Sega Mega Drive: Hellfire

Year: 1990
Genre: Shooter
Players: 1
Our Rating: 9/10

Mini Review

Hellfire for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis is one of the great shooters of the 90’s and potentially all time. The game comes from an impressive stock of games from Toplan, if you love Fireshark and Truxton be prepared to be blown away by Hellfire. The games story line is very basic in that an evil robotic dictator known as “Super Mech” has started to enslave the galaxy. You and you alone (never quite sure why it’s only ever just you) have to play as Captain Lancer and take on the hordes of enemies. The enemies in this game will come thick and fast, you know that it’s going to be difficult when they add an autofire option in then menu. So you fire up the cartridge and silence. Have a look in the options… there’s more silence. You press the 1P start option and a world of sound explodes. Is this really the Mega Drive making this sound? A console ridiculed by critics and fans alike for its limited sound chip. However, Sega did a phenomenal job in recreating the original arcade music in to the home version. Every level you are treated to some of the most fitting music to any game ever. The music and game are so fast and frantic you will feel the adrenaline pumping.

For the videos I add to the page I like to complete the first level as best I can but really wanted to get through with loosing no lives as a matter of gaming pride. The tension was incredible as I was attacked from all sides, bullets flying and some near misses along the way. There had previously been some angry joypad throwing tantrums the day before as I was picked off by a near invisible bullet near the end of the level. “So what’s so special about another spaced based horizontal shooter?” You may ask. Well, not only are the graphics spot on, the music fantastic and the gameplay exceptional but the mechanics of the game force you to use strategy. Your ship is armed with four shooting modes. Forward, backward, up/down and diagonal. At some point or another you will have to switch to each of these modes to destroy the enemy (especially for boss fights). 

The game puts you in constant peril and you have to focus on your shooting style whilst avoiding the oncoming armada. As you would expect from a Toplan shooter there’s the obligatory powerup collectables to increase you fire power and also collectable super charges to unleash on the larger bosses. Speaking of bosses, Hellfire goes for the two for the price of one deal. Half way through each level you will meet a mini boss, these are fun and challenging. At the end of each level you will face an even larger more technically difficult boss. The presentation of the action works well for me here.

I’m giving Hellfire a near perfect score. I’m not quite sure what it could add to get the perfect ten considering this was 1990, perhaps a more clear plot and cut scenes might have been nice (although I do enjoy the Engrish). However, this is a near faultless game. I know that most will be crying out “How does it compare to games like Xenon 2, R-Type, Menace, Blood Money and the Thunderforce series?”. Well I can tell you all in good faith that Hellfire has won me over. Hellfire makes Xennon 2 seem slow, it makes the Thunderforce series look too polished and Hollywoodesque and it even manages to be at least as good as R-Type (in my opinion). If you haven’t played Hellfire and you are a fan of shooters prepare to loose hours and hours of your life. You’ve just found a new best friend!