I gotta hand it to user @polyesterkyle, he suggested a real banger for this month. Data East's Bloody Wolf is a Commando style run-and-gun that gained notoriety in the arcades for its wonderful Engrish before settling on home consoles with a far more intelligible TurboGrafx-16 port. It's the spiritual successor to Data East's earlier hit Heavy Barrel, but takes inspiration from all sorts of games in this genre - the aforementioned Commando, Ikari Warriors, Guerrilla War, Contra and so on. Despite evoking a great number of Vietnam movies too (Rambo specifically) I don't think it's set anywhere in particular. "The Enemy Base" is about all I got from the story. Screw it, we're heading into Vietnam to rescue P.O.W.s (Presidents of War). Let's keep it simple.
Bombin' the NAM with No-Scopes and the Bloody Wolf
Welcome to Bloody Wolf! We have a tough decision ahead of us in choosing one of these two extremely different characters as our protagonist. No doubt their motivations, personalities and combat style are all- ah, screw it, I'll go with the bald guy.It's his defining characteristic after all. Still, it does seem a bit harsh.Here we go. Because who can say for sure, really?Wait, how am I supposed to remember all this? I hope there's an in-game journal.Awwright, we're off. The game very quickly introduces its jumping mechanic. Or rather, it sets up this invincible barricade of barb wire to stymie you until you find the jump button.Here are some green goons, the disposable troops of The Enemy Forces. They've taken cover behind some red barrels.Y'know, the type of red barrel usually filled with explosives. Didn't work out well for them, but then it's not like they have video games here in Enemystan.You can enter buildings, and you'll usually see sights like this: A few guards, an item crate and a prisoner.I didn't capture it earlier because those soldiers got blown to shit, but if you shoot one of these guys they have these awesome little Platoon death sequences. Look at that lil' guy cursing his misfortune to an unfeeling creator. So cute!Bald? wants first dibs riding this box around like it's a truck. You make your own fun in wartime.Prisoners usually just say "Thank You" (as seen in the left screenshot, where he says "Thank You") but will also occasionally dispense advice and hints.Some prisoners even give you items. For the most part, you don't need to rescue every single one (so it's not like Shinobi, say) but the free stuff makes it worth it.See? I can be appreciative. This is a good game for teaching manners to your children.Dude refuses to jump up on trucks, but you can still climb up.And he we go! Motorcycles work like the tanks in Ikari Warriors: Lots of firepower and you're invincible, but it will eventually run out of fuel/health. Once it starts flashing, that's your cue to get the heck out of there.Also you can jump with them whenever you want. Take that, gravity! Screw you, Steve McQueen at the end of the Great Escape! Go to hell, Evel Kine... oooh, wait.I'm just going to park this here while I check out more buildings. No-one steal it, please.Oh sweet, some steroids and another motorcycle. I love the 80s!The game's not shy about throwing a thousand enemies at you. Fortunately there's not much slowdown.Oh, yeah, sorry dude. Did I wake you up?"Check out these sweet donuts!"Why, thank you. I try to take care of myself.The deeply-layered character of "Shotgun Man" is the first of the game's many human mid-bosses. For the first half of the fight, it's a matter of keeping your distance from his blasts and sneaking in close for a few of your own.Eventually he calls in some goons to help him out.These guys are armored, which means bullets don't work. But knives do. For some reason? The game advises that you use your knife (it's automatic whenever you're in melee range) but I prefer grenades.Like so. Less messy (well, more messy) and less chance of getting ganked as you close in.Eventually, Sleepyhead decides he's had enough and the rest of the stage continues behind him.I've got a prisoner and a bike to emancipate up here, but the guy shooting near the ladder makes it precarious.That's some oddly specific information, thanks man! Eight miles, so... what's that? Three more stages?Oh hell yes.Each of the bazooka's projectiles explodes like a grenade, taking out groups of enemies at once. Both your guns and grenades can be replaced with stronger pick-ups that eventually run out, like this bazooka and that shotgun from earlier.The first stage boss is this submarine. It's probably not the one from the Kelsey Grammar movie "Down Periscope".It has stages too: After losing two blocks of health (these actually translate to several dozen bullets), it'll dive and torpedo the embankment thing you're on. It's very easy to accidentally wander into the broken parts and drown instantly. The game doesn't have lives, but it will checkpoint you frequently. I generally find that I like this system way more - Ninja Spirit did the same thing.Down Periscope really wasn't all that great.Yes. You heard that prisoner. Do you need the guy from Jackal to show you the map?
All right, that about wraps up part one of this episode of TurboMento. I'll go into more detail once I'm done, but Bloody Wolf is pretty good. I mean, I don't know if it's necessarily better than Contra, but it's certainly less challenging. I'm absolutely down with that. I like playing games I can beat.
As always, the story continues in the comments below. If you guys could squeeze in some manner of bon mot whenever you see one of my double posts, that would help a lot. Stupid anti-spamming rules. Thanks for watching me machine-gun a bunch of dudes! You're all accessories now.
