Stall Warning! It looks like all those hours you logged in the gyro-scoping cockpit of the After Burner arcade cabinet back in the 80’s are finally going to pay off, as Sega has announced that the high-definition, modern-day rebirth of the visceral 80’s fighter jet classic - After Burner Climax - will launch in late April for XBLA and PSN.
Controlling one of three aircraft types, you must survive 20 waves of enemy aircraft and ground defenses, utilizing the Climax mechanic, which slows down time allowing for easier locks-on and missile evasion.
If you are as old as the hills - like myself - you’ll no doubt be familiar with the name After Burner, and are already wringing your hands in anticipation, in much the same way as when you heard Outrun Coast to Coast was coming back to the original Xbox, back in 2006. After all, After Burner Climax is being developed by AM2, the house that gave us Outrun and Space Harrier.
If you have a significant other who bemoans your insipid predilection for buying old games all over again on a new system, you’ll want to deploy countermeasures come late April, since After Burner Climax will cost 800MS on XBLA on April 21, and $9.99 on PSN a day later on April 22.
Given the success of Outrun Live on XBLA last year, a remake of After Burner was a reasonably safe bet. That being said, car racing games are of a perennial game type that never truly drops out of favor with the gaming populace. An on-rails arcadey jet fighter game, on the other hand, may not fair as well. If AM2 can bring enough substantial updates to After Burner to bestow added layers of depth to the core game play, it may yet see success beyond the initial few minutes of nostalgia it is sure to give me and the other old dudes.
What do you think about After Burner Climax? Is A2M doing the right thing by releasing this game in today’s market? Or do you think yesterday’s games have too little to offer today’s sophisticated gamer? Is there a game you’d rather see AM2 remake? (hint: it’s Space Harrier).
Source: PSXExtreme
