Probably the most diverse freeware vertical shooters; difficult!
Vertical shooters are in a way akin to the pinball genre; they don't have a huge envelope to explore and to play within, and so, as the history of pinball has demonstrated, the only way for them to innovate and stay fresh, as well as engage their hardcore fans, was to become more difficult. Parallel wise, vertical shooters have the same kind of problem, in that they need to be more difficult to entice hardcore fans, but while doing so, newcomers will have a hard time dealing with these games. At any rate, history and parallels aside, Another Zero is a fast, a very difficult and yet still very diverse vertical shooter. It's got a lot to offer. It is always interested in surprising you, and at times that takes the form of offering you long and difficult portions (very monotone in a way, but wait for it a sec!). When you think that the game has showcased its entire list of abilities and put down everything it has to offer, it changes things up, it puts forth a different kind of challenge. I tell you, if you're not too tired of the genre, you'll have some truly felt WTF moments! The good kind of WTF moments! I dunno, I will always pray at the altar of R Type but at times there are some gems in there that sure didn't get their worth and Another Zero is surely one of them.
