Frantic arcade action, just like the old days

User Rating: 7 | After Burner: Black Falcon PSP
For the 10 or so people out there who have never played an Afterburner game, the formula goes like this: Black Falcon places you in a 3/4 camera view behind a jet fighter, which you must guide through a linear level while wasting airborne and ground-based enemies that come in waves from all directions. The game offers players limited motion within the demarcated path through the level, just enough room to dodge the blistering amount of misiles that foes will direct your way. The only choice you have in the matter is whether to proceed forward slowly or rapidly with the help of afterburner jets. In many respects, the game is closer in pedigree to 3-D SHMUPS like Space Harrier than it is to a flight sim. For example, the game rewards players with health packs and ammo refills for destroying all of a certain kind of jet on the screen at one time, in a combo kill. Just like in the arcades, you are granted 3 lives, which allow you to magically pick up where you left off in a given level. Despite being a throwback to simpler gaming conventions, these three lives are a blessing, because the game will often demand that you use all of them to pass the more challenging stages.
The graphics, cutscenes and menu art are all quite well done, and they maintain the light-hearted feel of the game throughout. Levels are colorful and populated with nicely modelled aircraft, although things rarely slow down enough for players to enjoy them. The story, such as it is, moves along with the help of American Sunday-morning style cartoon clips that are uniformly well drawn and fun to watch.

In the end, i couldn't help but enjoy my time with After Burner: Black Falcon. Planet Moon's irreverent sense of humor shines through in almost all aspects of this game, from its over-the-top storyline to its "Mad Cow" multiplayer mode. Black Falcon hearkens back to the days when the loftiest goal of any video game was to take your quarter and make you smile.

For anyone who wanted to try this game do not expect epic plotlines or the geopolitical intrigue of the Ace Combat series here. This is a back-to-basics, quarter-crunching arcade retro-fest, designed with short bursts of gameplay in mind. Judged against its arcade-inspired peers, Black Falcon holds its own admirably. Ultimately, though, whether or not it is worth the 39$ price tag will depend on how much of a fan you are of arcade twitch shooters.