Dead Angle

I've been a sucker for light gun games for a long while, probably extending back to the first time I played Duck Hunt. There's just a certain sense of satisfaction and accomplishment one receives after plugging your virtual nemesis with a gun shaped peripheral. Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly as much fun with Dead Angle. I have my reasons, mind you.

First things first, this is a light gun game that does not support an actual light gun. However, I remained as impartial as I could taking this into effect. After all, I loved playing the Lethal Enforcers games (particularly part 2) on my Genesis, and I didn't have the gun for that either. However, this one suffers from an awkward interface that diminishes the fun factor significantly.

Your character is represented by a yellow outline encompassing the center of the screen. Moving your crosshairs around the screen moves the screen from side to side, and up and down. Armies of mobsters in the appropriate pin-striped suits come at you from the sides and mysteriously from the sky and open fire. You have the option of firing back or ducking the incoming fire. Essentially, you cannot be hit unless the enemy is directly in front of you. This is when you need to duck, which can be a hassle when you're in the middle of the action. The duck button doesn't seem to work all that well, either.

The graphics aren't bad, but they obviously have room for improvement. The animations for the mobsters are passable, but the action tends to get a bit too choppy. This also makes hitting your opponent hard when they're running across the screen flickering.

The finished product here just didn't pass muster for me. As hard as it is to find games like this anymore, this one simply won't satisfy. I guess I'm saying if you really want to play a game like this, keep looking. There has to be a better one out there.