Capcom Arcade Stadium: Carrier Air Wing Review (Bagheera Magaro)
Oh bother. I'd give this one a "Mixed" Review, except of course Steam still doesn't grant that ability so guess who lost a coin toss. I love the art. The music isn't bad. But oh man is this not only tough but it's got a lot of my biggest gripes about these old arcade games out of all the games I've played in the Stadium.
No obvious "you've been hit" notice. Enemies on the ground isn't a bad thing...except you have no way to deal with them except to get SUPER close to the ground (or have the right power up, and even then ya gotta get pretty close to the ground) BUT THE GROUND DAMAGES YOU ON CONTACT. Then there's the nigh impossible "Perfect" bonus that requires you to destroy all enemies...including ones that you have no possible means of dealing with. I think the thing I disliked the most though were the powerups that would get completely unreachable, including a very vital refuel on the last boss.
I'd go on, but I really don't want to. This one is giving me mixed feelings. It looks good. It sounds okay. It has writing with decent grammar. I sorta liked figuring out how to deal with stuff. It attempts (but fails IMO) at RPG mechanics via a shop you use your merc pay to buy stuff in. It's even a spiritual descendant of a way better game! (Or so I am told since I've yet to play that game.) But the gameplay here is just nope. Unless you're super good at shmups, I'd say you can afford to try it once (on sale so it costs about as much as an Arcade Credit when prices were sane) but don't feel bad if you don't touch it again.