Reviews Archive
 

Retro Weekends Episode 40: Life Force

 
 
 
 
Retro Weekends plays and reviews Life Force for the NES. All gameplay footage taken from real hardware.
 
   

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What we thought
 
 
Chris

"One of the best scrolling shooters you can play from that era. The game play is really good, its really fun and engaging and the number of improvements here in comparison to Gradius from just a year earlier are incredible. I just wish they'd managed to bring over more of the original Famicom content of the game, such as that version's multiple endings, but even saying that it really can't detract from the score"

     
5/5
 
   

"This game is simply a classic and Konami have really outdone themselves here, I mean, we were very positive about Gradius and how it signified a real push forward for the shmup genre, but Life Force just adds tons of stuff and builds on Gradius in so many ways. The game adds multi-directional scrolling, a welcome two-player option, some additions to the power-up system (with you able to double buy some weapons), and the boss fights are far superior here with a range of different designs. There are piles of set-pieces here, with you flying across a sun with flames shooting across the screen or dodging giant claws in the biological themed levels. They really went above and beyond with this and created one of the pinnacle home shooters for the time"

rich
   
5/5
 
 
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