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System:
SNES
Genre:
Shoot 'Em Up
Publisher:
Konami
Developer:
Treasure
Players:
1
Release date/year:
1992
Other systems:
-
» Screenshots
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- Axelay
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1992 Treasure - Konami - SNES
Storyline
It's been a while since I read the instruction booklet, but the game says enough itself I guess, not all the details though. Ah well . . . The storyline goes something like this. The planet where the humans live has been attacked by aliens and I think just about all of it has been ruined and a lot of people has been captured as slaves. The humans does have one small ounce of hope for survival though, their spaceship Axelay. Axelay is the humans' greatest spaceship made for battle and able to equip fearsome weapons. The pilot of Axelay has lost his entire family thanks to the aliens so he's very eager for revenge and is going to beat the aliens for his family's and the rest of the humans' sake. So he takes away in the spaceship to fight the aliens in six different locations. The main purpose why Axelay doesn't go straight to the last level is because it has to take back its lost weapons from the enemy, weapons needed to defeat the alien army at a final showdown.
I think that's sort of how the story goes.
- Gameplay
It amazes me how many old games there are that have great controls compared to new games. That goes for this game as well. The controls are great, but it would be kind of hard to fail with the controls for a game like this but that doesn't take away the fact that they are great. As you probably have figured out by reading the Storyline-part you play the pilot of a spaceship, and that basically means that you play the spaceship. There are six different levels in the game and three different difficulty levels. All the levels are very different from eachother both out of a surrounding point of view and a gameplay point of view. In some levels you get to control the ship out of a overhead view and in some stages you get to control the ship seen from the side. Before each level you get to equip your ship with three different weapons that you can choose all by yourself, and after each completed level you'll get a new weapon. The first time you play this game your weapon of choice will be very random. When you have played the game at least once and knows what kind of levels are coming up you can be better prepared by choosing the right weapons for that level. Your choice of weapons has a lot to do with what kind of view you get to play from and the amount of enemies.
LIke I said earlier, the levels are very different from eachother and take place in very different locations. The first level takes place on a cloud covered planet where the enemy has built flying fortresses armed with all kinds of weapons for protection. The fortresses mainly looks like rocks with a bottom of metal-thingies though. Each level has got a boss, and some of them also a miniboss. Even on the first level you'll get to see how impressive the bosses in this game are. They are huge and take up a lot of space, but you never feel like you need more space to fly around in, so that's also a good thing about the game.
- Graphics
The graphics are excellent in this game. Great animations that really has got an Axelay-touch to them, the explosions for an example are really unique for this game.
To be honest, just about everything in this game impresses me. All the enemies are very well drawn and the bosses are huge and awesome. The backgrounds are great as well, some of them might feel a bit monotome though, but they couldn't have been better.
The level that impresses me the most are the forth and the sixth levels.
The forth level takes place in the caves of a planet that has been ruined due to radioactivity from the enemies factories. There are all kinds of plants that grows on the walls of the cave and the bottom of it is filled with water. I don't really know how to explain the graphics in this level, but I'll quote an old friend of mine as he saw the forth level for the first time: "DAMN! Look at the graphocs! They are fucking awesome!" Heh. And the sixth level takes place at the enemies main battle ship. The ship is huge and I love the design of it. All the parts of the ship are filled with details and that prevents the cannons and enemies on it to be seen too easy. Just excellent!
- Sound
Great sound effects and great music. All of the tunes fits extremely well into the levels and then bring a great atmosphere to the game. And before every boss you hear something like an alarm that goes off and a voice saying something before the boss music starts. I especially like the music for the second boss, but all songs in this game are great and gives the game an even better feeling.
- Replayability
What can I say . . . I've owned the game since '94 and not even started to grow tired of it yet. The replayability is great, you can sit down whenever you want and just just play the game over and over again.
- Originality
This feels like an unique space shoot 'em up. I don't really know what's so great about it, I guess everything about it contributes. The enemies and bosses are original and so is the weapon system. And the weapons themselves are very original as well. The same goes for most of the levels. It isn't exactly grund breaking, but still very good out of this point of view.
- Overall
A good storyline accompanied by GREAT controls, level structure, enemies, bosses, weapons, music, background, just about everything. If you like space shoot 'em ups you will HAVE to buy this game. Even if it's ten years old. BUY IT!
- Rates
Storyline: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 9/10
Replayability: 10/10
Originality: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
//Benny
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