hit the cap on my starting plane in short order and the rest of the pick-ups felt wasted.

On top of the pick-ups you also earn money for every single thing that you kill. You use this money between levels to buy better planes or to buy special weapons you can use. AoE explosions, or screen-wide nukes, or bombs you can drop below you... That sort of thing. It leads to a steady sense of progression throughout the game as you save up money to buy better stuff.

Another neat thing is the level select map. You start off at the little 88 on the left and have to make your way to the mountain base on the right. Clear a level to increase your range which unlocks more levels. There are also enemy units coming after your base that you need to take out, like that plane that's closing in on me. You can go for the shortest route to the final stage or you can go to all the side stages to earn more money to buy a better plane. I love sidequests!

Unfortunately there is one major problem with the game and it caused me to stop playing after beating 2 stages (and dying a lot on the enemy plane). Holding the shoot button down doesn't cause you to keep shooting forever. In order to put down optimal fire you need to spam the Y button over and over. I'm not as young as I used to be and mashing a button for long lengths of time is a skill that has atrophied with age. My wrist still hurts 7 hours after I was playing. This is a shame since I was really enjoying the game and really like a lot of the ideas they have. But I can't really hold that against the game... It's not the game's fault I'm old and decrepit. The game itself has actually aged wonderfully.

Rating: A+