Burai Fighter

On the surface, Burai Fighter opens up like one-0thousand other space games. A faraway galaxy. Evil robots. YOU MUST STOP THEM AND RESCUE THE PRINCESS!

OK, no princess, but the idea is well established (a.k.a. cliché) in the videogame world. Yet, Burai Fighter makes a good game to play, and a fun one. The player assumes the role of the stereotypical liberating Messiah from the evil robots, who dons a spacesuit and a mean blaster rifle to save his people. The player cruises for a while, then blasts some 'bots into Junk metal, standard fair. Then he battles an ultra-powerful boss who must be destroyed... blah blah blah...

But Burai Fighter introduces an unique control component.  Instead of having the hero's blaster locked in a forward posistion, it has mobility. Luckily, not the "pure" mobility found in Cabal and The Punisher - that would be just evil. The player rifle moves in all 8 direction, relative to the direction he moves. Pressing down the "A" button fires a continous flow of bullets that "locks" in a direction until the "A" button is depressed and the player moves. It sounds confusing at first, but in two minutes, the player can you this technique to effectively wip out enemies - and it's great that the game allows rapid fire so your thumbs won't bleed.

Burai Fighter is a most excellent shooting game, something I didn't expect from Taxan. The graphics and sound have detail and complexity and the game itself, most importantly, is fun to play. In a sea of forgettable NES games, Burai Fighter laser-drills a good niche for its plastic box.

Graphics B

Sound/Music B

Play Control B+

Challenge B-

Fun Factor B

Replay Value B

Overall B 1/2 links