Capcom's CPS classic (Forgotten Worlds)

Member Name: sagat

Product:	Forgotten Worlds
Date:	16/02/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great weapons, awful dialogue! Just the way we like it

Disadvantages: Bit short

Forgotten Worlds is Capcom's CPS1 masterpiece, which was ported to a variety of other systems.

Many moons ago, my brother and I were given a Megadrive for Christmas along with Altered Beast (Wise fwom your gwave!) and Ghostbusters. Every birthday or xmas after that, we would be allowed a game, as in those days, £35 was a fair bit of cash! For my birthday I went to the game shop and chose Forgotten Worlds.

I have NEVER regretted that decision.

You are humanity's last hope against the alien scum who have invaded Earth. Playing on your own, or with a friend, you fly through the skies dealing out futuristic damage with your arsenal of weapons.

The game differed to shoot em ups of the time for a few reasons.

1) You have a life bar and as such can withstand a barrage of attacks. You can top up your life at the ingame store as well as by finding health power ups hidden in the game. You can also buy armour which makes you invincible for three or five hits.

2) In two player mode you have unlimited continues as long as one of you is still alive.

3) Most enemies, when hit, leave behind Zenny (Capcom's currency in its games) By collecting this, you can stop off at the store and buy new weapons, upgrades, armour, health, potions or information.

4) You have a satellite which also fires shots. You can move all over the screen and rotate yourself with the satellite to fire in all directions. This is essential as enemies come from everywhere!

Purists of the genre may not like some of these ideas, but I still think they are excellent. Trying to complete the game with different weapons if great fun and adds replay value.

The console and computer ports are not as good as the original CPS1 version in arcades. The Megadrive version misses out one of the boss fights, a couple of levels and some of the weapons work differently for example. The music, effects and graphics are not as good, but still of high quality for the time.

You are forced to battle through a variety of stages- ruined cities, egyptian level, cloud base and final tower- each with a snippet of plot conversation inserted. None of these conversations make much sense, but this only adds to the charm of the game.

The action is frantic and the difficulty is spot on for my tastes. I have recently got the original arcade version and am trying to work my way through it to complete it on one credit as I was able to do on the Megadrive version.

This is not the best shooter ever made, but it certainly is not the worst, and for retro fans, it will no doubt bring back some great memories.

Summary: Well worth a try