Jackal - The hard Games of all time #9 - Retro Review

gabox (68)in #gaming • 8 years ago (edited)

We moved in the mid 80's where there was a large variety of consoles in the market and the arcades in each corner, at that time there were many games that took different ports with the Arcade version as the first, one of them was the great Jackal, this was one of the reasons why it is not so successful game, there were versions for console consoles that were really bad, (as for example the one of comodore 64), implying to many people that it was a medrioque game despite that the Arcade version was good, but not everything was lost, I reached the market the version of Nes in the late 80's, that for once was totally new in this world (the console), and gamers see this cartridge or lend attention for the bad experiences that gave them those consoles before the Nes.

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However, this port was something totally impressive, highlighting in a sublime way and surpassing the Arcade version, considered the best version for its great gameplay, although unfortunately for the things mentioned above the game is completely forgotten, but there will always be people who they will make known and prevail in the time line gamer these pieces that impelled to all the games what they are today.

To be one of the first games of the Nes has excellent graphics 8 bits, taking advantage of all the resources of the console in an optimal way, the sprites and animations go very well to be a game type shooter but with a great freedom of being able to move to any direction within the levels, our vehicle is very well designed making it seem as much as possible that it is a war jeep.

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Each of its levels are totally different as to its form and distribution of enemies, making it very pleasant to go through each of them, apart visually it is noticed that in each one of them we are entering more and more into a guarded military base until the end.

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Its playability is between comfortable but with a slight touch of annoyance, as I indicated above we can move to any direction we want in the level without being restricted by a camera in constant motion (like almost all shooters), this gives a very original touch but now comes the complicated part, we have two types of shots, with the B button we shoot a classic machine gun with pulse (every time we press the button will be a shot) but in this case will not be in all directions, up, this is sometimes stressful, you will have enemies to one side and if you are not used to think you can shoot them with this weapon, which will be impossible.

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But not everything is so bad, we have an excellent weapon that we use with the button A, which we can use to the direction that we like and also we can improve it, at the beginning it will be a grenade which when launching it will be a bit slow but with a great impact with a moderate range, this can be transformed into a high-range missile with a similar explosion and its third phase would be a missile with a field of explosion of a great scope, this makes that to eliminate to all the enemies is a delight, but do not let it hit you a bullet, you will automatically lose all these improvements, remaining with that primitive grenade.

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But how will we get these improvements? In each level we have the main mission of saving the hostages that are prisoners in certain parts of the game, some of them have as a "different" color they are those that allow us to increase the explosive power of the aforementioned weapon, that when transferring to our colleagues do not hit us, if this happens several die in the explosion of our vehicle, in certain part of the levels we will see an ally helicopter that comes to rescue them, when finding the helipad they automatically get off the jeep to leave and leave us to continue massacring everyone.

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The difficulty is very good in this game, taking into account that it is growing progressively as we progress in levels, this makes it very addictive because it allows you to learn in the first two levels the movements necessary to survive in the mission but not because of this will be happiness in every corner, as is expected to be a game of Nes will pull you gray if you do not have them, shots everywhere, enemies in places you do not expect, enemy vehicles that have high reach, bombs or missiles that persecute you and many more factors make this game a good challenge.

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As a Konami classic we will find a boss by level, and as expected as we go forward will be more difficult, although the mechanics to eliminate them is the same, have good reflexes and aim very well, if we want to battle against them is easy we arrive at this point with all the improvements of our explosive weapon, task that is not at all easy, but if we succeed it will be easy peasy.

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In addition we have a cooperative mode, it is really excellent to play with a partner or family member in each of their worlds pointing out different goals allowing the game to pass a little easier.

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Have you ever seen a game that excels in music to its original Arcade title? This is the case of Jackal for Nes, his soundtrack sounds excellent on the 8-bit console, surpassing all previous versions, each of his melodies give the right point for the style of play, in addition the music for the bosses they make it really exciting, the sounds I consider to be the right ones for a shooter, well crafted for the great Nes.

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Jackal is one of my favorite games within the extensive catalog of the Nes, offering you many hours of addiction for both its gameplay and its difficulty, it is a pleasure to go through each of the scenarios with a helping hand in its cooperative mode, really a work very well done by the great company Konami of old, if in your life you never played this video game recommended it extensively, just pass your first level you will want to eliminate even the last of the enemies.