1942 is one of the first shoot-em-up video games of it's generation, and one of the best I have played in my childhood and in my teens once again. This game takes place during World War II, when the United States fights against the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor which occurred 70 years ago. Now this game gets harder and beastly the more you progress, and now it's time to review this great classic game.
Plot. 1942, the year in which the United States joins the Allied Forces (United Kingdom, France, U.S.S.R) against the Axis Powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) in World War II, one of the world's greatest conflicts of all time. In this game, a pilot who flies the plane named Super Ace (modeled after a Lockheed P-38 Lightning), must achieve his goal of flying into Tokyo and destroy the entire Japanese fleet.
Concept. The mission objective is to fly all the way into Tokyo, Japan to take down the entire Japanese fleet while piloting the "Super Ace", modeled after the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
Design. 1942 is a vertically shoot-em-up video game, and it's viewed from an eagle-eye perspective. Now, I truly love how the designing of the game looks like and it's really cool to see how you go from seas, to landscapes later on when you're progressing much further. 1942 was one of Capcom's first breakaway hits, eclipsing the company's three preceding titles (Vulgus, Sonson, and Pirate Ship Higemaru)
Music. he music of the Commodore 64 version is based on the main verse of Ron Goodwin's 633 Squadron movie score.
Legacy. Upon it's release, 1942 became an instant hit in the arcades and many different consoles. It's longetivity has shown through in many re-releases over the years such as Capcom Generations 1 for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn consoles. And then, the game was re-released in the Capcom Classics Collection on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, as well as the Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for the PlayStation Portable.
Overall. This game has high replay value, and you'll enjoy it to the max. You can download it on the PSN, with the Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded, and also on the Wii Virtual Console. 1942 gets an 8 out of 10.