After the awesome remake of Stellar 7, one would think that Dynamix’ next effort to be of similar quality. Well, this one’s more of an arcade-style game. The weapon selection system has been removed entirely. Instead, you have three different primary weapons – a slow firing cannon, a quick firing laser, and a Fat Boy bomb which kills everything on the screen. Now you just follow radar blips to pick up powerups, and once those are all secured, you fight the boss. The controls are a bit different too – your tank always moves forward, and pressing up or down merely changes its speed. It’s a lot clunkier than the other games, especially since you can’t back up and fire. The action is smooth and quick, and the graphics are pretty neat for a Sega CD, but it doesn’t have that classic feel that Stellar 7 did.
The music is once again full CD audio, with a completely new soundtrack by Chris Stevens. The opening cinema is actually much better than the 3DO version (despite being lower quality). Two fighter pilots are escorting the Raven when they’re attacked by Gir Draxon’s fleet. Your friends are played by real actors, both of whom die rather grizzly deaths. Once again, the action is narrated by Michael Dorn.
