Kill 'em all!
Here's one of Treasure's lesser known titles but like the classic Gunstar Heroes, this is another cracking slice of side-scrolling action. It's a mix of the aforementioned title along with bits of Metal Slug and Contra that's all wrapped up with that superb Treasure visual style that just oozes quality. The story is the usual bonkers nonsense, with the player in control of Epsilon Eagle, the former leader of a group of mutants. These mutants have now been turned into terrorists by the evil Xi-Tiger so it now falls to you to battle against your former comrades. What follows is a side-scrolling shooter that first requires you to choose four weapons from a selection of six before heading out into the main game. The levels are quite short but there are 25 of them and which mostly involve the usual run 'n' gun sort of thing but there's some variety added by the boss fights and your special abilities like teleportation and morphing into a powerful phoenix. Although the side-scrolling sections are actually quite short, with the main focus on the boss battles, this remains a first-class adventure all the way. The visuals are absolutely lovely, with that beautiful 90s look, full of massive sprites, cool explosions, slick effects, and wonderful enemy and environmental design. The action comes at you hard and fast, never letting up, while the selection of weapons and abilities helps to mix things up. The controls are spot on and the sound is very atmospheric so if you're into old-school shooters, this is a must play.
