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Playing Life Force (NES)

Cybergoth

Entry posted by Cybergoth

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Hi there!

 

Once again having some blasting fun, with the sequel to Gradius:

 

lifeforce.gif

 

Well, back in the day this was the sequel to Gradius. Next came Vulcan Venture, then strangely enough Gradius III. Things not getting easier here when I'm telling you that in Japan there's also Gradius II, which is not the same as Life Force. At this point I should mention that Gradius is also called Nemesis in Europe and Life Force is known as Salamander. Then there's this Arcade called Salamander 2. Well, things could be worse considering that e.g. Contra is called Gryzor on the C64 and Probotector on the NES in Europe... (Anyone still with me? :ponder:)

 

I think it's better for the moment to just pretend we're in 1988, when Life Force was the sequel of Gradius okay? (Or Salamander the sequel of Nemesis on the C64...)

 

The first level starts out pretty much like Gradius, but we're in for a big surprise in the second, which is scrolling vertical. Well, actually it took over an hour to get to that surprise, which then was rather short, since after the brutally hard entry level I beat the vertical one on the first try ;)

 

The game is alternating between horizontal and vertical stages for the six levels it has. The extra weapon system and gameplay are the very same as in Gradius. Konami showcases some impressive graphic tricks, especially in the third "fire" stage, which unlike their later NES efforts as in "Monsters in My Pocket" or "Adventures of Bayou Billy" never turn into a flicker fest. The music ain't on par with Gradius though.

 

I've managed only the first 4 stages today - I'm a big fan of Gradius, so I set up a rule for savestates in order to not rush it through: I'm saving only when I beat a level without dying! :-o

 

Looking forward to beat it tomorrow.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

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Cybergoth
Great game :)

 

It's a good game, but Gradius > Life Force in my opinion :D

 

The final two levels I beat rather fast, so either I was getting warm or they were a bit easier than the others. At least we can celebrate the return of a real classic:

 

lifeforce_x.gif

 

Yep. The good old spaceship-flying-away-from-exploding-planet ending! :ponder:

 

Some future day the "Playing..." series may see another horizontal scrolling shmup in the form of "Armalyte", but first it'll continue with something else.

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Impaler_26

Life Force is one of the few NES games i liked. I didn't know that it has six stages, i never got past the 3rd stage... :ponder:

 

Too bad C64 fans only got an incomplete version, Salamander has only 4 levels and no animated ending. :)

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Cybergoth
Life Force is one of the few NES games i liked. I didn't know that it has six stages, i never got past the 3rd stage... :ponder:

 

The third one is by far the hardest! :)

 

Too bad C64 fans only got an incomplete version, Salamander has only 4 levels and no animated ending. :D

 

It's still very good and the 4 levels it has (1-3, 6) are closer to the Arcade than the NES levels. Overall they couldn't really beat Konami doing their own game though :D

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