REVIEW: 2004
"Annihilator I execute a special task. It needs pass through the enemy’s sea area where there are lots of planes and gunship. Annihilator I was facing one severe test. Can it finish the task?"
Dropping the anachronistic 1940's plane design of '2003' this sequel to the GameKing's inaugural shooter opts to change things up in most other departments as well.
While the story brief bizarrely now matches its predecessor in a way the original's didn't, the graphical overhaul given to 2004 makes it seem like more of a sci-fi affair. Your own ship now sports quite an odd looking design while flying enemies look a lot more like your typical space invader than the Red Baron inspired crafts of the original. While your ship still loops-the-loop into an old animation at the start of each phase, don't be expecting to pull off that bullet avoiding trick in the sequel. Instead you are now equipped with three screen filling Raiden-esque lighting attacks per game that act as a screen clearing smart bomb activated by the B button.
Lives have also gone the way of the Dodo and are replaced by an ever decreasing energy counter that can be topped up only by collecting the sparse fuel power-ups dropped by certain waves of bad guys.
This does add somewhat more of a tactical feel to the shooting as you can now afford to absorb damage while blasting the enemy and this is sometimes necessary due to yet another upgrade in game design.
While the story brief bizarrely now matches its predecessor in a way the original's didn't, the graphical overhaul given to 2004 makes it seem like more of a sci-fi affair. Your own ship now sports quite an odd looking design while flying enemies look a lot more like your typical space invader than the Red Baron inspired crafts of the original. While your ship still loops-the-loop into an old animation at the start of each phase, don't be expecting to pull off that bullet avoiding trick in the sequel. Instead you are now equipped with three screen filling Raiden-esque lighting attacks per game that act as a screen clearing smart bomb activated by the B button.
Lives have also gone the way of the Dodo and are replaced by an ever decreasing energy counter that can be topped up only by collecting the sparse fuel power-ups dropped by certain waves of bad guys.
This does add somewhat more of a tactical feel to the shooting as you can now afford to absorb damage while blasting the enemy and this is sometimes necessary due to yet another upgrade in game design.
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The design of your craft has changed since 2003 (Far Left) and large screen filling bosses now add extra challenge (Second from Right). The game is also one of the few to make the transition through the Game King III with a decent colour palette that isn't too garish (Far Right).
On top of the regular and mid-strength enemies of its predecessor, 2004 also throws giant gunboats at you, which must have their cannons taken out with multiple bullets, however it hasn't neglected the player's side of things either, with two new power-ups including a Contra style spread gun to collect. While there are still only nine stages, end of level bosses must be destroyed before you can set your weird looking spacecraft down on its anachronistic aircraft carrier (carried over from the previous game) and take a well deserved breather.
Once again, continues are infinite and restart points generous, so the game can still be beaten in around ten minutes or so if you want to keep spamming this feature. 2004 does, however, feel significantly more polished and challenging than its fun but bare bones predecessor and it even looks decent when given an added colour palette for the GameKing III (Fun Fact: The series even got a third outing exclusive to that system). This was sadly impossible with 2003, due to the game only being available built into the original system.
Despite the veritable wave of vertical shooters that followed it, 2004 is still one of the best designed blasters that the system can boast and well worth sitting down to for a ten minute hi-score session.
Score 8/10
Once again, continues are infinite and restart points generous, so the game can still be beaten in around ten minutes or so if you want to keep spamming this feature. 2004 does, however, feel significantly more polished and challenging than its fun but bare bones predecessor and it even looks decent when given an added colour palette for the GameKing III (Fun Fact: The series even got a third outing exclusive to that system). This was sadly impossible with 2003, due to the game only being available built into the original system.
Despite the veritable wave of vertical shooters that followed it, 2004 is still one of the best designed blasters that the system can boast and well worth sitting down to for a ten minute hi-score session.
Score 8/10
