MIDNIGHT RESISTANCE

Ocean/Special FX £9.99/£14.99

Whilst working on a top secret research plan your grandad and five other members of your family are kidnapped by a mysterious alien force. You tough, stubble-jawed mercenary type are the one to rescue them! Leap off the back of a jeep and face nine levels of blasting mayhem. A barren cityscape catches your eye, but not for long because a horde of thugs run at you with murderous intent. Beat them and all you get is more hell!

You’re armed with a machine gun, but by collecting keys dropped by dead foes an end of level armoury can be entered. Your route ain’t easy: armed and armoured troops, armoured trucks and machine gun nests make their presence felt. Get to the armoury and you can take your pick from a range of large and very lethal weapons — shotgun, flamethrower, homing missiles, nitro (with a wonderful pyrotechnic display when launched), three-way and power ups. The weapon chosen is displayed in the status screen, along with the amount of ammo held. When empty, the extra weapon is dropped and you return to using your pea shooter (unless you picked up extra ammo in the armoury).

Midnight Resistance in the arcades is graphically good, but the game type has been seen many times before, which might lead you to think ‘yawn, another shoot-’em-up’, but Special FX have come up with the goods: programmed by the guy who brought you Batman — The Caped Crusader, Midnight Resistance is packed with blasting mayhem. Graphics are very impressive indeed, all sprites and backgrounds beautifully detailed, and the difficulty level is set just on the right side of frustrating. Highly recommended.

MARK — 94%

This guy can certainly hand out some serious aggro, and the game is amazingly addictive. You just have to pick up the joystick to be whisked into the hero’s combat boots. Graphically it’s great: the main sprites are beefy chaps who stride around as if they mean business (as indeed they do). The armoured vehicles that attack from time to time are tough to crack, and this is why it’s imperative to regularly visit the armoury. Seemingly impossible, but this game is more playable than its arcade parent! Brilliant!

NICK — 92%

Screenshot

RATING

An average coin-op transformed into a brilliant computer shoot-’em-up
Presentation87%
Graphics90%
Sound80%
Playability90%
Addictivity89%
Overall93%