Aero Star

Aero Star was one of my first GB games as a kid, together with Super Mario Land.
I'm glad I got Super Mario Land, that's for sure. Aero Star, and R-Type that I got later, made me think shooters were all repetitive, slow, restricted and unoriginal. Only recently have I come to appreciate Gradius, Parodius, Twinbee and the like. There's some real gameplay.

Aero Star is a typical scrolling shooter with the twist that you are a duck that can't really fly. You can only stay in the air for a limited amount of time (6-7 seconds), then you have to touch ground again. So while you are dodging the enemy planes and tanks, you have to make sure to find landing zones to jump between. If you miss, you die.
And miss you will. The game feels generally sluggish and I find it a bit boring. Also I consider the happy elevator music a turn off.



I didn't play Aero Star much and it didn't go with me on holidays. Except once, to Austria I think. I really tried, but it was difficult to enjoy it. You follow the paths for 3 levels or so, then you'll lose your lives and have to start from the beginning.

The positive side is that the game is of decent quality regarding graphics, music and gameplay. I'm sure there are people in the world that enjoy it.
2/5.
I'm not sure if it is useful to write about bad games, but I wanted to show that I don't rate all games a 4.