Rewarding, skill based gameplay - Excellent multiplayer - Great "feel"
The formula for Firepower 2000 is simple. It is essentially a scrolling two-dimensional shoot-em-up, with a few innovations in how you play. More specifically - in the beginning you must choose between two options - a helicopter - or a jeep. Each vehicle has freedoms and limitations that the other does not. The jeep is restricted to the earth, and must navigate through various terrain - based obstacles such as buildings, ditches, highways - even entire bodies of water. However, it is afforded the ability to shoot in any direction - a huge benefit - as this allows you to avoid or intercept incoming enemy fire far more effectively than the helicopter - with its relatively limited angle of attack. With the helicopter - you needn't worry about earth-based obstacles - and can move around freely at all times. However, the sheer scope of air-based obstacles more than make up for this advantage - as you are constantly forced to out-maneuver and out-gun scores of enemy fighters and (occasionally) floating mines. The weapons in F2000 also have unique characteristics. The four primary weapons - missiles, pulse cannons, a flamethrower and laser beam - all look and feel very differently. Each weapon can be upgraded - each in its own unique way. The flamethrower will grow longer and more powerful, pulse cannons will fire more rapidly and in multiple directions, the laser beam will fire with increased consistency, etcetera ,etcetera. However, these upgrades are diminished with each death.
The game-play in Firepower 2000 is as unforgiving as it is rewarding. In the beginning you afforded only 3 lives - with no possibility of continuing once their lost. Additional lives can be earned via a kill / point system. Great emphasis is therefor placed upon the skill of the player. With only a handful of lives to progress through the +4 levels in the game - the player must endeavor to loose as few lives as possible in order to make it to the end. Therefor the challenge in F2000 is in developing the skill necessary to complete it. The graphics in F2000 are colorful, smooth and are very well suited to this genre. The physics / animation in the game is solid - missiles have a clear sense of weight and inertia, pulse beams splash against their targets like heavy rain, both the jeep and helicopter move very smoothly. The music is moody, upbeat and like the game itself - gets the 80s action movie vibe down perfectly.
All in all - this is a solid, professionally executed game - which any fans of the old-school, scrolling / shoot-em-up genre will definitely appreciate.