Irem was a video game publisher who made a lot of arcade classics like Moon Patrol, Kid Niki: Radical Ninja, Kung Fu Master, and R-Type.  They also made a lot of console games, including a couple of my favorites: Kickle Cubicle on NES and Steambot Chronicles on PS2.  Sadly they went out of business in 2011, but now you can play a handful of their arcade games in this collection.  This one includes a vertically scrolling shooter and a couple of run and guns, so let’s take a look at them.  Irem Collection Volume 2 is available on all current consoles, but reviewed on PS4 here.

Air Duel

It’s just a typical 90s vertically scrolling military shooter.  You can choose between an airplane with shots that go straight, or a helicopter that lets you tilt the shots from side to side.  You can also fire a bomb to clear out a bunch of enemies in front of you, but you have a limited supply but can collect more.  I wish you got more cool power-ups, though.  Just an average and serviceable shooter.

Gun Force

This one is a 2-D run and gun platformer.  Collect power-ups to increase your firepower and you can hop into stationary guns and other vehicles and move them around.  It’s a bit slow and clunky, but still not bad.  Two can play at the same time, too.  What’s really interesting is not only do they let you play the US and international versions of this arcade game, but also the SNES version as well.  It’s a bit slower and doesn’t have as much stuff going on screen, but it’s still pretty close to the arcade game.  I was impressed.  I didn’t even know it was a SNES game, but then, it wouldn’t have been on my radar back then anyway.

Gun Force 2

This arcade only sequel definitely took some inspiration from Metal Slug, as you can hop inside lots of vehicles, there are tons of explosions, things going on, and crazy enemies, and you rescue hostages this time.  It’s still not as good as Metal Slug, but still fun.

And those are all the games!  You can play in casual mode, where you can rewind, activate cheats, and more.  Or classic mode which has limited continues and doesn’t have all the extra options, but you can only earn trophies here.  My only problem is that there are only three games on here.  I didn’t even review the first volume because all it had were shooters in the Image Flight series which I had no interest in.  I just remember back in the day when arcade collections would have at least twice as many games on them, if not more.  But at least the ones on here are decent to good.

Kid Factor:

Irem Collection: Volume 2 is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, and Suggestive Themes.  You can shoot vehicles that explode and when you shoot people, they just scream “argh” and fall over.  I didn’t notice any blood, but all the hostages you rescue are bikini clad women for some reason.  But I grew up playing these types of games and I turned out OK.

Tags: Game Reviews