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Arcades and therefore arcade games are making something of a comeback, as does anything when given enough breathing space to forget the things that we hated about them in the first place. Nostalgia is a rose-tinted lens, my friends.
For every Pac-Man or Space Invaders, there are hundreds of titles that have faded into obscurity or ascended into ignominy, never forget.
You yearn for the days of your youth, sinking endless money into Galaga whilst surrounded by friends, and drinking various sugar-filled beverages. That seems like a thing, I’m not sure, I’m just a 90s kid who has seen the movie TRON.
In the cold light of day (today specifically) do arcade-style games hold up? That’s a big question that I can’t answer but I can review this game: Deathwish Enforcers.
Deathwish is a classic side-scrolling action/platformer. Proceed from left to right while doing your best to avoid a hail of bullets from various enemies. Master the controls and you’ll be fine, blink for a second too long and you’re done. It’s the standard punishing gameplay combined with some modern quality-of-life upgrades.
Set in what seems to be a Miami Vice sort of 60s/70s American aesthetic you can choose between four characters, each wielding a different weapon and each fulfilling a different “Dirty Harry”-style archetype. It doesn’t matter which you choose outside of personal preference as each character handles identically, so there is no fighting amongst you and your aforementioned friends.
The game is relatively short, providing only 7 levels for you to shoot through, although if you remember anything of older games, this is an illusion. Games of this ilk will trade content for difficulty, the time you spend in the game being mostly retreading your steps should things go wrong.
Whilst this is a fine game model, and makes a ton of fiscal sense if this were in a dingy arcade somewhere, I can’t help but feel we’ve moved on as an industry.
Looking through the lens of positivity, there is a lot to like here. The aesthetic/vibe is excellent, the game does a fantastic job of capturing that seedy underground criminal world that has been made famous through several different mediums. The sound design and music are top notch and playing the game is an intense experience with all these factors contributing to how you feel in the moment.
I found myself swearing colourfully at several enemies that chose to break the rules of engagement by throwing dynamite or trying to hit me with a car, but the frustration never felt unfair, rather my own skill was in question.
When you die as one character you can cycle through the options and come back as another, within the scope of the lives you start the level with. This trope isn’t unique amongst this style of game, but it does give the player a wide range of experiences within each level unless you’re some sort of speed-running freak who doesn’t die once of course.
I think my main takeaway from Deathwish Enforcers is that arcade games are not meant for me, it is a rare beast that comes along that tags my interest as I just don’t have the nostalgia to help me look beyond what I see as glaring design issues but are rather just features of games of that era. So it’s hard to criticise Deathwish for these design choices when that’s exactly the point they were going for. However, I can’t say I enjoyed my time with the game much but if you’re a fan of games in the style of Metal Slug then this is 100% for you.
I’m going to give the game a 6 but I can absolutely see a more suited reviewer handing out a 7 or 8 as the game is a quality product, just not one built for me.
