''Aerial Assault'' is a

side-scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

video game published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

for the

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

in 1990 and Game Gear in 1992.

Gameplay

The player takes the role of a Freedom Fighter who must destroy five targets, including the Vinsk (a flying battleship in the Game Gear version, an ordinary ship in the Master System), the CB-53 Bomber, "El", and two cliff fortresses. During each of the five missions, the player encounters enemy jets, choppers, submarines, jeeps, parachute bombs, and several other enemies which they must destroy. Shooting either the spinning fighters, the small flying helicopters, or the mines on the final mission will earn the player a power-up that allows them to upgrade or downgrade their firepower. There are three difficulty settings: "Easy", "Normal", and "Hard". Players will not be able to complete the game if they select the "Easy" setting.

Plot

A militaristic organisation called the N.A.C. developed a huge laser emitter, "EL", which is capable of gradually destroying the

ozone layer The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere, although still small in rela ...

over the course of a decade or so. In the year 1999, the N.A.C. begins an all-out offensive against every country in the world. The nations' defense forces are overwhelmed by the sheer power and size of the enemy. The player controls the mysterious "Freedom Fighter", a pilot with no official connection to any government, who flies off to stop the N.A.C.

Reception

The Master System version received positive reviews upon release. ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' scored it 82% in 1990. '' Mean Machines Sega'' and '' S: The Sega Magazine'' also gave the Master System version 82% scores. The four reviewers of '' Electronic Gaming Monthly'' gave the Game Gear version ratings of 4, 5, 5 and 5 out of 10. They described the gameplay as repetitive, uninteresting, and lacking in both intensity and challenge, though they said the graphics are decent.

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/aerial-assault 1990 video games Game Gear games Master System games Horizontally scrolling shooters Sega video games Sanritsu Denki games Video games developed in Japan Single-player video games