Digital Storm isn't just a boutique PC shop — it's a group of engineers striving to innovate in the PC space. Now…
Heavy Unit is a side scrolling shoot-em-up arcade game developed by Kaneko and published by Taito in 1988. It was ported to the PC Engine and Sega Mega Drive by Taito and was released on December 22, 1989. There was also a Mega Drive port by Toho entitled "Heavy Unit: Mega Drive Special" released on December 26, 1990. The player takes control of a star ship that can transform in to a mecha by obtaining a specific type of power up. Set in 2013, mankind's first artificial star and planet, "Le Tau", is under attack from genetically modified alien monsters. The player must navigate a "Heavy Unit", a heavily armed, transforming mecha, in order to defeat the onslaught and protect the human colony. The player's ship had two forms: a space-ship and a giant robot. Players started controlling the Heavy Unit in its space-ship form as default. As they progressed, they could change the ship into its robot form, thus changing its firing mode and mobility. A checkpoint was active however and the Heavy Unit only had one hit. Power Ups are dropped by a specific enemy ship which appears in fixed points during the levels. Every level of the game contains a mid-boss and a final boss. Both the ship and the robot modes use two fire buttons, one for the primary (frontal) fire and one for auxiliary fire. The ship mode uses a frontal laser gun which becomes a spread show with the power ups, plus missiles which drops like bombs as auxiliary fire. The robot mode has a frontal laser gun which increases in power with the power ups plus homing missiles as auxiliary fire. An interesting element of the game is represented by the hidden bonuses (usually 1UP) which can be revealed by shooting certain parts of the scenario or by continuously hitting certain indestructible enemies. There is at least one hidden bonus in every level of the game.
Digital Storm isn't just a boutique PC shop — it's a group of engineers striving to innovate in the PC space. Now…
A generation of military first-person shooters like Call of Duty and Battlefield may have millions of kids…
Look, folks, tablet makers are going to keep trying to seduce you. Armed with numbers that you don't necessarily…
With all eyes on Nintendo's reveal of the Wii U price and release date for North America this morning, a gem like…
It's been a great year for prospective SSD shoppers as prices are finally becoming more practical for system…
Luke's Note: We're joined again tonight by Patrick Wyatt, a games development legend and former Blizzard executive…
Call it beginner's luck: my first round of XCOM: Enemy Unknown's multiplayer was my strongest showing. It came down…
Lots of people play fighting games. Many are happy to use their standard control pads. But real fighting game…
XCOM: Enemy Unknown reintroduces itself immediately with very familiar themes of sacrifice. In the first mission, a…
The physical feature that most impressed players of the first great Company of Heroes real-time strategy game was…
Advertisement