Nerdicus NES Review #31 : Airwolf

Title : Airwolf

Publisher :  Acclaim

Genre : Combat Flight Simulator / Shooter

Players : 1 Player

Release Date : 1990

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $3-5

Happy Cyber Monday, folks! My apologies for the lapse in having a Friday post, but ya know it's the holidays and we should all be spending that time with family. But, now that the holidays are over (for now anyway), it's time to go back to some good old retro gaming in between my bouts of watching Netflix on my PS4.

What? Isn't that why I spent $400 on a new game system? There aren't many games out for the PS4 yet, and I'm only really playing Battlefield 4, so I don't really have any other use for it. I would much rather prefer to go back and get my retro on.

So what's next. Ah, AIRWOLF! The James Bond of helicopters. Never saw the TV show, I was only like 4 years old when it aired. But if the TV show is as bad as the game is, well then I obviously wasn't missing out on much.

As the title suggests, you are in command of the highly advanced military helicopter code named AIRWOLF. 

Just check out that bad ass air wolf emblem. It's obviously a cross between a dragon, a wolf, count dracula, and a muppet from sesame street. Oh and there's a goat on your head. Don't forget that.

Seriously, WHAT THE HELL is that supposed to be!?

I'm sorry we haven't even started playing the game yet, and I'm already complaining. Can't help it. It's one of those games that just BEG to be ripped apart. Which reminds me, I'm going to have to catch a few episodes of Airwolf on Netflix later. I need this to carry on through the entire day.

Anyway, you are given missions by Tom Selleck in an eye patch. No, seriously. Don't believe me? Look.

Now that you've received your mission from Tom Selleck, it's time for you to blow up some aircraft. Oh man, this is exciting. I've been waiting for a good NES combat flight simulator since we started this review process. I can just tell this one is it!

Okay, maybe I was wrong.

The game looks, feels, sounds, and plays like an atari game. In fact, that's doing it justice because I've played better combat flight simulators on the atari. So let's go through each complaint shall we?

Looks - Just look at that screenshot above. That's it. That's all you see every level of this game. You're bullets are plus-signs and your missiles are disco balls. Enemy aircraft look like blotches on the screen half the time. The cockpit is the most detailed part of the game, but it's too much clutter. The map makes no sense. I mean I get you have the ENEMY location, your home base, and where the prisoners are but I spend all my time looking at the map and not even at the window in front of me. If only the gameplay segments looked as good as the cut scenes, we may have had something.

The sound isn't too bad. Music is catchy, but sound effects are horrendous.

Gameplay - don't get me started. Garbage. That's all I can say. Absolute garbage. I don't even know how to get from point A to point B. I never seem to be moving. If i somehow manage to get close, I end up dying anyway so it doesn't even matter. You'll be seeing this screen a lot.

There's not much more that can be said about this game. It's one you have to avoid. The only purpose this cartridge would have was to act as filler for your shelf.

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time. Keep on gaming!