Approximate Release Date: December 31, 1991
Genre: Scrolling shooter
Developer: Asmik Ace Entertainment
Publisher: Asmik Ace Entertainment
As the final game of 1991, D-Force is immensely disappointing.
With the glut of scrolling shooters in the first year of the Super Nintendo, it’s incredible how all of them have the exact same performance issues. For some games, like Gradius III or U.N. Squadron, it’s not a deal breaker because either the games are interesting enough to make up for the technical deficiencies or it happens rarely.
It’s a deal breaker in D-Force. Watch the miniboss battle in this video (around 3:13) for an example, but really, any time there are more than a few enemies on-screen the game becomes a slog to play. The fact the game runs like garbage is a total mystery since it looks bland at best.
In some stages, or in the “exploration mode,” the player can use the L and R buttons to change altitude. This could be neat, except for, again, performance problems; D-Force has an even harder time keeping a consistent framerate at the lower altitudes since everything is bigger. It also doesn’t help that you can’t tell if something is above you before you move to a higher altitude. And given how easy it is to die, having the game just hide where enemies are makes the game even less fun to play.
The game is terrible. Don’t play D-Force.
Tomorrow: 1992 kicks off with Earth Defense Force!
I remember renting this game as a kid. It was very disappointing. I rented it to play with a friend of mine. If i remember correctly there was no 2 player mode also if i remember there was no screen clearing bomb weapon that was traditional to have in most of these types of games. Me and my friend used top say while playing “my kingdom for a super weapon”