A monotonous below average beat 'em up for the NES. But with an incredible rocking soundtrack!
A note to "nothingsaid" and anyone else with this horrible misconception: THE NES DOES NOT USE MIDI. THE NES HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MIDI.
Keep in mind, this review tries to stay within the context of how this game compares to other NES games available.
BACKGROUND INFO
Target: Renegade is a scrolling (or flip-screen on certain versions) beat 'em up game released on the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum systems in the late eighties by "Ocean Software" on their "Imagine" label, as well as an NES version developed by "Software Creations" and published by "Taito" in 1990.
The cover is a reworked picture of martial arts legend Joe Lewis doing a flying kick.
The story of the game is typical. The protagonist sets our for revenge after his brother was murdered (kidnapped in the NES version) by a local crime kingpin.
AUDIO ( 8.5 out of 10 )
The only way someone could call this music "below average" is if they have a grossly uninformed opinion on the matter! Anyone who says such a thing has no idea what the average NES tune is like! These past couple years I've been systematically going through each and every NES soundtrack, including unlicensed and pirate games. That's over one-thousand five-hundred game soundtracks! I've done this four times now. So believe me when I say that Target: Renegade's soundtrack is easily eight through ten material. Seven at the least. To not love this music is to hate rock music or great chiptunes.
Too many NES games are chocked full of trite forgettable jingles only lasting fifteen to thirty seconds before they loop. Or really awesome ones that are still unfortunately short. Or solid tunes that didn't utilize the hardware properly or creatively, and ended up sounding like a chaotic, high pitched, ear bleeding mess. Or just flat out crap in every respect. But Target: Renegade is definitely on the other side of the spectrum.
Each of the main tracks in Target: Renegade lasts about one minute and thirty seconds before looping. They have several distinct parts and transitions. It's chillingly catchy and rocking. It's rich and ambitious for it's time. The only real problem with the music here is that there isn't enough of it! There are seven levels but only four stage themes (with one other long main track; which is the title theme). The same track is used for the first three levels in a row! But it's understandable if it isn't the most thought out or fitting soundtrack. The way they did this, they pretty much just told the composer to "drum up some music for us", and left it at that. He didn't get to see the games beforehand or anything.
The composer, by the way, is Tim Follin, an amazing and well known video game music composer. He started his VGM composing in 1985, and retired from it in 2006. One of the things he was known for was his ability to make that old limited sound hardware do magical things. Just to say, Tim was only around nineteen years old at the time he made this particular soundtrack. He made the sound driver and compositions himself!
As for the sound effects, there's only a small handful and they aren't particularly interesting. Pretty lacking. But who needs a bunch of flashy sound effects covering up that sweet music? ;)
In comparison to all other Renegade games, this has the richest, most rocking soundtrack. I would have given it around 9~9.5, but I have to consider the sound effects and how the music intersects with the other elements of the game. And as I mentioned there are a couple problems there.
I really like the music for the Commodore 64 versions as well. But those are a very different kind of sound.
VIDEO ( 5.0 out of 10 )
Overall, an uninspired bore. But it certainly is not the worst looking thing on the NES. The main problem here is the lack of variety or a distinct style. There are seven stages, and the first three are different parts of a parking garage. Then there are two more stages not all that different. The park (stage five) and the bar (stage seven) are the only things to break the ugly monotony. It wouldn't be so bad if there was actually some interaction to be had with the stages. These yawn inducing backdrops also take too long to get through, what with the slow and tedious gameplay.
There's nine different types of enemies, four different bosses, and five different attacks you can do. The sprite designs are unremarkable and not very unoriginal. The main character sprite has an all too striking resemblance to Billy Lee from the NES version of Double Dragon. The animations are unsatisfying; it doesn't look or feel good to hit anything. The headbutt is just a quick, unnatural, and impotent looking gesture. There's no cool effects, cut-scenes, combo animations, grapples, throws, or anything visually stimulating going on. It's bare bones. This game is considerably bland with it's visual presentation and gameplay. This version of Target: Renegade is one of the most boring looking Renegade games for any system!
GAMEPLAY ( 4.0 out of 10 )
This version of Target: Renegade is single player only. It plays sort of like Double Dragon, except there's no interesting scenery or environmental interaction at all. You have a timer, a life bar, and a score. I think you only get one continue. Perhaps getting a higher score gets you more continues. You go through the game screen by screen, with something around five screens for each stage. On each screen you might fight around eight enemies (with only four being on a screen at the same time), except for the last screen where you fight a boss. Sometimes enemies will drop hearts when they die, which will give you a bit of life when you pick them up. The controls are good and responsive enough. Picking stuff up off the ground is the most annoying quirk of the game; especially for hearts, since they disappear so quickly. As for the fighting moves; there's a punch, kick, leg sweep, jump kick, and headbutt. Some moves do more damage than others.
Each enemy has a somewhat different behavior or trait. One rides motorcycles, one grabs you and drains your life, one throws knives, and so on. But most of the time you might as well be fighting the same guy over and over, because that's what it feels like. Get past the first screen, and you would have experienced 95% of what the game has to offer. It's long, difficult, and tedious in a very bad way. As mentioned before, nothing looks cool and nothing feels satisfying. There's no real thought or substance to it. This particular incarnation of Renegade removes all the good stuff that's in other Renegade games. That stuff would be running, clotheslines, grapples, throws, and sitting on downed foes while punching their face to death. Also, some damn style, variety, and pacing. The sort of stuff you can find in other NES beat 'em ups.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My overall score is 5.3. It would be around 3.5 ~ 4.5 if it weren't for the great soundtrack. This game is unrewarding, monotonous, uninspired, and inferior in every way except for it's music. Some NES beat 'em ups you should play instead would be Double Dragon 1~3, TMNT 2~3, Battletoads, River City Ransom, and Mighty Final Fight.
And since the music for Target: Renegade is so good, and the rest of the game is pretty bad, I suggest you listen to the music by downloading the nsf player NEZPlug++ (make sure you get the ++ version, and not just the old NEZPlug, or NEZPlug+). Also Google search for the Target: Renegade .nsf file. NEZPlug++ is the latest and most accurate means of NES sound emulation in 95% of cases.