Video Game Review of Air Fortress (NES)

Air Fortress is a unique video game released in 1989 on the Nintendo Entertainment System by developer Hal Labs, the same folks who developed the immortal Kirby games. Does Air Fortress showcase the talent that would later be used to make the Kirby games? Let's check it out.

Story : No idea what the story is, I'm pretty sure nobody knows. As far as I can tell your goal is to go to fortresses on your speeder bike, penetrate the fortresses, blow up the central core, then bow out before anybody knows what's up. That's a cool enough concept for me.

Graphics : The graphics in this game are minimal, but satisfactory. The speeder bike section of the game looks like a shoot em up you've seen a million times. The other stage type of the game is your basic action plat former. Like I said, the graphics in this game are minimal overall. You're a simply drawing with a few animations, the enemies are the same. The backgrounds are mostly the same with palette swaps. Nothing special here, but nothing particularly bad either.

Sound : Air Fortress' music is quite good, if underrated. The tones, compositions, and arrangements are all solid and fit the levels well. The sound effects likewise fit well, but there isn't an abundance of them. The plat former section of the game features music which has gone on to be quite popular and has been covered by bands like The Advantage.

Game play : The game is almost like two games in one. The controls for both are very good and feel great and responsive. In particular the plat former section of the game requires very sensitive directional pad controls. Both games are very fun for the most part. Some say this game is far too easy, but I consider most of the games on the Nintendo far too difficult so this is a nice change of pace.

The level design doesn't change too much level to level, which is unfortunate. The music also doesn't change, so things can get boring after a long play. This game is very lighthearted though, and makes for a good game to play if you're alternating between two players. The password system is very good.

Re playability : Extremely re playable! A definite keeper if you can find this cart somewhere. Highly recommended.

Overall : 7/10. Minimal graphics, lack of variety of music. But great game play make this one a game you'll keep coming back to over the years.