Review: Metal Storm (NES)

Metal Storm is a lesser-known game from developer Irem, better known as the creators of the R-Type series.  While it shares some similarities in design and pacing to R-Type, it also happens to be one of the most unusual platformers ever to grace the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Even now, platformers featuring player control of gravity – such as Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy – are considered revolutionary.  Truly, Metal Storm was ahead of its time.

So, Grand Theft Auto is violent you say?

The GTA series has been the bane of over protective parents since ’97. It’s violent missions and utter disregard for the value of video game character, errr um, human life has been called one of the most violent games of all time. GTA has been blamed for kids being numb to violence by one too many news stations.

Now I love me a good shoot ‘em up game, don’t get me wrong, but I wanted to see where this genre actually crossed the line of wtf because GTA hasn’t really done it in my opinion. Yes it’s violent, but there are lots of games out there that are more grotesque. One of those games is the infamous Postal.

He’s baaaaaaaaack…

Well few pieces of news have literally blown me out of my seat, but I can fairly say that this one definitely did the job.  After waiting and waiting for the clock tower movie to announce some updates, I thought the franchise was dead, and I moved on to expecting other games and playing Penumbra. But then today, lo and behold: Remothered! An amazing, freaking scary, remake of all that goodness you can’t find in a game today (without a stamp of M).

Why are Shmups so Unpopular?

My first contribution to Continue is this updated version of an article I wrote back in 2008. You can look forward to more features and reviews of shmups from me in the future – among other things!

I think it’s fair to say that 2D scrolling shoot ‘em ups, or “shmups”, don’t sell nearly as well as they used to.  Back in the days when arcades were the ultimate hang-out spot and the Super Nintendo’s Mode7 effects were impressive, it seemed like every game was either a platformer or a shmup.  Nowadays, mainstream reviewers and gamers alike seem thoroughly disinterested in the genre.  What the heck happened?