Developer: Rare Publisher: Milton Bradley Released: 1990 Genre: Shooter
The video game industry’s long love affair with military games will never cease to amaze. We are coming up on sixteen straight years of Call of Duty titles and the end is not in sight. While I may have no interest in the “genre” today back in the 80s I couldn’t get enough of it. That may have been due to my love of G.I. Joe but I digress. I paid little attention to Cabal in the arcade but came to really enjoy it at home. The NES version of Cabal is a great port and one of my favorite action titles for the system.
Cabal is a third person shooter in the vein of Nam-1975 or Wild Guns. You have a limited area to move around in while also controlling the cursor for aiming. As you fire you are locked in position but can still freely aim. At the start of every level you have a limited amount of cover arranged in different ways. These range from brick walls to slabs of stone. While they will protect you somewhat cover can and will be destroyed. Even your own shots can destroy it! Once that happens you will have to rely on your dodge roll to avoid enemy fire. Like Dark Souls you are invincible during a roll but are vulnerable after. Mastering the timing is key as your cover is always shredded early.
In the arcade Cabal used a three button setup; one for firing, one for grenades, and the last to dodge. The NES port stuffs these controls in two buttons to the best of its ability. A double tap will toss a grenade while single presses fire shots. The B button is for running and in concert with the D-pad perform a roll. It becomes second nature quickly even if it is a little messy; prepare to waste a lot of grenades.
Cabal is a simple game at heart. Each level has an enemy meter that fills up as you kill troops and cause destruction. It sounds simple and it is to a certain extent. Nearly everything in the environment is destructible and will usually yield power-ups like grenades and machine guns. There is a decent variety of enemies, from standard soldiers to tanks and even combat medics. Prioritizing which enemies to kill becomes a skill in order to fill the meter faster to move on. A given level can be completed in less than two minutes once you learn enemy spawn points. Conversely it can take upwards of ten minutes on some of the trickier stages once you no longer have cover and spend more time dodging than fighting back. Managing the chaos with your limited resources is what makes the game fun.
Cabal is not a short game despite its simple setup. There are five main stages with four levels each. The game covers a number of war zones that have a direct impact on the forces you will face. Swamps feature scuba diving troops that take pot shots and disappear. Air fields feature constant waves of bombers, forcing you to stay on the move. With the change in scenery come different destructible objects that help fill the meter faster. The fourth level of each stage is a boss battle that can be grueling due to their length but aren’t particularly difficult.
The difficulty varies but never reaches the height of the arcade game. The game is fairly generous with power-ups even though they aren’t very powerful. Once you have mastered dodging I won’t say it becomes trivial but it becomes a lot easier. It is a necessary skill since your cover is lasts seconds. In a lot of levels you can stick to one corner and fill half the enemy meter before moving. When it ramps up it can feel cheap at times. Some of the later levels go overboard with a consistent wave of bombers, tanks, and bullet dodging elite soldiers. But while it may take some practice due to the limited continues it never becomes frustrating.
Rare were responsible for this version of Cabal and even compared to some of its computer counterparts it is an ugly game. Some of the battlegrounds were redrawn but still retain all of their destructible elements. The overall color palette is a garish nightmare; it is more colorful than the arcade game but I almost prefer the dull greys and browns of that game to this. The most impressive element of NES Cabal is its lack of flicker and slowdown. Considering how busy the game gets its rock solid performance is incredibly impressive.
In Closing
Cabal was an innovative arcade game and the NES version is a great port. It may lack depth but makes up for it with its measured and fun action.
