1942 (Mobile)

-Capcom / Super Happy Fun Fun (2006)

-played on a Sanyo 8300

The Story:

Shortly after Jonathan Striker’s victory over the Japanese Air Force in 1942, he partook in a brief and secretive operation. The documents for this mission were only recently declassified. According to the official reports, the remaining Japanese forces regrouped and attempted to launch a counter-attack against the carrier that Striker was stationed aboard. Striker knew they were after him. He didn’t want the rest of his crew members to get killed. Early one morning Striker took off from the carrier to take care of the remnants of the Japanese Air Force.

My Thoughts:

Capcom’s classic that kicked off their 1940s shooters has made its way on the cell phone. Although 1942 is very average these days, the mobile version does not do it justice.

The mobile version of 1942 isn’t nearly as long as the original with its 32 stages. The game starts on stage 8. Remember, the stages counts backwards in this game. In the final stage the game says “Last 1 Stages.” In these eight stages are only two bosses, one on stages six and one, which are actually three and eight. Only two other enemies appear in the games: the normal Zeros and the bigger bombers.

The graphics translated well to the phone format, but only to a point. The game lacks the differently hued blues of the water. This means the only sense you get of the screen scrolling is when a rare, lone island passes by underneath. The rest of the time your plane is seemingly floating in an endless space of blue.

The game is a challenge because of a few factors. You only get three planes for the entire game. There are no continues and I never earned an extra life. At least you don’t have to beat the game in one sitting. While there is not a stage select, the game will save if you need to leave it. The plane also flies very slowly and the auto-fire is always on; there is no option to change it. Usually auto-fire is a good thing in mobile games, but in 1942 it’s not. The plane only fires three shots at a time. This means that after every third shot you are completely unable to shoot down an enemy Zero is coming straight at you.

At least some power-ups are here to help with the fight. The familiar POW words floating in the sir and grant a variety items. There are a multi-shot, support planes, screen bomb and 500 points. The game doesn’t have the two power-ups it severely needs though; a much faster rate of fire and speed-up.

I didn’t think it was possible, but the music is even more annoying than the original. They managed to make a short, highly irritating MIDI track and make it even more so. There are no sound effects so the music is all you are going to get. You’ll definitely want the sound off at all times. I like the 1940s games, and was disappointed 1942 didn’t translate to the phone better.

Score: 4.0       

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