Developer - CRI   Catalogue No. - T-68013

Type - Shooting Action

It was an ambitious project from the start but if Sega could do a port of Galaxy Force II that sort of resembled the arcade to the Master System then surely CRI could do a decent port to the Mega Drive.

Well, the Mega Drive port of Galaxy Force II isn't all that bad but it could be better.  Featuring all the music, speech and stages from the arcade it certainly has the feel.  Graphics are decent for a Mega Drive however CRI really have cut down on the amount of detail in this version.  This is quite a shame because none of the canyons from the arcade version have made it to this Mega Drive port.  This is especially disappointing when you consider that Afterburner II on the Mega Drive features them and that was made almost 3 years before this game.  Still, at least the tunnels are present even if they do look just like a tarted up version of the ones found on the Master System.

Playability wise Mega Drive Galaxy Force II isn't that bad.  Controls are responsive enough to give that fluid feeling in the outside areas however in the tunnel areas they seem to be a bit on the sensitive side and what makes it most annoying is the fact that if you slightly touch a tunnel wall your ship will be bounced right of it in to the opposite one.

The end result with Galaxy Force II is not bad nor is it good.  The game can be very difficult at times not to mention you can't help but feel it was a rushed port.  For instance, when you enter a tunnel section on the arcade the entrance zooms towards the screen.  In this Mega Drive version only the space level does this.  Why?  All other levels just have a static pixilated image of the entrance as your ship flies down the screen.

A nostalgic game that may be worth picking up if you were a fan of the arcade but other than that maybe not.