Monday, December 6, 2021

Backtrack (Gameboy Advance) Review

 Backtrack (Gameboy Advance) Review
Year of release: 2001
Publisher: Telegames
Developer: JV Games
Genre: First Person Shooter








Backtrack is a First Person Shooter that was published by Telegames, developed by JV Games and released for the Gameboy Advance in 2001. 

The first impressions about the game: I wasn't really expecting much as it was more of a budget game than anything. There's limited draw distance and the framerate which didn't worsen the experience. Also, It takes half a second to fire your gun upon firing it. The enemies aren't too difficult to kill, which is good. and there are also the captured humans that you have to rescue, which is great and all. Level wise, it's more like Wolfenstein 3D than Doom which was also released on the GBA the same year.

You play as Jim Track, a special agent whose mission is to infiltrate the moon base, rescue the 110  aforementioned captured humans, defeat Domingoaniax's army and trigger the self destruct sequence to destroy the moon base. After that, you have to go all the way to the first level and go through the teleport where you (presumably) came from at the start of your mission. Somewhat reminiscent of Metroid where you destroy the mother brain and escape within a time limit, though this is no Metroidvania by any means. There are also dying soldier that gives you key cards or information on your mission. You also collect an unusual arsenal of weapons along the way, including a vacuum cleaner and aerosol (acting as a flamethrower of some sort).

The controls work like this;
A - Shoot, open doors, rescue humans, talk to dying soldiers
B - Shoot
L - Strafe left
R - Strafe right
Select - Pause Menu
Start - Map

The controls are basic, sure but they are fairly easy to learn. 

Final thoughts: Despite mediocre draw distance and framerate, neither of them don't hinder the gameplay while they're nothing to write home about. I found the enemies easy to handle once I got used to the weapon delay. I like the Wolfenstein-3D style layout of the level and rescuing the dying soldiers is an interesting concept for any first-person shooter. The information from the dying soldiers is useful indeed. All in all, it's an alright game. Though it's not brilliant or terrible It's just okay but enjoyable enough for me, at least.

MY RATING: 7/10 


 







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