The digital delights of Sony’s scrumptious PlayStation Network service know no bounds. Aside from letting punters compete in online gaming, stream films, browse the Internet and more, its premier attraction rests in the copious supply of downloadable games ripe for the picking. From PSN exclusives to PSOne Classics, minis and plain old add-on content, Sony’s online space is chock full of goodies battling it out for your hard-earned digital dollars.
Welcome back to another installment of Inside PlayStation Network, where every Monday – Friday we’ll pluck a PSN release—be it new or old—and put it in the spotlight for a thorough dissection. Fancy getting a new PSN game but don’t know what one to plump for? Perhaps this feature will help. Didn’t realize that a game was available in your region until now? We’ve got you covered. Or, perhaps you were musing over what those lucky Japanese folk were tucking into over in the Land of the Rising Sun? You can be sure our coverage will extend to those rare regional exclusives as much as those firmly embedded on the public consciousness.
For today’s entry, we have a blaster with top-down shooter 1942: Join Strike.
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Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Region(s) available: North America, Europe
Players: 1-2
Based on Capcom’s arcade classic 1942 (which, annoyingly, is still younger than I am), Join Strike adheres to the original game’s top-down, plane-flying paradigm that sees you blasting copious waves of enemy aircraft, tanks and ships. However, developer Backbone Entertainment’s freshened things up considerably for the revamp, presumably to entice a whole new generational wave of gamers. For starters, the action’s viewed in widescreen, increasing the area which players are required to patrol over by a substantial margin.
Not only that, but it also means you have more leg room to navigate and evade enemies, though also opens up the hanger doors on heaps more of the buggers looking to shove a rocket up your tail section. As you’d expect, Joint Strike is ideally played with a mate – cooperative play is up for grabs either locally or online – with gamers able to hop into the cockpit of one of three planes. Each machine boasts its own unique stats, as well as a Joint Strike attack. Here, strategizing with your wingman is paramount to success, with Joint Strike attacks requiring you to work together to put the boot into your opponents.
Joint Strikes come in three flavours, including the electricity charged Chained Lightning, which has both players deep-frying enemies by creating a bolt of lightning between their planes. Again, nattering with your buddy is key to maximising the effectiveness of these handy powers. Still, while Joint Strike is obviously tailored to multiplayer-based blasting, the game still caters to the Billy-No-Mates out there – if that’s you, then the Solo mode’s your port of call. Don’t expect any Joint Strike strategizing here, though – it’s strictly a barebones, yet equally destructive missile strike for loners.
Furthermore, with Joint Strike a decidedly bite-sized shoot ‘em up (it won’t probably take you more than 45 minutes to blast through, less if you’re going co-op), there’s plenty of opportunity to sail through again to better your leaderboard scores. The game also assimilates various elements from past entries in the series, including the health bar from The Battle of Midway and Counter Attack’s rank system, giving the proceedings an almost ‘Best of 19xx’ appeal. Aesthetically things have received a bit of spit and polish too, including the obligatory coat of sparkly, high-definition paint that further accentuates the game’s apparent desire to appear down with da kidz.
Join us again tomorrow for another butcher’s Inside PlayStation Network.