Way back in the day, kids had a collective gathering spot which was called an arcade-usually filled with machines which granted playing time when fed coins. Most of these arcade cabinets ate up our weekly allowance or earnings, but then console gaming came along and ushered us back into our houses; reminding us that it was okay to be hermits. Those of us who remember the more social glory days of coin-op fighters (and the real fights that could break out as a result of them), light gun shooters, and shootemups will appreciate the online arcade-style games which welcome some of these genres back into our lives at what many will see as a reasonable price point.
1942: Joint Strike is a throwback to Capcom's arcade 194X series, which puts players in the cockpit of a fighter plane looking to take on some sizeable foes. The WWII-themed shooter is presented on a 2D plane with 3D graphics-- and HD this time around. This change neither harms nor helps the game in presentation or gameplay-it just makes everything a perfect fit and sharp as a razor on an HD set.
Unfortunately, there isn't much to really set it aside from other online shootemup offerings like Ikaruga, or even the dual-stick shooters which are all the rave (next to this handy remake trend). It plays well, with each available craft to pick from handles just a little differently than the others, and the controls are tight as well. Firing your guns is mapped to the X button, and a missile strike is set to both the circle and square, with triangle being a bomb to wipe the map of all onscreen threats.
With a health bar, your ship won't go down in just one shot, and every now and then you'll come across a shield, extra life, or health bonus. There are also a handful of power-ups to collect, initially changing you firing pattern to a spreadshot, wide fire, laser, or row of shots, which can be upgraded by a few levels if you follow the ladder of whatever you've acquired. Otherwise, it will reset to the most basic version of each weapon. As well, players can get into a co-op version online or locally, in order to take on the game's behemoth bosses.
Overall, it's as basic as a 2D shootemup can get, while still playing very well. Complaints that are fairly warranted against 1942 are that players will be reset to the beginning of the game once they get a game over, which can become a pain in this day and age for those who want to either reach the end of the game, or not have it set to easy in order to see the last boss. Another matter was that1942 would insist on not being able to find a game save file, and ask upon each new load of the game whether or not one should be created. Hopefully this is an issue that will be patched in a very near future.
There isn't more than an hour or two of play in the title outside of the high scores players will try to outdo each other on with the leaderboards, but the gameplay is challenging and fair enough. For those of you who still have an inner child with the patience to memorize levels based on geometrical waves of enemies and patterns, that's going to be the sort of attraction you'll find to this game in the first place. Others who aren't interested will stay that way-and you can count me somewhere in between.
As a title that doesn't stand out in any particular category other than nostalgia, 1942 still holds up well as the shooter it is. I can't make a recommendation that it's worth the $10 on the PSN, or 800 points on XBLA, but at maybe half those prices we could talk. For anyone intensely curious, a demo is also available on both the PSN and XBLA-so there's no reason to be kept guessing on whether or not it's worth your money or not.
