In the forgotten and misty year of 1994, a game called Ultracore (developed by Digital Illusions) has been featured in game magazines for Mega Drive, Mega CD and Amiga. Then, thanks to the invasion of the next generation of consoles, the publisher Psygnosis kept the title when it was almost finished. And now with the new name. Ultracore and after a period of material exclusivity like a title preloaded on the Analog Mega Sg and an appropriate physical version via Columbus Circle in Japan, this lost 16-bit run n ‘gun title was finally released on modern consoles. The question is, should he have stayed in limbo?
Fortunately, the answer to this question is no. Ultracore was absolutely It is worth keeping. It was not a surprise to discover that it developed under the watchful eye of Psygnosis; the appearance of the game is absolutely reminiscent of the aesthetics of the company’s beloved Amiga titles, such as The price of blood
Jumping into Ultracore makes it difficult to find an immediate point of comparison; it’s a mega drive game, but it doesn’t have the overwhelming spectacle of Gunstar heroes or the narrow rhythm of Against: hard body. It’s certainly something of its own, but there’s a glass of Turrican and Fatal rewind in there, of course.
You will make your way through complex stages like a labyrinth instead of linear obstacle courses loaded with pieces from left to right. Safety cards, activated switches and secret routes must be located and used to progress. Naturally, it is not easy, with an avalanche of robotic enemies who oppose him with the word “go”. Seriously, there is a lot
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of them, but you can aim in any direction, as well as hold down the fire button to keep fire on a target when you move away. In a move that rather challenges the roots of the Mega Drive game, the addition of double stick shooting has also been added. Interestingly, this advantage still does not make the game particularly easy, and we wonder if the number of enemies has been increased to compensate for this level of control.
These enemies are unfortunately a little disappointing. There are a lot of pesky little flying enemies and few credible opponents other than fast-blast missile launchers. Some enemies are so small and indistinct that they are in fact difficult to see in the darkest backgrounds, resulting in loss of health or even death which seems unfair. Dying, however, is a slap in the wrist in Ultracore – drop into a pit, for example, and you will reappear where you were.
The scenes are full of secrets, usually hidden in the walls with visual clues as to where they are hiding. You will also collect coins to acquire items, such as smart bombs that clean the screen and new weapons, changing them when you enter the game. However, its default rapid fire weapon is anything but pleasant and c It’s always handy to have him by your side.
There are only five levels, but these are big, complex and meaty things with multiple boss fights. Such boss battles are fairly claustrophobic, with aggressively large fuses that rise fiercely in their space, but their freedom of movement helps mitigate that. Unfortunately, removing these bosses and advancing the game brings us to our biggest problem with Ultracore: there is no save function.
As was the case on 16-bit days, you’ll have to use a password system to keep track of your progress, and by 2020, it’s a difficult t ask. Sure, you can put it in sleep mode, but even versions of Arcade Archives have a state recording function; if they added a double stick, we think they could also have added the ability to save their game. Still, it’s really fun and it’s not such a prohibitive game that it will really set you up to finish it in a few hours. The difficulty is reasonable at all times, although it increases for the last two levels, as expected.
Aesthetically, it’s a luxury – the graphics, as shown above, have this distinctive European-style aesthetic, with just a bit of Bitmap Brothers style. The soundtrack is also excellent, with options for the original FM chip sounds and a new synth-style score from several different artists. As good as the sounds of Mega Drive are, we recommend the new OST for your game, it’s a bit of a success.