Cobra-Command

This game is an honorable mention in personal fav NES games and another entry in the "Under the Radar" series.

This is an arcade port of the arcade game it's based on which was more of a basic shoot em up. But like with a lot of arcade ports back then sometimes there were those that decided to go the different direction. I feel this was a direction that can be beneficial as it can make the port game good in its own way and original.

This game was a lot of fun sometimes I pretended this was a "G. I. Joe" video game as I was flying one of the Dragon Fly's and shooting down Cobra's and blowing away Cobra bases; though due to the title you could always pretend your on Cobra's side flying one of the Fangs and blowing away the Joes.

The game is actually an action/strategy game similar to "Choplifter" and the "Strike Trilogy" for the Genesis; though it's also kind of a Metroidvainia, well not quite but has the elements of one. Personally, I love that because it gives the game a lot of depth and not just another dry point A though B run.

Graphical presentation is good, really like the designs of the vehicles, along with level design that brings that feel of in the war grittiness. Music is serviceable, it's nothing memorable but it fits the nature of the game.

But of course, what makes this game truly fly is the gameplay which is solid. I really like the control of game. Unlike the shoot em up where your vehicle is always ongoing, in games like "Choplifter" and the "Strike" series you have complete control and there is an added physics to make it feel slightly realistic to controlling a real chopper. You can go the basic up and down, but when you go forward you feel like you're really pushing forward, and it takes a slight mater of seconds to transition to the next section. Which makes sense as Choppers in aerodynamics need to build up a lot of wind power to not just stay up in the air but to be able to move forward. This in a way creates some suspense as you lose a little speed doing this along with when you go in reverse, so you need to move carefully but also there is that mystery as you never know what opposition you're going to face in that next section, so be prepared as you have a limited amount of time to do so. Another thing in the controls you can change the direction of your chopper by just pressing the start button, which I though was cool as in shoot em ups your always restricted to just simply one direction.

You go in the bases and their linear as their point A though B runs but there are some twist and turns along the way, like you run into a fork in the road and on one path it's smooth sailing but in another there are obstacles and opposition on another path. It causes you to do some careful calculations because, because even if you decide to go smooth sailing the obstacles and opposition undealt with will still be there, so it's a matter of is it better to deal with it now than have it be a problem latter.

Also another interesting feature is there is a slight RPG element, after you deal with the main objective in the base and rescue all the hostages your chopper gets some upgrades. From other weapons as well as strength in some of your previous ones; which are exactly what you need as when you fly further in the game the Strike missions get tougher and tricker.

This NES vintage classic flies high.

Rating: 3 and a half stars.