Gameplay

The gameplay is simple. Shoot anything, dodge everything. The exceptions being, don't/can't shoot the enemy fire(so dodge) and you should'nt dodge power-ups.

There are a few different styles of enemy planes in the game. There are little ones that go down in 1 shot, slightly bigger ones that take 5 shots, some bigger then that which take more shots, and finally really big ones that take a lot of shots. Color doesnt matter. Almost. There are some orange ones that fly in groups. Destroy the entire group to gain a power-up.

The big difference between this and 1942 is you get to upgrade your plane now. Offense, defence, energy, special weapons and their timer length. You start off with 3 points to distribute and find more during gameplay.

Energy is your planes energy. Instead of 1 hit kills, you lose a bit of energy. This doesnt make the game easier. Energy naturally counts down, getting hit takes off more. You can find power-ups to refill it during the level and at the end of the level it fills up some. When energy hits due to time, you keep playing until you get hit. If you get hit and it drops to 0 or below, its game over

Special Weapons have timers too. Picking up any weapon will add to the current timer you have, but you will switch to the new weapon you picked up. When the weapon timer hits 0, you revert back to standard weapon.

Power Ups

First is a weak and slow spread fire. Don't get it, although it does shoot down enemy bullets.

Second shot is a longer range spread gun. Shoots 4 ways, doesnt take out enemy bullets, but can be shot fast. Longer range

Third is machine gun like weapon. Shoots strong, fast and straight.

Fourth is a cannon. Strong but you can't hit much with it.

Fifth is the super lasers. Strong. It's like the machine gun, but not as many shots but made up for with POWER.

There are the airplane wings powerup, that has 2 smaller planes on your sides, that are much better than 1942 but still not that great. I only saw them twice while playing. Didn't really see much good in them.

The rest are standard powerups for skills, energy, weapon energy and points

The Good

Power ups are good. A bit tricky to cycle through the list to get what you wanted but thats just part of the challenge.

The stat system is nice. Forces you to find secret hidden powerups to upgrade and get better stuff. Stuff you NEED to finish this game (unless you are uber godlike good)

Graphics are improved from 1942. Greatly.

Background music is nice, as are the sound effects

Good challenge

The Bad

Well, there are a few bad things in this game.

So hard at the end. VERY hard.

The End

Here are some screenshots. Stat distribution, gameplay, cut scenes. There is one of the fake ending at mission 16. 2/3 of the way through. And finally the ending, with my high score