GamesRelay

Name: After Burner: Climax

The more mature gamers among you will no doubt remember back when Arcades dominated the fronts of most seaside towns, and chances are if you're old enough to remember that then at least once in your life time you'll have sat in a machine that threw you around both horizontally and vertically as you flew an F-14 Tomcat; yes ladies and gentlemen I am talking about After Burner from SEGA. First released way back at the dawn of time, well 1987, After Burner is the latest game to get a sequel, or remake, whatever you want to call it; After Burner is back and its brought with it a new shiny HD look on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 via the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade respectively. After Burner Climax was first released as an arcade update in 2006, why its taken so long to make it to the home market is anyone's guess as it's a perfect pick up and play title.

First things first, this is an all out arcade game, don't expect a lot of story for your money as you're going to be sorely disappointed, SEGA have stuck to their original concept and just made After Burner: Climax fun to play. If you really have to have a story to enjoy a game then there's one been thrown together; You play a member of the secret G.H.O.S.T. squadron known as the Brave Fangs Aero Team and your mission is to stop the outbreak of a nuclear war after the country diplomatically named "Z" (After Burner never did name the "Enemy") has threatened that they will be ready for launch in 48 hours and are prepared to use them. You scramble your plane, get in the air and blow the hell out of anything that comes near you until you find the enemies base and stop their launch.

The player takes control of one of three planes, the much loved and endearing F-14 Tomcat from the original has been replaced by the F-14D Super Tomcat, you get to fly a flashier and newer plane in a flashier and newer version of an old game; joining it are the F/A 18E Super Hornet and the F-15E Strike Eagle. As this is an arcade experience don't think you're going to be spending to much time worrying about the normal things you would in a flying game, you're going to be concentrating mainly on avoiding the many enemy aircraft and their many missiles, all you need to think about is not hitting the floor and making sure you throw as many bullets and missiles back towards them as you can manage.

The action comes quick and it comes furious, it can be a bit intimidating at first with the HUD flashing all kinds of things in your direction to get your attention, the scenery below you flashes past at break neck speed and the enemies come at you from all directions, but it's never anything but a blast to play and you soon get used to the frantic nature of it all pretty quickly, the controls are extremely simple to get to grips with, asides from the stick you've got buttons to control the speed and to fire your guns or missiles; of course another button actives the feature of the title, the provocatively titled Climax. The Climax is basically a bar that fills as you plough your way through the enemy planes, once the bar has been filled you press another button which temporally slows down the action and gives you infinite missiles while you pick out your targets, once your victims have been selected then your plane launches a frenzy of missiles and takes them all down in one go.

A few new additions allow you to select "Ex" options in the menu that changes the gameplay to varying degrees, you can add more credits so you've more of a chance of finishing the game, and other various cosmetic changes here and there to make your life a bit easier; There is also the chance to show off your prowess with the game via an online leader board in the Scores mode, it's a shame that this is as close as you get to multiplayer but as there was never a multiplayer mode in After Burner it's no great surprise.

The fun in the After Burner titles was never about flying a plane, it was all about speed and trying to stay alive more than anything else, while more emphasis has been put on hitting the enemies in this update, with the scores meaning much more than they did originally, it is still at its core just about staying alive long enough to complete your mission, honing your reflexes, and generally having a good time. Sure the graphics are flashier, very pretty indeed if you take the time to notice them and don't let the flashy stuff distract you too much, but you'll barely get the chance to notice them. It comes with both an all new soundtrack and the much loved After Burner 2 arrangement so fans looking for a truly retro kick will love to go even further into their childhood with that feature.

If you're looking for an arcade experience that requires very little thinking but lots of fun then you could do worse than to give After Burner: Climax a try, there's probably more in it for fans who remember the original games than there are for new-comers, some of the younger generation of gamers may just not "get it"; it is after all a very basic game with some very basic values, but boy, is it done very well indeed.