Hi there!

 

A rather unusual vertical shoot'em up conversion from Sega:

 

 

Unusual, because unlike other spectacular arcade games from Sega at the time (Space Harrier, Thunderblade, Afterburner), this was a plain and simple oldskool 2D experience, converted to the C64 by Core Design.

 

The game offers 5 missions, each of which is divided into two different phases.

 

The first always starts on a motorcycle, straight into a Burnin' Rubber clone. Spiced up with the ability to shoot forward and some extra weapons of course, but at its core it's Burnin' Rubber.

 

If you play for a while, a SEGA truck will enter the screen and if you drive into it (True Knight Rider style!), it'll transmogrify the motorcycle into a... hm... buggy I think. It's a bit heavier on the road, so it can dish out harder bodychecks to the other vehicles.

 

Once you manage to collect a letter sequence from 'A' to 'F', the buggy transmogrifies into a plane and phase two kicks in, basically a clone of Xevious. It's really exactly the same except from different themed graphics.

 

Each time you press fire button you'll fire some shots forward and drop a pair of bombs onto ground targets. After fighting all the way through this phase, it culminates facing 2-6 boss vehicles that can take quite a couple of hits.

 

The game is the solid arcade translation you'd expect from a good team like Core Design, yet it's harmed by the average source material. It ends with a lame congratulations message.

 

Some future day the "Playing..." series may see another Sega Arcade conversion in the form of "Passing Shot", but first it'll continue with something else.

 

Greetings,

Manuel