Hellfire - Megadrive/Arcade
I am the god of hell fire and I bring you: Hellfire!. And so forth. Hellfire was a game with a big rep around our way back in the day. Famed for it's tough as old boots difficulty, it was hailed by many a gaming expert (including those at Mean Machines) as one of the best shooters out there. In fact to quote MM - "Simply the best shmup currently available on the Megadrive. Need we say more? 93%". So I loved SHMUPS, I loved my Megadrive, I loved Mean Machines and treated the likes of Jaz Rignall as a hero......so why didn't I ever buy, or even play this? I'd like to pretend it's one of those weird little mysteries, but it's not. It's because I thought it looked pretty shit. No fancy power-ups, no outlandish bosses, an unconventional shooting method etc. I just never wanted it. So it was nice to finally getting round to see if I'd missed out.
And yes, yes I have. What makes Hellfire stand out is that your weapon is multi-directional from the off. It can fire either forward, backwards, vertically or diagonally at the push of a button, and so the game becomes a bit of a thinking man's shooter. Not only are you having to dodge, weave & blast as standard, but you're also having to cycle through your shooting modes to give you the best offensive setup as this goes off. It adds something of a slight "puzzle" element to the action, and this definitely gives it a touch of uniqness. In fact it feels really fresh, as the enemy attack patters are obviously designed to draw the most of this, and prompt you as such. So it's easy to see why back then, when everything was an R-Type clone, it stood out.
And fuck me can you get your buzz on in this game. It often walks an incredibly brilliant line between bullet hell, and giving you enough breathing room to get by. It gets hella intense in ten cities, and those moments are also placed & paced superbly throughout the game, giving you time to catch your breath slightly, then go full out for another dose.
But by 'eck is this game tough at times. There's no Normal difficulty mode, just either allegedly "Easy", or "Bollocks of steel" Hard. And when starting off I strongly advise you donning your make-up & skirt on and playing on Easy, because after the first level things get very tough very quick. Easy mode is hard, and hard mode is granite. With that said though, bizarrely the last level seems easier than those leading up to it.
The game's downer comes in it's old school structure. Die and you have to start from earlier in the level, and with no power or speed upgrades. Now they have designed the game well enough so that you still have a fighting chance, and getting some semblance of power back sharpish is often achievable. Being fully upgraded also doesn't make a mammoth sized amount of difference either. But despite all that, it still doesn't stop it being just damn annoying when you die, lose all your upgrades & have to re-run a section of the level. It's a design choice which has always annoyed me, and I'm afraid here that's no different.
Also, cycling between firing modes could have been smoother had more buttons been available. It's OK as it is, but it's also not uncommon to cycle past the mode you need, and have to go round again to get to it, costing you valuable seconds in often tight situations. And yes, it looks pretty mediocre, with bland backgrounds & unspectacular enemies. There are some absolutely banging tunes to compensate though, and the soundtrack really kicks arse. But visually it's as mediocre as they come.
Hellfire's a proper fun blast, with a bit of something different and definitely worth a play. How much you like it will boil down to just how prepared to get smacked by some brick walls, and if the older school design choices which it makes get on your nerves. Do I love it? No, it pissed me off enough and is too bland looking for it to be in my classic collection. But did I have a great buzz with it? Absolutely. Not so much a "must own" as a "must play". Like a dirty, average looking lass you probably wouldn't have a relationship with, but who gives a killer blowjob and you'd empty your load on now & again.
Arcade version
Now with all that said, the arcade version has a few key differences, and with them come a few contradictions. Firstly it's obviously automatically set to "Hard" mode, so no warm up here. But more significantly, it removes the "start from earlier in the level when you die" mechanic, and just keeps things rolling. Unfortunately, with this being hard mode from the off, this now highlights just how underpowered you are without any power-ups, and sheds light on the probable reasons as to why they decided to start you from earlier in the level for the Megadrive version. As once you're into the second level your attack power becomes redundant against most enemies other than the twee cannon fodder, and this really kills a lot of interest in the game.
Other than that it's pretty much identical to the Megadrive version, and somewhere between the two is a 5/5 game trying to burst out. But as it is neither quite get the balance right. If I had to choose, I'd go with the Megadrive version. The real solution to their issues should have been to add a bit more kick to your initial weapons, and lose a ranking of power when you die, rather than the full lot of powers ups. But Que Sera.