Life Force (NES)

Shoot 'em up week rolls on!

Difficulty - ****
Controls - ****
Sound - ****
Graphics - ****
Overall - 16 stars out of 20

The planet devouring Zelous has travelled through space on an eating spree! You hop into your ship and decided to end the threat once and for all. But can you withstand the onslaught of its innards as you blast your way out? Konami brings us its arcade hit Salamander (re-titled Life Force) home to your NES!

Much like Gradius, Life Force will have you cursing and swearing for hours. But not too worry, you won't be the only one because there's a two player option! There are six tough stages to slug through with only two continues. The game is loaded with bad guys spraying bullets, asteroids that must be avoided, and 'pop up' death attacks (the fire in level 3 for example). A controller with slow motion capabilities as well as rapid fire will be an added bonus to your survival.

Life Force uses the same control layout as Gradius. You use the 'B' button to fire and the 'A' button upgrades your ship. The controls are responsive but do yourself a favour, don't upgrade your speed too much. You'll soon be smashed your ship into millions of pieces.

Life Force has a host of tracks for the game. Each one is unique and expect to hear the game over theme a lot! I found that some of the tracks really get you in the mood to incinerate aliens (level four for instance). There is even a mock theme from Gradius in the game! Who wouldn't love that? The sound effects are nice, but a little more originality would have been better (some effects are ripped off from other Konami games).

Unlike its predecessor your ship looks good. With a little more detail this time. The enemy sprites look really awesome (the fire birds and purple spinning tops). The bosses though is what this game is about. Huge sprites with with nice detail. The Pharaoh and the giant skull really look freaky! Well done Konami!

This is one of the best shooters on the NES. With great graphics, music and game play you'll probably be busy with this one for quite awhile! Speaking of which it is also one of the most unforgiving shooters too. The game doesn't dumb itself down if you happen to make a mistake late in the game. Many 'pop up' deaths will have you screaming but you do get the option of enlisting extra help. A second player can be added to the mix. Fly yourself to your nearest dealer and blast yourself up a copy.