Review: IREM Collection VOL. 2
Drip, drip, drip. A long-awaited further sup from the Irem teat.
I've said it before, but these are some curious collections. With a stated five volumes on the way and only three games to a collection (with console ports where available), it's remarkable that it has taken so long to deliver this second instalment - especially given the prospect of the original Switch hardware becoming somewhat outmoded in the near future. Of course, whatever Switch 2 is will not supplant the Switch; it seems more like we'll be getting an iterative upgrade that plays all the current console's games anyway. But I digress. This Irem thing is weird, but I'm glad they're doing it. Sort of.
See, the three games here are... well, I'd be hard pressed to call them classics. Of the triple on offer - Air Duel, Gunforce and imaginatively-titled sequel Gunforce 2, it's only really the latter that holds any interest for me personally, and only then because of its kinda prototype Metal Slug energy. It was no surprise to learn that developers on this game left Irem to form Nazca, the Metal Slug architects, as it bears so many of its hallmarks. The ludicrously intricate spritework, featuring untold destruction of both enemy and environment. The non-stop lunatic action, with fire and flak covering every imaginable pixel of the screen. You dying constantly and having to feed credits because it's pretty much impossible. You know how it is. And it's a nice curio, and good to have available. But realistically, how often are you going to want to play something so obnoxiously difficult?
The other offerings are limp by comparison. Air Duel is a perfectly serviceable vertical shooter with some entertainingly detailed enemy fighters to coo at, as well as some memorably apocalyptic backgrounds in later levels. Otherwise, it's just a little bit lame, just there. It caused me to think of all the Irem games yet to be made, and the three further collections that have been promised. It caused me to wonder why these all weren't just on one or two bigger sets, like the Taito Milestones series. You also get the original Gunforce and its SNES port, which is a perfectly playable Contra-like in the arcade - with a fun focus on vehicles - while the home console version is merely a piss-slow waste of time that somehow both plays like molasses and is over in twenty dishwater-tier minutes. I appreciate the thoroughness of including it here, but outside of games historian enthusiasm it just isn't a remarkable experience.
Which is, unfortunately, how I feel about this entire offering. Taking into account Volume 1, it's certainly continuing to offer a nice cross-section of what Irem were up to, but there's nothing here by itself that would make me interested in further offerings from the developer if I didn't already know what they were capable of. It's cool to have Irem's last arcade game here, and they certainly went out with a bang. But, thus far, they seem to have returned with a whimper. Hopefully the remaining volumes will remind me why Irem deserve to be put on a pedestal.
