SEGA originally released After Burner to arcades in 1987, followed by After Burner II almost immediately afterward. Now, SEGA is at full throttle with the release of After Burner Climax on Xbox LIVE and the Playstation Network. If you’re a fan of arcade shooters, find out why you should take off to the LIVE marketplace at Mach 7 and pull the trigger on this title.
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After Burner Climax offers you over 20 stages of lightning-fast explosive gameplay, with the option to branch out in different directions at specific times. With this option, you can access new stages, unlock secret stages, and keep the game fresh every time you play it. There are 3 planes to choose from, each with 4 custom paint jobs such as camouflage and low visibility. The game has 3 primary modes to play through, including Arcade, Score Attack, and Training. Beyond that, you have 28 un-lockable EX OPTIONS for modifying the game while playing Arcade Mode. Finally, in Score Attack, there are 30 possible medals to earn, for both skill, and the lack thereof.
Arcade Mode offers the most in terms of variety, with the optional use of the EX OPTIONS, some of which will make your mission easier, and others which can immensely increase the difficulty. Unlocked by completing specific objectives in Arcade Mode, these options unlock a variety of abilities including extra credits, auto-machine guns, easier combo linking, and much more. The game allows players to modify as many options as they would like in this mode, but your scores will not see the light of the online leaderboard. Controls are very user-friendly, the use of two face buttons for missiles and gunfire, and triggers to control the speed. Beyond that, easy maneuvering of the analogue stick will help avoid missiles and perform helpful barrel rolls. (Fox! Do a barrel roll!) In the event that you feel you’re overwhelmed by oncoming enemies, which we guarantee will happen, you can activate the climax attack. This allows you to temporarily move in slow motion, target any and all enemies on screen and unleash a devastating attack to destroy them all.
While playing in this mode, special objectives will appear, such as taking down a stealth fighter, saving friendly units, and destroying missiles prior to them reaching a target. Although failure of these special objectives won’t hurt your progress in the game, it will block you from getting a particularly difficult achievement. While you progress through each mission, at specific points you’ll be required to choose your route and complete levels of your choice. Based on your combo’s, overall score, and general skill of avoiding death by a massive barrage of missiles, you earn stars on each mission, and two secret stages can be accessed by earning at least 4 stars on specified missions. In the end, the arcade mode can be chalked up to being the mode you play to enjoy some intense and explosive fun.
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Score Attack Mode is the one for those of you that enjoy showing off your skills. To attain a high ranking spot on the overall leaderboard, players will need to memorize enemy patterns, carefully combo your kills, and avoid [almost] certain death. Unfortunately, to keep it skill-based, the EX OPTIONS are not applicable in this mode, and everything will be at the default settings. Leaderboards are viewable for overall players, yourself, as well as your friends. While it’s a basic setup, and you will not see any leaderboard-related notifications during the game, it’s unlikely you’d even have the time to look at them, considering the amount of focus required to attain a top score. Aside from crushing your friends scores, most players will likely want to stick to the arcade mode.
Visually, After Burner Climax is a real gem, with extremely deep rich colors, magnificent lens flares and abundant smoke trails. Running at a silky smooth 60 frames per second, the game offers a thundering sense of speed which adds to the intensity of the overall experience. The enemies, whether it be the planes, choppers, or others are all very distinct in design and color, and still decently visible at high speed. Levels are sparkling with beauty, and vary in settings, including bright orange sunsets over the ocean, above the clouds, through volcanic mountainous areas, and many more. Textures fall short for some details, most noticeable are some of the mountains when you get too close, but this is barely noticeable when stacked against the positives surrounding After Burner Climax. As you fly throughout the game, you will be treated to hundreds of fiery explosions all around you. Beyond that, the lighting effects are glamorous, and the game is simply a beautiful experience in its entirety.
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While playing through the game, you have the option of using the After Burner Climax music, or you can go retro with the After Burner II music. Both are relatively decent tracks with a fast beat to help keep your head in the game. You’ll know when you’re locked onto enemies by hearing a beep, as well as seeing a reticule become apparent on them. Aside from that, you’ll hear the after burners as you speed up or slow down, and you’ll hear your gunfire as well as missile launches. Everything blends together quite well for a well-rounded experience.
In the end, After Burner Climax has definitely proven itself to be a fantastic arcade-style shooter, with massive amount of replay value for those who want every EX OPTION as well as all the medals. Decent sound, stunning visuals, and a solid single player experience with simple yet addictive gameplay elements. The game can be completed in as little as 6 minutes, but being a true arcade-style game, you’ll find yourself enticed to play through many, many times as you’ll constantly be unlocking new EX OPTIONS, earning medals, etc. For the very worthy price of 800 :MSPoints: or $9.99 (PSN) fans of the genre will surely get many hours of enjoyment from After Burner Climax. For more information, head over to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, or check out the Playstation Store.
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