Irem Collection Volume 2

The Irem Collection consists of variations of three main titles - horizontal Contra-like shooter Gunforce, its sequel Gunforce II and top down vertical scrolling shooter Air Duel. All three can rightly claim to be classics from the height of 90's arcade gaming, but how does it stand up to modern standards?

Well, they're bloody hard for a start!

Whichever game you play it's a genuine pleasure to be challenged - there's no hand-holding, you're given a gun and thrown over the top into no-man's land and believe me it's a storm of bullets from minute one. But lets look at the games in order, selected from a carousel like menu that allows you to first select the title, and then the version you want to dive into.

GunForce is the side-scrolling bullet-hell that appears in both arcade and SNES port variations for your ducking pleasure. You can shoot in all directions (at fixed angles) and you'll take on soldiers and military hardware across a variety of stages. Developed by some of the team responsible for later (and more refined) Metal Slug games, this serves as an interesting proto run'n'gun. It has all the basic elements you expect - gun upgrades, occasional vehicle use and bullet-absorbing end of level bosses that will have you gritting your teeth and pounding buttons (and probably using a lot of continues) to make it through. One Metal Slug like component is that contact with enemies won't hurt you, just taking fire, so that allows for a little more flamboyant and risky gaming if you're up to it.

The arcade port allows for 2 players while the SNES port of 5 stages only offers solo killing sprees. Honestly, the ports are inferior to the arcade version and should be considered as nostalgic inclusions rather than a way to experience the game at its best. It is nice to see how the programmers tried to deal with the downgrade in power, but ultimately if you want the best GunForce, stick to the arcade. 

Gun Force II (aka GeoStorm) is a more refined version of the first game, with more carnage on screen as the game's increased processing power allows for my projectiles, explosions and weapon options. Dual-wielding action is on the cards with standard and special weapons, two players can go in guns blazing (Max or the curvier Lei). Everything feels more solid and bombastic in this game, from the mecha to the soundtrack, making this a superior experience and probably the best iteration of GunForce available anywhere. There's a lot more Metal Slug in presentation and humour here, so it really feels like unearthing a badass ancestor to a series you thought you knew already.

They both play just how you remember, but you have some quality of life improvements that come with the Casual modes of each title, which provide save states, rewind, cheats and DIP switch options. Only Classic affords access to leader boards, but I don't play online so that's not really much of a consideration for me personally - a good addition for those that like to flex their stats though.

So let's move on to the second style of shooter, Air Duel. The big "thing" here is the ability to switch between plane and helicopter between levels, with the plane having a more aggressive armoury and the helicopter providing more vectors of attack. You can deploy both if you have a friend handy, killing waves of air and ground based units before a boss has enough and comes out to slap you around a bit. This is a game I have no prior experience with, but it did remind me of Super SWIV which takes a similar duel pronged attack approach (though that used air and ground vehicles as I recall). 

It's a solid game with lots to recommend it - the pacing is solid, it feels fair  and relatively balanced, and the use of a rewind feature can help you to learn how to better approach the incoming wave of nasties that need introducing to your arsenal in ways both urgent and as theatric as you can make them.

The Package

Taken together, this is a solid selection of classic death-dealing arcade games from a studio with a fine pedigree. There's little in the way of hand-holding so older or hardcore gamers will feel at home just diving in, but some might find the lack of narrative and instructing detrimental. These are soft people unsuited for combat anyway and should stick to relaxing titles where they farm things. Only warriors who would strap a grenade to their noggin and nut the enemy into oblivion need apply.