27. Mercenary Force|GB|1990|shmup|54m|5/10
In Mercenary Force you hire mercenaries and lead them across Japan killing warriors, monsters, ghosts, and demons.
The action is shmup style with a strategy twist. You can have a party of up to four mercs, each with their own respective powers and attack style. You pick out the mercs you want to use, buy as many health points as you can afford for them, and then march on killing and collecting yen. The yen is used to restock lost mercs or to simply heal the ones you already have. You can also at any time change the formation of your merc party for strategic advantage. Each merc has a suicide super move you can invoke whenever you wish. The suicide super moves are very powerful but the merc of course dies as soon as its over. There are shops along the way that offer healing aids and bonus games for your hard won yen.
This all sounds interesting sure, but in reality Mercenary Force is a boring game. With bland levels, unimpressive enemies, and simple bosses the action feels stale fast. Worse yet the actual pace of Mercenary Force is excruciatingly lethargic. Levels just drag on and on, at a speed that would embarrass a snail. For all the merc squad options you have, it just boils down to having as many hit points as you can, and keep on firing in a straight line as fast as you can. The most hectic part of the gameplay itself is actually trying to collect yen before it disappears.
I will say that Mercenary Force has a consistent theme in its well crafted yet utilitarian graphics. You certainly do "feel" like you're marching across Japan from an environmental aesthetics perspective. Many of the baddies are lifted straight from Japanese mythology and look the part despite such limited pixels. Unfortunately the music and sound effects are way below average, and you will be very tired of hearing that one main theme over and over. Overall Mercenary Force has some nice ideas, but in execution it's far too simplistic, repetitive, and slow, for how long it takes to finish.
