Firehawk: Thexder—The Second Contact has more names and subtitles than any six games truly needs. It was released under several names, sometimes based on the country of release. Its own game cover and back flap both refer to it as other names, as if the makers were not even certain as to the title of their game. One thing remains consistent, however. The play of the game, when compared especially to the original installment of the game, is great and the improvements between the first two games in the franchise are noticeably excellent.
Thexder II was developed by Game Arts and was published by Sierra On-Line in the early nineties. It was played mainly on the personal computer, with none of the consoles really biting on its popularity. It is a platform style action shooter, that had its beginnings in the Japanese arcades. Because of this origin, the graphics in Thexder II have a decided anime or manga look to them, which is both colorful and appealing. The backgrounds, if the user selects to have them installed, also have the vague but colorful anime appeal. (The backgrounds can be turned off to improve the performance of older or less powerful machines.)
The story of Thexder II involves the botched mission of two Thexder
robotic pilots. A race of hostile aliens, the Nediums, have taken over a transport asteroid and positioned it above the planet earth…preparing for an obviously hostile takeover. The two pilots are sent to check the situation out and stop anything unwanted from occurring. Unfortunately, the aliens were one step ahead of the program, ambushing the two pilots and destroying one of the Thexder units. This left just one pilot, the user, to complete the mission.
The mission itself consists, basically, of shooting everything that moves in your line of sight. There are waves upon waves of enemies, and a great variety of new and improved weapons to use, as well as some staples. There will be numerous power-ups along the way and a new feature to this installment of the game allows the player to switch back and forth at will between the special weapons. The player will also now found save points along his course so that he can pick up where he left off if circumstances force him to walk away from the game for a bit.
Overall, this is a very nice game with some very cool graphics and even better music, which went unmentioned until now. The soundtrack and the effects are awesome. They are just a couple of the numerous improvements that make Thexder II a dandy game and a great sequel.
