Siberian Strike X

While today's shooters are doing everything they can to be as realistic as possible, video games weren't always trying to achieve this, especially not in the very beginning of the phenomena. In essence, developers tried to make the games as ludicrous and outrageous as possible, all in the name of good fun and entertainment, since nothing was more addictive than an arcade machine that let you shoot at space aliens ad infinitum.

Siberian Strike X is a game based on the very same principles, only it replaces evil aliens with evil Soviets and space ships with good old World War II fighter planes. In order to emulate the atmosphere and preserve authenticity, the game also uses very similar graphics, with pixelated environments, a classic 2D point of view and a rapidly scrolling repetitive background serving as the landscape.

As you might have guessed, your primary objective is to shoot everything that enters your sights, although the more important goal is to get out alive, rather than kill everyone. Hence, while it is no problem if you miss some of the plains and just avoid them, you can only be destroyed three times before the game over screen flashes in front of your eyes and you have to take it from the beginning of the level.

To add variety, the game allows you to choose from a variety of pilots, each one of whom comes with his or her own plane as well. Although the aircraft models only differ in visual terms, since their attacks are the same and there is nothing else special about them, it is worth noting that the progress for each pilot is saved, so you can resume from the beginning of the last level without having to restart the entire campaign.

As far as the gameplay itself is concerned, everything is as classical as it can get, which means that you have to keep on shooting and dodging in order to stay alive. As you go along, the enemies get smarter and more dangerous, by attacking you in a variety of different manners. On the other hand, you can also pick up a wide array of power-ups to increase or entirely change your attack, ranging from basic rockets, to flame throwers and powerful lasers.

In the end, Siberian Strike X manages to bring back a bit of the olden days, thanks to the nicely done graphics and the addictive gameplay. As it is usually the case, you might be a bit infuriated by the high difficulty level, but with enough practice, you can certainly push through and get to experience the glory of the arcades.