Bio-Hazard Battle for Genesis

Image: MobyGames

Bio-Hazard Battle

Take the blue pill

Genre: shooter - horizontal

Publisher: Sega

Year: 1992

System: Genesis

Gameplay Score: 3

Gameplay Notes:

Your ship has a weak peashooter Your offensive capabilities are mostly defined by the option you get, which comes in four different colors. The red, yellow and green all fire in the opposite direction that you are pressing. So to use these effectively you have to basically sit at the left of the screen holding left so that it will fire forward. Needless to say this is very awkward. The blue option fires all directions all the time so it's really the only option option. So the real boss of the game is avoiding picking up any other color.

Level Design Score: 4

Level Design Notes:

The levels are well made. Good variety in enemy waves and enemy types. Some levels speed up the pace of scrolling and make you avoid obstacles more than enemies, while others focus on the enemies themselves. I found more enjoyment in the levels themselves than the gameplay.

Theme Score: 1

Theme Notes:

The sprites are interesting and look like flying sea creatures. The Darius games did the same thing but they were biomechanic. These just look like literally flying shooting squids. It's hard to suspend belief enough to enjoy what's happening on screen. It's bizarre and not in a Zombie Nation sort of way.

Art Style Score: 3

Art Style Notes:

The artwork is generally very dark and overdrawn if that's the right word. There's almost too much detail but it's all in gray so it does not look appealing. I get that they were going for an apocalyptic look but it just looks dirty.

Audio Score: 4

Audio Notes:

The music has a very unique quality to it. It's multi-layered and uses a variety of different sounds. It has an almost fast-paced new age sound to it with a lot of white noise or other sounds providing ambiance rather than doing anything interesting musically. But the music is fast-paced anyway and matches what's happening on screen. The sound effects are good with satisfying explosions.

Overall Score: 65

Review ID: 788