Developer: Tose Publisher: Bandai Release: 11/92 Genre: Action
Light gun games, as fun as they are, as a whole offer little variety. Let’s be completely honest: if it is not a rail shooter chances are it is going to be a disaster. While I respect what Nintendo tried to do with Gumshoe it sure as hell is not a game I would play today. But even within the rail shooter genre the quality varies wildly. Battle Clash and Metal Combat are excellent games that offer a large scope, variety in gameplay (or as much as you can with a gun strapped to your shoulder) and ace production values. Then there is Bazooka Blitzkrieg. It offers the bare minimum in all respects and nothing else. Bazooka Blitzkrieg is not an outright bad game but you can certainly do better even with the limited Super Scope 6 library.
The premise of the game is simple. The Sylon Corporation has developed a series of robots dubbed the XT7 Cyborg Commando Fighting Machines. Unfortunately they lose control and these robots begin terrorizing the city. The only recourse left is to destroy them.
The gameplay in Bazooka Blitzkrieg is simple. You have a rapid fire machine gun and a limited number of more powerful rockets. I say limited but the game gives you a large number right off the bat in each stage with more found throughout. Power-ups are few. Outside of more rockets and health there is a screen clearing bomb. There is a devious item that reduces your health when shot and in a cruel joke it appears the most frequently. Expect to shoot this one out of sheer habit regularly.
The general pace and gameplay heavily remind me of Sega’s Dynamite Duke. It has a similar vibe, pacing, and to an extent enemies. Unfortunately Bazooka Blitzkrieg is sorely lacking in variety. There are a grand total of four enemy types for the entire length of the game. Granted the game is not very long but still. Like the Geldra in Rolling Thunder the cyborgs here come in different colors that denote how strong they are. But they all do the same thing and it gets old fast. The level design is predictable which makes the game less interesting as well. The pacing in general feels off. Even on the highest setting each level crawls by as you wait for enemies to pop up. The supposed fast paced levels are anything but. I don’t get how you screw that up yet somehow they found a way.
The boss battles are the one bright spot in the action. Each has multiple destructible parts that some strategy to take out. There are multiple weak points you can take out one by one or in some cases like the mecha gorilla destroy its head to end the fight immediately. That is easier said than done of course. More of this would have gone a long way. The only other option to extract some kind of fun in the game is playing the boot camp mode in multiplayer. Competing for high scores as you learn enemy patterns was fun for a bit and helps you forget how tiring the main campaign is.
Bazooka Blitzkrieg is difficult even on the easiest setting. There are no defensive options so you either kill enemies first or trade damage. This damage begins to pile up and life items are spaced far apart. Time spent in the Boot Camp will prepare you for most of the game although even if you memorize enemy placement it is still tough. To see all of the game’s content you will have to complete it on Expert mode as it ends after stage three otherwise. Expert level difficulty adds two more stages but also borders on insane in terms of difficulty. If you make it to the final boss prepare for one of the cheapest boss battles this side of Golgo 13. I guess you can say the game has replay value as a resort but it isn’t interesting enough to warrant the time spent trying to complete it.
In Closing
Bazooka Blitzkrieg is an average light gun shooter that does not hold up over the long haul. I know that pickings were slim when it came to the Super Scope 6 but there are better options available. Only bother with this if you are trying to complete you light gun library or really hard up for entertainment.
