Mission 1985

I admit to losing a lot of coins to this type of games back in the 90s when visiting an arcade,
Mission 1985 Gameplay:
just as i was fascinated with those arcade moto racing games how the physical motors you had to sit on could control the game's little pixelated motor by leaning your weight left or right seemed hot to me as well as interesting to play these top down shooters because of the different weapons that also fire multiple bullets in the different directions.
A milestone of the video games of the time were sometimes top down shooters just as 2D sidescrollers were hip, but the top down shooters also allowed you to dodge projectiles via multiple directions and this made the temptation to play it high.
Mission 1985 bears a close resemblance to games of this genre for the new millennium, and at this price, it's a steal.
The 11 levels, including some pixel-3D levels, can undoubtedly keep you busy for a few hours, and the different weapons are also motivating to keep playing, my favorite was of course the flame tower.

RANKING:
AVOID | LACKING | MAYBE | WORTHWHILE | COMPELLING | UNMISSABLE
SYNOPSIS:
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Mission 1985 (M1985) is an Indie-made, shoot 'em up with pixel graphics, midi audio and, a mix of vertical scrolling, top-down and first-person, on-rails levels. One or two players each control a soldier, guiding them across enemy infested maps on a gore-filled journey of violence and destruction. Reaching the end of a level and defeat powerful bosses requires killing enemies and avoiding traps, pits and their attacks, while picking-up extra lives, grenades and weapon upgrades along the way. It has solo and coop play
STATUS:
Released, but does not seem to be supported
BEST AUDIENCE:
For fans of 1980s retro/arcade games such as: Commando, Ikari Warrior and Operation Wolf
VALUE FOR MONEY:
Full price is around the right level for the amount of content currently included
REVIEWED USING:
Intel i5 6600 3.3GHz, 8GB RAM, GTX970 @ 1GB 1920x1080 windowed, EVO850 SSD, Speedlink XEOX Pro Analog Gamepad
Follow IndieGems for more reviews like this one.
More info below....
OBSERVATIONS:
THE GOOD:
▲ LEVEL DESIGN: 11x initially unvaried levels, that introduce different enemies with progression, formulaic as per the genre, with pits, traps and other military obstacles to navigate past, but without any branching routes
▲ GAMEPLAY: Captures that retro/arcade feel of being under constant attack, requiring fast reactions and the need to memorise enemy attack patterns. Sections of bullet hell
▲ ENEMIES: A number of varied types including: soldiers with different attacks, obstacles, bunkers, tanks and helicopters among others, with predictable class-based behaviour
▲ BOSS FIGHTS: All encountered fight differently and get harder with progression
THE BAD:
▼ SCALING: Is on the large side making the area to Run'n'Gun smaller, thus affecting aspects such as hit-zones and kill radius
▼ SPEED: The speed and proximity of enemies, together with the volume of shots and grenades can give a claustrophobic feel to some level sections
▼ WEAPON UPGRADES: Not enough with two main weapon types and grenades in vertical scrolling levels and none in 1st person. Flamer is cool, but could have done with at least a bazooka
▼ NO WEAPON SELECT: Cannot select weapons to preserve ammo from weapon upgrades
▼ VISUALS & ANIMATIONS: Character's sprites are not changed with those of any equipped upgraded weapon, enemy bullets use the same sprite as the player's character and grenades have no shadow
▼ RESPAWNS: Invulnerability on restart is too short and character can find themselves on lethal areas causing a cascade of deaths
▼ HIT-ZONES: These seem to extend beyond the character sprites, when hit by enemy rockets
AND THE REST:
= SETTING: Instantly recognisable it can feel generic
= PROGRESSION RESET: Lives, grenades and weapon upgrades are reset at the start of each level
= POWER-UPS: Only extra lives can be collected in vertical scrolling levels, but their abundance seems calculated for coop play
= STARTING LIVES: Can choose up to 3, 5 or 9x starting lives for any given session
= AUDIO: A number of midi tracks capture the essence of the original era. The French sounding VO gives it its own character
= LANGUAGE SUPPORT: For the most common European languages. There are minor grammatical errors
= STEAM SUPPORTS: No achievements, screenshot capture or cloud saves. It has remote play and full controller support
FINDINGS:
GAMEPLAY
» As a vertical scrolling shooter, it ticks many of the boxes associated with the genre; the feeling of being constantly under attack, needing to shoot quickly, having fast reactions and memorising enemy formations and spawn patterns is immediately recognisable.
» Aesthetics and ambiance do a suitable job of recreating the Run'n'Gun experience of the 1980s with adequate sound-effects and midi tracks. Together with these French sounding voice-overs gives it, its own individual identity.
» The game's simple gunplay delivers a similar amount of fun of those early era games, but falls just short of the experiences I remember especially with Commando.
» The quality of scrolling levels varies from sections that are mundane, to having just about the right amount of enemies, to times of feeling overwhelmed.
» On-rails levels fare worse with no pick-ups or extra lives to shoot at, like in Operation Wolf and no end level boss gives the impression that these levels may not been completely finished. The slowness of cursor movement when an enemy appears at the opposite end of the screen is frustrating.
ISSUES
» The combination of over-sized scaling (and sprites) reduces the size of the play area and affects everything from shooting angles to hit-zones. Movement feels restrictive and areas claustrophobic, causing tactical options to be heavily reduced and some areas to feel bullet hell-like.
» Vertical scrolling levels feeling mostly polished, but on-rails levels need a fair amount of additional attention to get them to nearer the quality of games like Operation Wolf.
» A lack of differentiation in attacks and mechanics to demonstrate were grenades are landing affect the player's ability to react to this. This is a major issue in the harder/bullet hell-like sections of some top-down levels.
REPLAYABILITY vs LONGEVITY
» With no achievements and no dynamicity in its level design, that leaves any long term fun to be had tied to coop and beating high scores. Unfortunately there are no leader-boards so it has to be the player's own high-score.
» A lack of collectibles, Easter eggs, other secrets and/or route branches to take on levels limits their replayability a lot. On the other hand, scripted spawns and attack patterns are just what will allow players to progress past those difficult bits.
BALANCE vs DIFFICULTY
» Some of the levels are fairly well balanced and easy enough to overcome with good reflexes and a strong attention span.
» Others are very challenging, made so by a combination of enemy numbers, cramping sprite scale, ungainly hit-zones and bullet hell sections. Its possible that the speed of modern PCs impacts these sections.
ENJOYMENT
» YES and NO. Base gameplay is fine and fun for a few hours, but unbalanced/challenging sections make for some frustrating times and a need to replay these levels.
For more OBSERVATIONS & FINDINGS check out this link:
Full Review
VERDICT:
Mission 1985 pays a respectable homage to similar shooters of times past. While replicating a fair amount of the look, feel and fun of those titles, some of the game appears unfinished or in need of additional QoL. More weapon upgrades, power-ups and a wider range of enemies would have made this more of a complete experience.
Even though the game conjures up genuine feelings of nostalgia, the volume of its many minor issues affect the experience it delivers. If not for these it would command a greater than MAYBE consideration that I feel it currently does.
Thank you for reading. | Follow my curator here.

Mission 1985
Love the Retro look.
Gotta Metal Slug / Contra Feel to the intro
I like that the POW's are extra lives.
Used an Xbox one controller, it worked great
Controls feel good, Moving Diagonal works good.
Only suggestion would be adding an option for Twin stick shooting if possible. Where you shoot with the right stick in any direction its pointing.
Game seems like a love letter to Commando on NES/Arcade Hence the 1985 its release year. Very nice.
The Graphics look much better here.
At First the shooting on the pause, I was like wtf, then I realized it shoots the screen, I actually like this touch. Good stuff.
Its definitely got that unforgiving nes difficulty lol.
I do like that it has a high score, but a top 10 or 5 would be cool.
Secrets like in Commando would be a nice touch where you can grenade somewhere and maybe get treasure for points and or more POWS?
The Spouting blood is amazing lol
Overall I Dig it Solid Retro Gameplay

It's rare that a retro-looking game on Steam actually impresses me, given the numerous asset flips, cash grabs, and general low effort / low quality offerings in this space. It's also rare for me to continue playing a game after reviewing it, even if it is a quality offering (not much free time).
This game is so close to being a legitimate top tier offering on Steam. Purposefully-crafted levels, high quality pixel art, great sound and music, and responsive controls make this a quite accessible, albeit difficult to master, retro-inspired run & gun game. Two player co-op works just like you'd expect it to -- without the sprite flicker and slowdown you'd get in the 80s and early 90s. It even has a forward-scrolling rail shooter level!
This game could definitely use a demo to help win over the many disgruntled, highly skeptical gamers on Steam. Mouse support, online co-op, leaderboards, and some additional audio/video options would be much appreciated!
It's some bells & whistles short of a top tier offering. 4/5, Recommended.

It is a really fun game, the retro feels, I played it coop with my 6 years old son and we had a lot of fun, It was hard at first but using a controller helps because on keyboard its really hard for my (no practice) fingers LOL. I received this product free but I can say with all my heart that this is really a fun game to play especially with your friend or loved ones. #mission1985

It's a "meh" game.
It really does play like a lost game from the '80s. There are absolutely no modern perks here, no upgrades or hidden collectibles, no extras. If you didn't grow up with these games, you won't find any joy in insane difficulty, slow moving character, grenades with range you can't outrun, no twin-stick option and only 8 directions, etc. The only perk is that levels stay unlocked once you beat them.
The really bad things about the game are repetitive music, sound, barely understandable voices, low number of different enemies and ridiculous blood spray coming out of dead bodies. I also think the price is too high for a tribute that doesn't contain any modern mechanics.

Mission 1985
text
Follow: INFERNO ABYSS GAMING CURATOR For More Reviews
• Brief Description
This game is a tribute to the Run "N Gun games (Commando, Heavy Barrel, Guerilla Wars, Mercs...) from the mid 1980's that you could be found in arcades or on 16 bit consoles. This release is more gear to look like a arcade game.
• Gameplay:
This game is a top down action game . Where you play as one soldier are split screen local coop with another soldier to battle the general thought out 11 different levels. You must use all your skills and reflects to get pass the on slot of enemies solders and tanks and boss fights . To final get to the final fight with the general. Use anything from machine guns, grenades, and fire to get past each level.
• Graphics:
Graphically, the game set at 16 bit area of setting which is find for a run and gun game .The side scrolling cause you to get stuck on rocks and other objects which cause you to dead sometimes real easy. It looks and feels like your are standing in a arcade in 80’s slamming coins in has fast you can to get to the final boss.
• Stages:
The game is made up of 11 stages and boss fights at the end of each level. It will take you on a bullet storm of fire power to made it past each level.
• Sounds:
The music is right out of the 80, s put you back in the feel of playing old school classic game.
There needs be a setting to turn music and sound effects up and down separated from each other.
• PROS:
o Run and Gun where the controls respond quick and crisp
o tactical combat
o 16 bit graphic remains me being at the arcade playing commando “which is a classic.”
o Provides fun and addictive play alone are with a friend in spilt screen action.
• CONS:
o There is no setting to lower music and actions sound to differentiate levels
o Their sound be an option to continue during stages. because it plays as an old arcade game
o Able to setup the mouse left button to shoot as the main weapon and right button on the mouse for the grenades
o Needs Steam Leader board and steam achievements added
• Please Watch: YOU TUBE REVIEW LINK
• Conclusion:
The game is a great run and game and is worth the asking price. If it adds the fixes I miction above this game would have scored a higher scorer. Will recommend this game and it is worth a play!
Rating 7 out of 10
Written by David Ench aka: (HadesRuin)