Do you like the arcade games Berzerk and Frenzy? Well if you do, then Ultra Mission is a perfect selection for the iiRcade. The concept is almost the same as you move around a maze to get to the exit, enemies are in your path and you must take them out to gain points and post a high score.  It may seem easy and boring but it is really the opposite. You must be patient and careful as you move your character along the maze.

You can’t touch any of the walls or you lose a life. You can’t get hit with the enemies shots that come at you fast and furious. There is also a bouncing exclamation point that follows you around if you take too long on a maze. You can take out that enemy but bullets shoot out every which way when you do, One advantage of the bouncing punctuation guy, is that when you destroy him you gain an extra life. This is helpful if you are far along and you need another guy or two. 

The graphics of the game are pretty cool and clean. It takes the old 8 bit Berzerk graphics and modernizes them. The sound of the game is a little on the annoying side as the same beat and voices come out in each level. Once in a while it will change but to be honest its unnoticeable while you are concentrating on the enemies. As far as the controls, its not too bad with the iiRcade joystick and buttons. When you are moving and using the A button to shoot, sometimes you are forced to keep running and hit a wall. The work around is to also hit the B button and this keep your feet in place to shoot accurately and not move while doing so. The problem is you are a sitting duck if you are not careful and slow on the shot.  There is a combination meter where you can fill it up and when its full you can score extra points. Once you die, your meter returns to empty.

There are a handful of enemies to run from and destroy. There are enemies that do not shoot, some that do shoot at different speeds, and some that just explode to shoot out bullets in every direction. Once you get to the higher levels this can be tricky.

At the price of $4.99 on the iiRcade, this is a great deal for a arcade like feel game that can be challenging and fun at the same time. Along with the global leader-board, this gives the player incentive to keep playing and raising there score. If I would change anything on it though, I would want the game to have more levels as it was simple to finish the game, especially after knowing you can get more guys when shooting the bouncing punctuation.

For more information on the game store and iiRcade , go to https://www.iircade.com/

Todd Friedman Todd Friedman (384 Posts)

Todd Friedman is heavily involved in the retro gaming community and has co-promoted the Video Game Summit in Chicago, IL for the past 16 years. He also has published 2 books and written for various different gaming magazines including Old School Gamer.