A unique title worth trying out if you enjoy a challenge.
GAMEPLAY ~
You navigate this 2D side-scrolling world in a vehicle that resembles a souped-up version of the moon=-patrol vehicle. This rolling weapon had a numerous amount of upgradeable weapons as well as the ability to jump and shoot! the "blasting" of Blaster Master was basically for your vehicle. Once you leave the vehicle you are completely vulnerable. Here is where you and your pee-shooter run towards the nearest mine-shaft.
Once inside the mineshaft (or whatever is present in the area) you control the hero in a 2D free-roaming environment. In this area you get 2 weapons, the gun and grenades... but no jumping. In these areas there are Grey blocks you can destroy to get upgrades to your suit and weapons used against the bosses. In the final area of the stage (again in a different mineshaft) you battle against the boss.
They are mostly the size of a room and avoiding attacks is almost impossible. Once defeated, you move on with a new adaptation to your vehicle. Continue these actions till you finish the game.
STORY ~
Ok, all I remember was that mutant frog running away through a cave entrance... and than you give chase after them. This wasn't the strongest story I’ve experienced, actually, this made no sense what-so-ever. Just enjoy the game for what it is.
GRAPHICS ~
They were pretty high-grade for the NES days. The "vehicle mode" area is highly done with brilliant backgrounds and nice platforms. The first person mode, inside the caverns is actually a bit boring. With your guy entering sprite mode and the whole area model belonging to the Festers Quest game, it just wasn't original. The Bosses were huge and nicely detailed. It is a shame that the hero looked so lame compared to bosses like "floating brainbeast".
SOUND ~
It had a nice soundtrack to it. Each level had it's own song and Lv.1's theme was so invigorating you should have downloaded it, or recorded it from your TV onto a tape-deck... but that is really only for us older folk. Anyway, music good, SFX bad. With sloppy gun blasts and crumbly grenade explosions. It was very boring... but I wont take much away from it because it was an original NES title, which deserves our respect from showing us what good music and bad FX could mutate into!
REPLAYABILITY ~
This game was kinda hard and long! I remember Lv.2 involved alot of multi-tasking and created a whole new style of gaming not regularly scene in an NES title. It was unique to say the least. But this is another title that would have benefited with a memory battery. Too long to do it all in one sitting, thank goodness we have ROMS now!
OVERALL ~
This was a good title that looks just as good today as it did years ago. Thought today we have Emulator's and ROMs that completely bring up the replay value. So lets stop blowing into our systems and just DL a ROM of this worthy title and enjoy!