Sega Ages Fantasy Zone

Fantasy Zone is an old school Sega arcade shooter, dare I say proto-Schmup. I played the Sega Ages version, which features some small visual upgrades, and accessibility features, not present in the original.

I picked this game up on a whim, solely for the visuals. The visual style is quite unique, dare I day garish, and I couldn't resist. Gameplay wise, this is a multdirectional side scrolling shooter, where you can move up and down, and side to side. You are tasked with destroying a series of enemy spawning bases each level, and then square off against the level boss. Upgrades and extra lives can be purchased at shops, and upgrades are generally temporary. The bosses themselves are the most fun aspect of this game, with some being downright tricky.

A few gripes exist. I found each level felt similar, with objectives being the same each time. Enemy variety exists, but each different enemy does the same variation of move weird, and shoot occasionally. Difficulty spikes on the bosses can also be extreme, do mostly to the weird nature of the control scheme vs. the bullet hell nature of some of the bosses. Oftentimes it felt like I had died not due to a skill issue, but because bullets were hard to see against the backdrop of the game, or moved weirdly because of the janky nature of their movement pattern.

All in all this is a unique early arcade shooter with a garish style, and some semi-satisfying combat. Fun to play, but not incredible. 6/10 (it is fine).