Space Harrier 2 (Sega Genesis)

Difficulty: ***1/2
Controls: ***
Sound: ***
Graphics: ***
Overall: 12 1/2 stars out of 20

A call for help comes from deep in the 214th sector of the universe. Fantasyland is in trouble! Evil aliens are spreading fast and only Space Harrier can stop them. Its just you and your laser cannon. Can you handle it?

There are 12 stages in this game. You get an option of 3 difficulty modes (easy, normal and hard). You also can use a stage select mode. No need to input any codes! One thing you will notice is that the enemy fire is hard too see as Space Harrier will usually get in the way. Not good. This particularly sucks if the enemy boss is right in your face! The levels increase in difficulty the further you progress but the stages that increase in speed as you avoid obstacles is brutal!

The controls are limited in this game. 'A', 'B' and 'C' buttons are used for firing. That's pretty well it. Perhaps they could have added a bomb button and a secondary side arm? Hmm...

Each stage has its own music track (very nice!) Although most of the music is just alright (Harrier Saga, Inverse Infect and Motion are the standouts). The sound effects are a bit thin. Your laser sounds like a cap gun. And the explosions are pretty wimpy sounding. You get some nice voice synthesizers too ("Arrgh!" and "Get ready" are neat).

Space Harrier 2 is loaded with big sprites. The lesser enemies are big and colourful, the bosses are even bigger. You even get the checker board ground (which I happen to really like, so 80's!) and on a few levels your treated to a ceiling. The backgrounds for the most part are well done too. Although Space Harrier just looks funny running around in a red jump suit.

Space Harrier 2 won't cost you much money. I was surprised how much fun it is. You have 3 difficulty modes and 12 stages to blast through. The controls are simplistic (maybe too simple). Perhaps a few other moves could have been added to the game (bomb or secondary weapon?) The enemies have some diversity and the bosses are huge. I especially like how frantic Space Harrier runs, lol. If you find it cheap (and you probably will) strap on your red jump suit and get it!