EMPIRE OF STEEL (SMD)
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a.k.a. Steel Empire
Publisher: Flying Edge. Developer: HOT・B. Released: 1992. Genre: Horizontal-scrolling shoot 'em up. Posted 6th September 2016. By Tom Clare © 2016 |
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When Yoshinori Satake was nurturing his vision for Empire of Steel during the late eighties, his chief inspiration, somewhat unusually for a sci-fi shoot ‘em up, centred not on the futuristic, but on the distant past. In particular, it was the Victorian’s fascination with the steam engine, and the belief that its potential knew no bounds, that really captured his imagination. Satake sought to exact this steampunk ethic in gaming form. Blueprints of wild, ambitious, often gigantic contraptions, fated never to leave the ground in the real world, were given license to fly in this highly distinctive, beautifully crafted space opera.
Eventually released in 1992, Empire Of Steel delivers a recognisable, horizontal-scrolling shoot ‘em up experience that’s faithfully equipped with the obligatory hero’s tale, as the player assumes the role of the last defender of the Republic of Silverhead, single-handedly taking on the might of Motorhead (no, not that Motorhead). Its influences are many and varied, and not limited to gaming alone. The pretty, sepia tone, flicker-screen video sequences that play out before each level, hark back to wartime newsreels. Hayao Miyazaki’s impact is also especially prominent, never more so than during a sequence that sees your airship chugging along a mountain railroad, in an unmistakable nod to anime classic Castle in the Sky.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall
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Asteroids and shock-green planets, like a sci-fi poster from yesteryear
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Shoot ‘em ups that are as satisfying, and perfectly playable, as Empire of Steel, are like gold dust. Few have succeeded in conjuring a control scheme that’s simultaneously as responsive, sprightly and unerringly precise. Before every level, you’re offered a choice of two ships; the Striker is small and nimble, but the craft suffers from flaky armour, whilst the Zeppelin is a tough-as-nails airship, but offers your foes a bigger target to hit. The former is therefore preferable for levels that squeeze you with scenery and require deft movements; the latter more useful for doing raw damage thanks to its broader attack patterns and bombs that can exploit enemy weak points from positions of relative safety. Empire of Steel rewards intelligent positioning and craft movement, rather than demanding lightning reflexes, and this is never clearer than when the screen scrolls closely around bosses, utterly dwarfing the player, as you scrabble for a spot of respite. As a result, it plays differently to its genre stablemates, it’s genuinely distinctive. This is no bullet hell, and perhaps represents one of the few truly accessible games of its kind on the Mega Drive. It foregoes one-hit deaths, or the need to restart an entire level when you perish, and there’s plenty of power-ups to plump up the firepower. Whilst the Easy setting offers a foothold for gamers of a less serious disposition, the Medium and Hard settings will give most core gamers a longer-term challenge.
EOS sports some of the most impressive, distinctive designs ever to grace a 16-bit shoot ‘em up. It isn’t as bombastic as the Thunder Force games, employing visual pyrotechnics with relative restraint. Instead, it relies predominantly on the quality of its backdrops and craft designs to impress. Here, the game succeeds admirably, with something different around every corner. The opening level is set amidst a decimated city, with clues to its former finery evidenced in the elegant, royal-purple domes and buildings that stand exposed amidst the carnage. Four levels later, it becomes difficult to keep your eyes on the gameplay as an enormous, turbine-powered ship is blown to bits in the background, battered by mortar damage as the player watches on, powerless to affect its fate. In between, you’ll battle across oceans, strain to see in the half-light of a dingy mine, and finish up on a planet of vibrant greens and purples, with debris and rubble as far as the eye can see. These wonderful instances recall the colourful, adventurous sci-fi novel covers of the fifties and sixties, when the genre was as much driven by the romanticism of exploration, as it was tech-specs and scientific plausibility.
There’s something grand, almost theatrical about Empire of Steel. This is no doubt helped by the rousing soundtrack. Stage One’s BGM leads by example; blasting into life with its unforgettable, trumpeting, instant call-to-arms. Bookending this, at the close of the game, the desolate, prominent synths impart a sense of dread and isolation as your ship drifts silently across alien terrain, ready for the final showdown. Sound effects are vibrant and crisp, bangs, crashes and hits all eminently satisfying. Maybe it’s the funky array of bosses, some of whom resemble submarines crossed with planes, whilst others are more like trains fused with tanks, and some which are so large they could fill the screen three times over.
EOS sports some of the most impressive, distinctive designs ever to grace a 16-bit shoot ‘em up. It isn’t as bombastic as the Thunder Force games, employing visual pyrotechnics with relative restraint. Instead, it relies predominantly on the quality of its backdrops and craft designs to impress. Here, the game succeeds admirably, with something different around every corner. The opening level is set amidst a decimated city, with clues to its former finery evidenced in the elegant, royal-purple domes and buildings that stand exposed amidst the carnage. Four levels later, it becomes difficult to keep your eyes on the gameplay as an enormous, turbine-powered ship is blown to bits in the background, battered by mortar damage as the player watches on, powerless to affect its fate. In between, you’ll battle across oceans, strain to see in the half-light of a dingy mine, and finish up on a planet of vibrant greens and purples, with debris and rubble as far as the eye can see. These wonderful instances recall the colourful, adventurous sci-fi novel covers of the fifties and sixties, when the genre was as much driven by the romanticism of exploration, as it was tech-specs and scientific plausibility.
There’s something grand, almost theatrical about Empire of Steel. This is no doubt helped by the rousing soundtrack. Stage One’s BGM leads by example; blasting into life with its unforgettable, trumpeting, instant call-to-arms. Bookending this, at the close of the game, the desolate, prominent synths impart a sense of dread and isolation as your ship drifts silently across alien terrain, ready for the final showdown. Sound effects are vibrant and crisp, bangs, crashes and hits all eminently satisfying. Maybe it’s the funky array of bosses, some of whom resemble submarines crossed with planes, whilst others are more like trains fused with tanks, and some which are so large they could fill the screen three times over.
Just can't get the builders these days...
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Taking out the turrets requires a bit of thought
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There are many contenders for stand-out moment. The first time you face a fortress-like dreadnought against a crimson sky; taking down giant cannons on the nautically-themed fourth stage; ghosting past a golden, Persia-esque city under nightfall. Perhaps the pick of the bunch is the enthralling mine level however. Your reward for besting a boss in the furthest depths of the pit, is for the whole place to start collapsing, leaving the ship with no option but to turn back and engage in a helter-skelter tunnel rush through the collapsing rubble. Your reward for snaking through the tight network of tunnels? A deep breath, and then another boss, of course.
There’s precious little wrong with Empire of Steel. However, to pick straws, it's subject to a bit of sprite flicker and slow-down here and there, and though the nature of the level design might have made it a little tricky, there’s always an element of sadness when a game that plays this well doesn’t have a two-player mode. It has two ships, after all. Gameplay-wise, the only quibble is that it perhaps resorts to palette-swap bosses a little earlier than is ideal. There are seven decent-sized stages in all, but you’re already facing repainted enemies by around the mid-point.
Quite clearly though, these aren’t compelling reasons to pass up on what is a cracking steampunk shooter. In terms of presentation, it may not have the bells ‘n’ whistles of the genre’s biggest hitters, but it’s rather fitting that Empire of Steel succeeds so admirably on the strength of its design and playability, rather than relying on cutting-edge technology. Superb controls, imaginative levels and accessible-yet-challenging gameplay ensures that Empire of Steel deserves to be remembered among the classiest Mega Drive games.
There’s precious little wrong with Empire of Steel. However, to pick straws, it's subject to a bit of sprite flicker and slow-down here and there, and though the nature of the level design might have made it a little tricky, there’s always an element of sadness when a game that plays this well doesn’t have a two-player mode. It has two ships, after all. Gameplay-wise, the only quibble is that it perhaps resorts to palette-swap bosses a little earlier than is ideal. There are seven decent-sized stages in all, but you’re already facing repainted enemies by around the mid-point.
Quite clearly though, these aren’t compelling reasons to pass up on what is a cracking steampunk shooter. In terms of presentation, it may not have the bells ‘n’ whistles of the genre’s biggest hitters, but it’s rather fitting that Empire of Steel succeeds so admirably on the strength of its design and playability, rather than relying on cutting-edge technology. Superb controls, imaginative levels and accessible-yet-challenging gameplay ensures that Empire of Steel deserves to be remembered among the classiest Mega Drive games.
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VERDICT
Visual: 8/10
Audio: 9/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Longevity: 8/10 OVERALL: 8/10 |