SNK Summer School: Guerilla War (PS Minis)

Last of the old SNK pre-Neo-Geo arcade classics that are now available to download on PS3 and PSP as PS Minis is Guerilla War. It was a 2-D vertically scrolling shooter starring two army dudes as they shot guns and threw grenades at enemies in fortified jungle fortresses. So basically, Ikari Warriors with better graphics.

I’m actually surprised they never considered Guerilla War a sequel to Ikari Warriors (the real sequel was called Victory Road), as both are pretty much the same game. Similar to other arcade games like Commando, you must travel upwards through the wilderness, blasting enemy soldiers and blockades along the way. You can aim your gun in eight directions to fire at soldiers from all sides. Throw a limited supply of grenades to blow up buildings and groups of enemies. Collect power-ups to increase your firepower. Sometimes you can climb in a tank for better shots and defense. Just make sure to hop out of it before it runs out of energy and explodes!

Just like the port of Ikari Warriors, this game has the same problems, too. There are two control options for aiming your gun, and both have their advantages and disadvantages. You can either use the L and R buttons to rotate your gun, or automatically aim whatever direction you’re moving. It would’ve been nice if you could have done the latter, but had the option to strafe when you wanted to shoot in one direction.

The other problem is the two-player mode, or lack thereof. It’s understandable that they didn’t do this for the PSP, but why not when you play it on the PS3? If you can do two players, I haven’t figured it out yet. Picking up the second controller just lets you control the first player, no matter how many quarters you put in. But if you don’t mind just playing solo, this is still a decent arcade game after all these years.

Kid Factor:

Guerilla War is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood and Violence. As this is the most recent of the SNK arcade classics ported as PS Minis, the visuals are slightly more graphic. When you get shot, you can see a little bit of red, and defeated enemies scream out when killed. This may frighten young kids, but I’d be OK with gamers younger than teens playing this. I played this back in the day when I was only 11 or so, and I turned out OK. Limitless continues keep things from being too frustrating, and reading skill isn’t needed.

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