After Burner

Review

by Jonathan Sutyak

After Burner doesn't have enough variety. All of the enemies are very similar and all of the 18 stages look almost exactly alike.

Flying your F-14 Thunder Cat is very simple. One button shoots your guns and the other your missiles. Neither is limited, so you should constantly fire both of them. Your aircraft movements are kind of jerky and performing a 360-degree roll is useless. It was probably only thrown into the game because there is not a lot you can do in After Burner.

The screen scrolls forward with the ground/water below you and the sky in front of you. Just shoot and jerk your plane back and forth. If you fly at an upper diagonal angle, either to the left or right, you can avoid most of the enemies. Bosses, of which there are very few, are not very interesting. They are so big they just sit in front of you for you to pick apart.

A few bonus points are awarded if you can dock with the refueling plane that appears between some of the levels. You never actually run out of fuel so it doesn't matter if you can't dock. The 18 stages are broken up into six-stage increments that flow together. You have three continues so this game can be won in about 45 minutes max.

The graphics look okay but the stages all look the same. Between the six-stage increments there are some cool cut-scenes when your plane lands. Your cannon fire looks pathetic: It is made up of yellow balls. Sounds are up and down. Music is decent (but repetitive) and so are the missile firing sounds, but the cannon fire sounds as bad as it looks.

After Burner is an average shooter. While it looks good, there is just so little to do. Enemies all move and shoot similarly, and there are no power-ups. Shooter fans and fans of the Arcade version are probably the only ones who should try this one.