| Top Gun: The Second Mission by Konami was a great game back in the day when it was released. It's the sequal to the now classic Top Gun released sometime in 1987. In Top Gun: The Second Mission your are once again placed in in the role of Maverick, everyone's favorite high flying hot shot fighter jock in the United States Navy. Strapped into the cockpit of the awesome F-14 Tomcat. Screaming with a vengance through the blue and cloud filled skies above doing rolls and loops. All while your cruising at a blistering mach 2.5! Proving why your the best of the best has you engage an armada of enemy fighter jets up in the air in furious dog fights. Let death and destruction rain down upon enemy driven tanks, ships and submarines who threaten you on the ground and the high seas. All has you fly to complete this new mission. Another challenge lays before you. A new threat is on the horizon, can you step up to it? It'll take all your skill and courage to even dare to succeed. You earned your wings in Top Gun. Now lets see if you can keep them! Graphics: 7
In concidering the quality of this games graphics you have to remember what its up against. That being the first Top Gun released by Konami back in 1987. The graphics that appeared in that game were the standard for NES games. Now Top Gun: The Second Mission was released only a year later and graphics were much improved. Everything looked sharper, more detailed and was bigger. Using more colors and sprites has well. I'm not saying that the displays or renderings were perfect. They just were numerous small improvements in this game over the original Top Gun on the NES. It added to the experience, making what is in my opinion a good game simply even better. Sound: 8
I think this version boasts better music than the first. Though I miss the title screen music from the first game that was barrowed from the movie. It just further made you believe that you were Maverick and in your back seat was Goose. You were the best of the best and nothing could stop you. I digress though, the music in this game seemed faster paced. Making your adrenaline pump has you locked horns with the enemy fighter's. Lighting up the sky has you blazed around in a furious dog fight. The music did a good job of keeping pace with the game over all. Drawing you into the fray and not letting go till someone crashed and burned! The other sound affects has well seemed improved, though some seem to be the same. Lifted from the original. Its always the little things that will get yo sometimes. Like the voice that says ""Take Off"" when you launch from the aircraft carrier into the chaos that awaited you ahead. Gameplay: 9
This was the best part of the game in my opinion. No more was it just an arcade fight sim with Top Gun stamped on it with the name of the main character thrown in for good meassure and affect. Has you flew mission to mission. Getting briefed (and I mean brief) about your missions. Its a little more detailed now. Giving you a better idea about what you are going to have to accomplish to advance. Thats a small detail though. Has it doesn't luanch into a huge back story. A few words are added into the mix, filling out the descriptions more. Something that annoyed me about the first game. However, the things that really make this better than the original Top Gun or any other flight sim at the time is the two added modes of play. Go head to head with your friends in a dog flight that will go down in aviation history. Prove to the world who's the world's top new flying fighter ace! Shoot your machine cannon and let the hot red bullets rain down upon your enemy. Sending him down in a blaze of fire and deafeat. If playing againt your friend isn't of interest to you then take on the Reds! Has the best Soviet pilots Russia has to offer are now hot on your trail. Shoot'em down and progress in rank has you accumulate military prestage. Has every enemy pilot becomes more of a challenge. Harder to nail down, has you chase them all over the sky or hide from them in the clouds when they get a lock on you. Its almost a crab shoot everytime has you roll the dice. Has the enemy A.I. is pretty good for this game back in the day. They do have routines, though they are small and not always exploitable. I just always thought of them has the enemy pilots signature flying style, if nothing more. It sure is fun becayse you won't win all the time. I always loved to go head to head against the computer and achieve the highest rank and then play the arcade mode. Simply because it makes you feel to hot to stop and its good training has well. Overall: 8
I think this is a good game, if not a great game. Even if you were to take away the highly reconized Top Gun name. It was the best flight sim released on the Nitendo Entertainment System. It is a must have for anyone with a love for the gene, fans of the first Top Gun or Nintendo fan. Someone who wishes to relive the days of thier childhood, when Nintendo was simply the best of the best. I hope some people found my review informative and insightful. I only wanted to try and share a game that has long been a favorite of mine and try to get other people to want to experience it. To find out why I thought it was so good of a game. |
