After Burner Climax

Sega have countless classic franchises in their trunk. Among the most revered is After Burner, the Top Gun inspired shooter where you climb into a F-14 Tomcat and shoot at everything that pops up. Nothing major has changed since the first title hit the arcades in the mid-80's, at least not until After Burner Climax hit the arcades in 2006. Not that I have ever seen an After Burner Climax cabinet, and unless you live in Japan or close to a well stocked arcade establishment you probably haven't either.

in 2010, After Burner hits another kind of arcade, Xbox Live Arcade, and Playstation Network. Sega have always been keen to stick with what has worked in the past when classic have been remade. After Burner Climax puts you in the cockpit and your job is simply to make everything that appears on screen explode. The backstory has something to do with some country going crazy and threatening to use nuclear weapons.

After Burner Climax moves in just one direction, forward and very quickly. There are limited possibilities of moving around the screen, but mainly in order to avoid incoming missiles. Enemies appear from all directions, front, back, and sides, and they are all out to get you. At your disposal is an automated gun with infinite ammunition and missiles you are well advised to launch once you have locked on to the enemy fighter.

There are two principal game modes, the arcade mode and score attack. One play through lasts for approximately ten to fifteen minutes, a bit short you might think, but a game like this is all about high scores. When you play through the arcade mode you unlock EX-options that will allow you to customise the experience and changes the difficulty of the game. In its standard edition After Burner Climax is a challenging game, and once I have gotten about two thirds of the way I run out of continues and I'm forced to face the humiliation of the Game Over screen.

The EX-Options allow you to increase the number of continues, allow more lives per continue, make the cannon fire automatically, give yourself a larger aiming reticule, or even make it so that missiles fire automatically once you have locked on to an enemy. You get these options by accomplishing certain tasks in the arcade mode. Examples of these tasks can be gunning down a certain number of enemies or having the Game Over screen appear a certain number of times. This way the arcade mode grows easier and easier, until it's almost impossible to die and you have to try hard not to gun down everything in sight. These options are exactly that, optional, and if you want the real deal you should stick with the standard settings.

The Score Attack mode grants you infinite lives as you play through the entire game trying to collect as many points as possible. These are then uploaded to an online leaderboard, where all your accomplishments or shortcomings are measured against the best in the world. After Burner Climax isn't a game with a lot of intricate modes or loads of options - it's an old school experience, and in order to fully enjoy it you need to appreciate the grind of hunting for high scores.

After Burner is the kind of clean and simple arcade releases we rarely see as boxed releases these days. It's a flash from the past. It does a good job of carrying on the heritage of Yu Suzuki's classic series. But there are some things that could have been better.

The constant sounds of missile locks, "Fire!" commands, and explosions, is a soundtrack that can and will drive you crazy. On top of this the music is the classic brand of Japanese arcade action rock and sum of these components is something you either love or hate. Personally I fall somewhere in between as I find the music a perfect fit while the sound effects drive me barking mad. That said, After Burner Climax isn't the kind of game you will spend hours on in one sitting. The graphics are well in line with what you would expect from this kind of downloadable title.

After Burner Climax is definitely not a game for everyone. You have to ask yourself whether you crave this brand of limited retro experience, where you replay and replay until you perfect your score. If you're not into this kind of experience you are going to play it two or three times never to return. But if you have been looking for this kind of experience with lots of action and speed, then you owe it to yourself to have a go with After Burner Climax.