GG Aleste II: Lance Bird (Aleste Collection)

 

GG Aleste II (Aleste Collection) - Switch (2020)

Developed by COMPILE / M2

Published by M2 

GG Aleste II is a direct sequel to GG Aleste that was originally released in Japan for the Sega Game Gear in 1993. The game also saw release in Europe as Power Strike II for the Game Gear (not to be confused with the Master System game of the same name which was a completely different game). You play as a character named Alice who is testing a new prototype aircraft called Lance Bird when she suddenly is forced into battle after a sudden attack on the "space plant" which serves as the game's opening level.

The game consists of six short but frantic levels as well as two bonus levels where the perspective shifts to behind the player ship as the player shoots targets from a third person perspective for bonus points in the main game. The Lance Bird is equipped with a standard automatic weapon that fires straight ahead of the craft. There is also a selection of 4 sub weapons that the player can choose from to start the game, as well as throughout the game by picking up the drops with the corresponding letter. N for Neo Napalm, H for Hammer Hawk homing missiles, D for Delta form (defensive weapon that circles the player ship), and R for Rising Masher (a laser weapon). These weapons can be powered up by collecting the "P" icons that are dropped my various throughout the game. In addition to this the player also has access to a screen clearing weapon called the G Strike. These are added to your inventory by collecting a set number of icons that are dropped by drones throughout the game as you shoot them down. It seems that collecting a certain amount of these in a short period also generates a shield for the player that allows you to take one hit without losing a life.

I found that the best sub weapon is by far the Neo Napalm weapon and if you're looking for a smooth 1CC this weapon is a no brainer. Not only is it very powerful but it also cancels out a good amount of enemy bullets making large portions of the game quite a bit easier. I would recommend saving your G Strikes for the last couple of bosses as those are by far the most challenging part of the game. While this title is relatively generous with extends, it's not nearly as generous with them as the first title was. If you're not careful, the last couple of bosses can hit you a few times making it difficult to come back from as your power level goes down with each miss. I would say that this game is a nice progression in difficulty for players coming from GG Aleste 1 but still very manageable for players who are experienced in the genre.

One thing I noticed was that the enemy attack patterns can be pretty repetitive and you'll be seeing some of the same enemies and patterns in the final stages as you did on the first level. This does allow one to learn most patterns in the game pretty quick but veterans will have no trouble at all with most of the game. Due to the limitations of the original hardware there is also quite a bit of slowdown if you choose not to disable it in this new release. This slowdown serves to aid the player in managing some of the more hectic parts of the game but if you're looking for a bigger challenge this can be disabled. That being said, considering that this game was developed for the Game Gear it's quite an impressive feat for that hardware. The graphics, sound and music are top notch as would be expected from Compile and no doubt pushed the Sega Game Gear to it's limit when originally released.

My final score on the default difficulty.

My online rank as of this post.

Overall I enjoyed this one quite a bit, M2 have done a fantastic job bringing these titles to newer consoles and making them much more accessible than they have been. I will soon be looking toward GG Aleste III which was newly developed by M2 in 2020 and included in this same collection!