Review of After Burner (NES)

After Burner is a shooter/flight simulation video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System released in 1989 and developed by Sun Soft. It's one of the more underrated flight simulator games on the NES has a few elements going for it. Let's go over them.

Story : Not much story to be had here. You're a fighter pilot and you have to kill the bad guys and save the world. The usual stuff but hey, the story isn't the reason you play these kinds of games.

Graphics : The graphics are only partly good. The main fighter jet is very well drawn and animated, it's easy to see where you are at any time. The enemies are mostly tiny but some are drawn well. None really have much frames of animation, they merely zoom in and out. The backgrounds in this game are pure garbage. The terrain is mostly replaced with a generic solid color of some sort. The levels, looks wise, are a huge let down and don't let you get into the game as much. Very disappointing.

Sound : The music is pretty good. There's great compositions, great arrangements, and great tones to be had here. The music is light, fun, and fits well. The sound effects are pretty generic but they get the job done. Overall, a solid effort musically.

Game play : The game play here is solid. The controls feel good and you get the hang of it you can kill the other fighter pilots easy. The dogfighting is the main part of the game, it's very fun and easy. Though that part is very satisfying, the level design is not very good at all. The levels are too short, and there isn't any difference between any of them.

The game's main downside is it's high level of difficulty. It's easy to dodge the first few missiles, but it quickly gets difficult as the first stage goes on. Many times it will only look like you're dodging the missiles, when in fact you're about to fly into them. The game isn't clear on when you're danger or not.

Re playability : Not much replay value because of the boring terrain, but the fun value from the dog fighting is good. It's worth going back to this cart for a few minutes every now and then, but not an extended play.

Overall : 5/10. A distinctly average game, leaning more on the bad side. Play if you want, but you're not missing out.