For one or two players. A side-scrolling shoot-em-up based loosely on the manga/anime.

You have a choice of three characters, Shin, Mickey & Greg each with their own individual attributes. For instance Shin's plane moves the fastest of the three but is not as powerful as Mickey's and neither of their aircraft compares to Gregs in terms of toughness plus it also boasts twin guns that shoot ahead and downward simualtanously. The choice you make can not be changed during the game so pick your player wisely!

In battle everything is as you would expect from a game of this genre. You fly constantly to the right shooting down anything that moves. Each level climaxes with a large boss enemy which range from tanks to stealth bombers, submarines and even an "R-type" style mothership confrontation.

|To even the odds slightly there are power-ups available during the action which 'level-up' your main gun and between levels you can spend the money you earn from blasting the bad guys on powerful secondary weapons, sheilds and energy bar upgrades.

The locations for the 12 levels of Area 88 are quite varied. The first two are fairly simple, standard shoot-em-up fair but later levels prove far more taxing with clostrophobic flights through narrow cavenous tunnels, over rocky deserts and even taking on a powerful battleship at sea.

Area 88's graphics are fairly impressive. Back in the late 80's the huge bosses would have been amazing and it's all very well animated despite the detail of the backgrounds and sprites. The music and sound represent the action well.

The difficulty curve is well pitched meaning that shoot-em-up fans should find their way through the early stages easy and end up hooked by the tougher later levels. If you are a fan of Capcom's arcade games and/or shoot-em-ups then this is well worth a credit or two.