An exciting new update of the original arcade classic, After Burner Climax will fulfill your need for speed.
From the get-go, there are two modes of gameplay---the traditional Arcade Mode and Score Attack. The Arcade Mode is pretty self-explanatory --- you'll choose one of three planes licensed by real-life aircraft manufacturers Northrup Grummen and Boeing (pre McDonnell Douglas); ranging from an F/A 18E Super Hornet, a f-15E Strike Eagle and a F-14 Super Tomcat that replaces the mainstay of the first and second games. Each plane doesn't handle too differently from one another, but for the most part, they control well especially at high speeds. From then on, you'll fly through 13+ stages chock full of suicidal enemy planes, wayward stealth bombers, and endless salvos of incoming missiles that always seem to land their targets. Climax holds true to the spirit of the original games in more ways than one-first of all, everything's in as much high-definition as it is high-speed, and the environments are now much more than just oceans, skies and pockets of pixelated islands. Cities, underground nuclear facilities, even a volcanic island are just some of the locales that you won't have time to appreciate as they whiz right by you like Carl Lewis running with rockets in his shoes. If anything, if you don't watch where you're going, they could very well kill you if you so much as stop and smell the roses. Your plane comes equipped with a standard machine gun as well as an unlimited (yet easily expendable) supply of heat-seeking missiles. Firing your salvos at multiple, lock-on targets is crucial in building up chain combos for maximizing your score, and in doing so, you'll maintain a five-star ranking that unlocks access to secret bonus stages. New to After Burner Climax is the Climax gauge-which, when filled to its capacity during gameplay, slows down the action long enough for you to indiscriminately unleash your salvos on multiple targets, thereby earning you greater bonuses and chain combos.
You must also successfully complete missions on the fly (no pun intended), like shooting down a stealth bomber with little more than your machine gun, downing a certain number of targets before the level ends, and so forth. Your success or failure will determine one of three possible endings. Meritorious play will also gradually unlock various bonuses within an EX OPTIONS MODE gallery as you fulfill specific ingame conditions in Arcade Mode-ranging from invincibility to automatic missile fire. As tempting as it is to have invincibility, it takes a lot of the challenging fun out of playing the game, so use these Extra Options at your own discretion (you're not allowed to use them during Score Attack for obvious reasons.) There's no two-player co-op or online multiplayer, which is disappointing, but there are leaderboards for Score Attack so you can show off your scoring skills (or lack thereof) to the rest of the world.
The graphics are ported nicely from the arcade game with realistic lighting effects and clouds, and the music sounds great. You can also switch to the classic soundtrack of After Burner 2 for that nostaglic kick, and that music aligns perfectly with the new game. The controls handle well, if somewhat finnicky at times when a situation calls for quick reflexes-such as dodging fast-moving missiles. You'll often helplessly engage in barrel rolls when such a maneuver isn't in your scheme of things (i.e. when jarring the analog stick slightly), but for the most part, it is not enough to really hinder your experience. Who knows-an unexpected barrel roll could even save your life.
At a meager cost of 800 points ($10), After Burner Climax offers a whole lot of value for your money, and what a value it is. Remaining true to the original game, Climax broadens that very experience for contemporary audiences with astounding, break-neck speed and incredibly intense, pseudo-realistic aerial combat-all in the glory of high-definition. For those who loved the arcade game, this is a great fan service. For everybody else, this is one flight worth taking.