Gotta be honest... I wasn't planning on writing this review, but I have been on a pretty big SEGA Genesis fix as of late and I have teased you guys long enough, name-dropping this title constantly all-around my articles. The time just felt right to actually give a "face" to it.
What makes me appreciate this game the most is the fact that it was just one of three titles (the others being the original Super Mario Bros and International Super Star Soccer Deluxe) that my sister actually wanted to play with me (and, in fact, it was the last game we ever played together). Our friends didn't like the enormous violence of it, nor did they enjoy the simplistic gameplay (which basically boiled down to "shoot, reload, and shoot some more") that reduced your in-game presence to a crosshair and an ammunition meter. But we loved it! We loved going around shooting baddies. We loved strategizing, picking which side of the screen to take care of as we maneuvered around the many set pieces, and we loved beating on the bosses, often dividing the workload by having one of us deflecting projectiles while the other one attacked the big dude himself.
I always liked the bad guys on this game. They are both very generic and uniquely evil.
When my sister hit her teenage years, she pretty much decided that videogames were a waste of time and effectively stopped playing them altogether (in fact, I'm pretty sure she hasn't played anything since). When I got a SEGA Genesis Model 3, I excitedly told her about the possibility of trying our hand at all those classics again, but she just dismissed me with the kind of look that said a lot without actually saying anything. That stung, but I wasn't about to let THAT be the last memory I associated with this game, so I started playing it again that same night, and I eventually beat it. It wasn't the kind of celebration it should have been, but I'm glad that that was the last enduring memory I was gonna have with it.
Anyway... Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters is a very interesting game in the sense that it couldn't quite decide if it wanted to be one of the most ambitious things on the console or just one of its simplest offerings. The gameplay is fast-paced and full of action, but the set-pieces are horrendously blurry and have been compressed to hell. These real-life photographs they used looked really neat and all, but the compression artifacts they put them through in order for them to adapt to the GENESIS's color pallet really made them look awful and out-of-place. And it's a shame, too, because the game really directs your attention to them by placing a bunch of breakables all-over the stages (sometimes with rewards hidden on them). It's almost like a tug-of-war between their urge to showcase the world they created and the almost necessity make you forget about it. I call it "Proud Shame".
Do you get the unique weapon that you are gonna lose after being hit once but that is gonna wreck baddies left and right or do you protect your life points by going after the dude on the left? Decisions, decisions...
I love the digitized actors they used for the bad guys and innocent NPCs that wander around the area, and I'm gonna give the developers credit for the fact that they don't clash with the aforementioned backgrounds. Somehow, they both actually fit the same space in a believable manner. Kudos to them, honestly.
The music is really good and I love the sound effects as well: guns sound powerful, explosions make you feel the impact and the scenery gives a satisfying feel as it pierces and shatters. But the highlights are definitely the one-liners these Wild West scoundrels say as they try to bring you down. These guys (and the occasional gal) would shout stuff like "YOU AIN'T GONNA GET ME, SHERIFF!", "BACK DOWN OR I'LL PULL A GUN!" or --my favorite-- "YOU COULDN'T HIT THE BROAD SIDE OF A BARN!", which is pretty rich coming from someone who has just been turned into Swiss cheese (yep, one of the most hilarious aspects of this game is the fact that the death cries of your enemies don't interrupt their one-liners, so they kept talking as you kill them).
This dork brought artillery to a gun fight... which is pretty smart, actually.
This game has a lot of funny shenanigans, too.
I love the fact that some NPCs feel like waltzing about an actual gun battle, popping out of cover just to yell stuff like "DON'T SHOOT!", which gets on your nerves pretty fast... every "innocent victim" you kill takes away one life point from you. There are pretty egregious examples, too, like a saloon girl who feels like dancing around the site of a full-on battle, moving in the slowest way possible and doing her thing while people are getting turned into manure all-around her. My favorite one, though, was the drunk guy on the third stage that just casually stumbles his way to a back alley as dozens of people bleed to death around him, oblivious to the whole thing. That's beautiful.
I hate this part with a passion. It's just annoying, and it wrecks the flow of the game.
What isn't beautiful, however, is the fact that the game pulls a fast one on you by speeding up your "continue" counter every time you press the fire button while the countdown is active... and you are likely to be holding that button when it starts ticking down, because you were firing your gun when you got killed. That's really cheap. And I can totally imagine the developers putting that in for a quick laugh, too.
Bonus Stage! Destroy the barkeeper's livelihood! YAY...?
I started a new game because I wanted to relive some memories, and I ended up almost beating it in one sitting. I didn't expect it to hold up that well, but here we are... and now that I have written about it, it is my wish that you'll consider giving it a try yourself. It won't be the best thing you have ever played (I guarantee that), nor will it become your new definition of "Hidden Gem" (a bit too well-known for that), but it's gonna be one you are gonna have fond memories of. And for me, that's enough.
Til next time!
Pros
- + Fun and addicting.
- + Good replayability.
- + Excellent multiplayer experience.
- + Good music and sound effects.
Cons
- - Graphics are pretty bland.
- - The gameplay formula rarely changes.
- - Can be quite difficult even in the lowest settings.
8
Gameplay
6
Graphics
7
Sound
9
Replayability
7
out of 10
Overall
Lethal Enforcers II isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but there's enough to see and do here to at least guarantee a few hours of pure fun. Add this one to your collection, just don't expect it to be the centerpiece of it.
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