The Video Game Critic's
Sega Master System Reviews A-E

Its name would suggest a side-scrolling brawler, but Action Fighter is actually a vertical road shooter along the lines of Spy Hunter. Its bright, colorful arcade graphics feature inviting palm trees, building-lined city streets, and ports with shimmering blue water. And there's certainly no shortage of action. You begin on a red motorcycle, where you tend to be knocked around by other cars and cyclists on the road. As in real life, you need to retaliate by shooting them from behind. This is the first game I've played when you earn points by shooting ambulances. Your speed is determined by how high you are on the screen, and it's best to move at the same rate as other traffic. Keep an eye out for the red Sega truck, which effectively upgrades your weapon from a weak peashooter to devastating rockets. Collecting letter icons in the road lets you upgrade to a sports car and eventually a jet! At that point, the game turns into a Xevious clone as you shoot down aircraft and bomb targets on the ground. The concept behind Action Fighter is absolute money, but a few rough edges prevent it from being an elite Master System title. First off, I hate how you instantly explode when you touch a freakin' guardrail. Since the road tends to suddenly branch or become narrow, you'll be crashing on a regular basis, disrupting the flow of the game. If the guardrail just slowed you down, that would have made the game much better. By the same token, I found the controls to be extremely touchy. There's nothing worse that being outfitted with brand new weapons, only to suddenly veer into a guardrail accidentally! Other flaws include the cheesy looping soundtrack and the fact that your score doesn't truly seem to convey how well you played. Action Fighter is fast and addicting, but could have benefited greatly from some fine tuning. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

Playing Afterburner on the Master System left me with the same feeling I had after playing the 32X version - wondering what the heck just happened! In both cases the screen is too chaotic to keep up with, but unlike the 32X version which was simply too fast, this version is just too choppy. You view the action from behind your jet plane, shooting rapid-fire guns and guided missiles at planes and helicopters that scale in and out of the horizon. This version is slower and easier than others I've played, and performing rolls is no problem. Incoming missiles are easier to avoid too - which is good because half the time you can't even see them coming. Frantically moving the directional pad and tapping buttons seems to yield the best results once things really heat up. The sprites don't look bad at all - in fact, they are only slightly inferior to the 32X version. The planes are large and detailed, but the flat scenery below is uninteresting. I also wasn't impressed by the trail of gray circles that appear when your plane goes down (it that supposed to be smoke?). This is not a bad translation, but the game itself is pretty lame. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

This overhead shooter has elements of Berzerk and Robotron, but doesn't come close to delivering the frenetic action of those classics. Your mission in Alien Syndrome is to rescue the crews of seven alien-infested space stations. Moving your soldier between contiguous rooms, you must locate and touch each crew member before the exit opens. Alien Syndrome's graphics are pretty slick, and pulsating background music ratchets up the intensity. The space stations look generic, but each stage introduces a new set of large, colorful aliens. Predictably, the first set is inspired by the creatures from the Alien films (except they are red). Although the aliens look terrific, they aren't very bright and tend to wander aimlessly. Your initial firepower is woefully inadequate - a peashooter that fires about three feet. The severely limited range forces you approach aliens to kill them, and it's usually safer to avoid them altogether. I recommend you upgrade your weapon as soon as possible to lasers or fireballs. Each stage ends with an obligatory boss encounter on a black screen with just you and the monster. I will admit that some of these shape-changing freaks are pretty disgusting. The one thing I hate about Alien Syndrome is how the aliens simple materialize out of thin air with little warning. Not only does it look cheesy, but it accounts for too many cheap deaths. I also found the controls to be somewhat slippery and inexact, making the game harder than it really should be. Alien Syndrome is certainly playable but ultimately unremarkable and forgettable. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

This is a generic shooter if I ever saw one, but that doesn't mean I didn't have any fun with it. Astro Warrior is a vertical scroller that gives you full range of movement around the screen. The game throws waves of choreographed enemies at you (like Galaga). You also fly over pseudo-3D platforms with plenty of squares to shoot out (like Xevious). And naturally there's a big ol' boss at the end of each stage. The first thing that bugged me about this game was the lack of a rapid-fire button. In order to get off a lot of shots, you need to tap the fire buttons incessantly, which is annoying and hard on your hand. The gameplay is good though. The enemies come in all shapes and sizes and there's never a dull moment. The bosses are large but static; they simply float side to side while dropping bombs on you. The repetitious background music got on my nerves. The best aspect of this game is the power-ups. In the first stage, you can accumulate a great deal of firepower, and this can carry you a long way. Unfortunately, once you die, it's back to the weak single-shots, and after the first level the power-ups are few and far between. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

This is a 3D experiment gone wrong! The object of this vertical space shooter is to shoot aliens and ships on three different planes (vertical positions). The game requires Sega's 3D glasses. One of the buttons is used to cycle through the three planes. Unfortunately, the 3D effect is the weakest and least convincing of all the Sega Master System 3D games. It's hard on your eyes too. You really can't tell what you can shoot and what you can't. The graphics themselves are uninspired and utterly generic looking. In the end, the game will only give you a headache, so please try to avoid it. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

1942 was a hit on the NES, but I prefer this vertical-scrolling airplane shooter. Your plane flies over jungle, desert, and sea locations, and the graphic detail is impressive. Enemy planes emerge from the top of the screen and attack in formation. In addition to airplanes, you can attack destroyers and diving subs in the water below. Cool-looking bosses come in the shape of tanks, ships, and bombers. Your plane is equipped with normal shots and cluster bombs. One of the more impressive power-ups is a set of secondary planes which fly (and shoot) by your side. You can actually select power-ups by shooting special icons, and it's possible to amass an impressive amount of firepower. The background music sounds like a military march. After the game, you can continue where you left off. It's too bad Bomber Raid is only a one-player game, because it would have made a fine two-player shooter. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

Long before pirates were cool, Captain Silver ruled the Sega Master System. This captivating side-scroller isn't a perfect game, but it's damned close, and probably the most compelling adventure I've played on the system. Assuming the role of an old-world adventurer named Jack Avery, you jump and swordfight your way through towns, pirate ships, tropical islands, and caves. The rich background graphics are superbly illustrated and bursting with color. The two buttons are used to attack and jump, and power-ups (purchased or found) will augment these abilities. You'll also collect letters along the way, and it's fun to spell out "Captain Silver" to earn a free life. Your first few foes are pretty tame, including giant wolves (which resemble teddy bears), green pumpkins, and Cheshire cats, but later you'll battle bloodthirsty buccaneers, skeletons, and witches. Five fierce bosses include a Cyclops, dragon, and a pirate ghost. Captain Silver's elaborate musical arrangement really embodies the feel of a swashbuckling adventure. On the downside, there's no score to gauge your progress, and no password to save your progress. You'll contend with occasional cheap hits as well, such as touching a small bird (ouch!) or falling into a fountain (whoopsy daisy!). But these are pretty minor complaints when you consider how immensely playable and madly addictive Captain Silver can be. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

This action-packed helicopter game was available on many systems, but this version is easily the best. It's also the most difficult. Your mission is to rescue hostages in enemy territory while avoiding enemy fire. The graphics are sharp and well defined. From the architecture of the buildings, to the clouds in the sky, to the tiny animated people, there is plenty of attention to detail. A nice surprise is the ocean level, in which you need to rescue prisoners from ships at sea. This is a great idea, and although it plays the same as the land levels, it looks fantastic. As I mentioned before, the difficulty is fairly extreme; you'll take ground fire from cannons, tanks, and jeeps, as well as air fire from enemy planes. You can't stay in any place for long, especially when picking up prisoners. This is one exciting game. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

I wasn't sure what to make of this game the first time I played it. Dead Angle is a cross between a first-person shooter and a lightgun game, and you can see the yellow outline of your character's upper body in the middle of screen. You move a crosshair around to aim, and by pushing the crosshair against the sides of the screen, you can scroll the scenery side to side or up and down. When gangsters in suits emerge from the scenery (and sometimes from thin air), you use one button to shoot and the other to duck. Apparently you're only susceptible to incoming fire when a bad guy is positioned directly in front of your outline, which is when you're suppose to hit the duck button. Dead Angle constantly warns, "Do not stand in front of enemy", but that's easier said than done. The duck button doesn't seem very effective, and I prefer not to use it. Dead Angle is certainly unique, but I don't think it turned out as well as Sega had hoped. For one thing, the crosshair movement is clumsy, making it hard (if not impossible) to aim precisely. Occasionally you'll find a machine gun that lets you spray bullets, which is easily the highlight of the game. The gangsters are large, realistic-looking, and nicely detailed (some in pin-striped suits), but their movements are awfully choppy, making them much harder to hit. Once you die, your character yells "ouch!" in a wimpy, high-pitched voice. The scenery includes the streets of Chicago, the docks of New York, and a hotel, but there's not a whole lot to see. I'll give Sega credit here for trying something different, but Dead Angle is only mildly amusing. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

This is a lousy version of the classic two-player fighting game. The characters aren't very detailed and the backgrounds are plain. There is a tremendous amount of flicker, which makes the two-player version nearly unplayable. The control is fair, but this game doesn't deliver much in the way of fun. Too many hits are required to take out the bad guys, and they always manage to get in a few cheap shots. Throwing barrels and using weapons provides the most satisfaction, but these are sparse. When there's only one bad guy left, he tends to hang out at the edge of the screen, making you wait for him. The sound effects and background music are both pathetic. This game is a chore to play. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

This motorcycle game reminds me of Excitebike for the NES. You ride on a diagonal-scrolling screen, jumping ramps, passing other vehicles, and trying to make it to the finish line before time runs out. The ten levels take you through five environments, including country, ruins, desert, marsh, and mountains. The graphics are nice, but the scenery isn't very spectacular; basically trees and rocks. And what's up with the color? The trees and the mountain trails are both blue, which makes it look like I need to adjust my TV. It's really an endurance test to make it through all ten races. Each race lasts a minute or less. Between races you can use your bonus points to upgrade your bike, and the upgrades make a dramatic difference. I wasn't exactly hooked on Enduro Racer, but trying to make it through all ten races is a worthy challenge. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.