Shock Troopers: 2nd Squad is a run and gun arcade game developed by Saurus and published by SNK in 1998.
Reviews View More
Gameplay: Good
Story: Alright
Controls: Good
Graphics: Great
Length: Good
Characters: Great
Best Girl: Angel - Ceramic Arms. A blonde girl with nice tits. lol
Note: Played on RG35XX Retro handheld console.
Story: Alright
Controls: Good
Graphics: Great
Length: Good
Characters: Great
Best Girl: Angel - Ceramic Arms. A blonde girl with nice tits. lol
Note: Played on RG35XX Retro handheld console.
this game significantly easier than the first one. the artstyle change kind of threw me off because it gives me an aesthetic found usually on GBA.
Quick and easy old school shoot em game, fun, easy controls and your usual good vs evil story. Like how you have choice is characters. Fun for a quick session and change of pace from heavy story games. Tons of nostalgia.
I'd rather play this one instead of the first. I like the cartoony graphics a lot more than the pseudo-realistic tone of the first game.
Besides, there's a busty blonde on it, how can anyone not want to play this?
Besides, there's a busty blonde on it, how can anyone not want to play this?
Shock Troopers 2nd Squad is a downgrade in almost every aspect that made it’s predecessor so legendary.
An aspect of which i’m neutral about is the fact that they decided to put only 4 characters instead of 8, and to made them more unique in terms of functionality. For sure, they are a lot less charismatic than some of their predecessors. This time you can pick between gym bro Gordon Freeman, a blonde with bigger boobs than the blonde from the first game, a petit e-girl, and the laser guy no one cares about.
Probably the most interesting addition is the inclusion of vehicles in a very Metal Slug fashion, but sadly it’s not a really good implementation, i couldn’t last 30 seconds on any of them because of how janky they were.
Besides that, pixel art is less appealing (they went for a more “cartoony” fashion this time), music is cringey at times, sound design (specially voice-acting or whatever they use as human voices) is simply terrible. And they almost completely scrapped one of the key aspects of the original Shock Troopers, which is the option of choosing which route to take.
This game feels almost like a shoot em up in many sections, specially in boss fights, which tend to be a bullet hell mess. Not really my cup of tea. And as a design choice, i’m not sure if i should qualify it as a misconception (the fact that is a top-down game doesn’t make it a Shoot em’up) or simply a risky/polarizing decision.
Now, the truth is that 2nd Squad is not a bad game at all. The problem of this game is living under the shadow of such a perfect title like Shock Troopers. If you never played the original you’ll probably enjoy this game a lot, because you won’t feel biased at all. But still, i have to say that if you already enjoyed the first title, you should play this one too, because at some point is more of the same, which is not a bad thing at all considering how short Shock Troopers was.
It’s kinda sad that we could never see this becoming a bigger franchise.
An aspect of which i’m neutral about is the fact that they decided to put only 4 characters instead of 8, and to made them more unique in terms of functionality. For sure, they are a lot less charismatic than some of their predecessors. This time you can pick between gym bro Gordon Freeman, a blonde with bigger boobs than the blonde from the first game, a petit e-girl, and the laser guy no one cares about.
Probably the most interesting addition is the inclusion of vehicles in a very Metal Slug fashion, but sadly it’s not a really good implementation, i couldn’t last 30 seconds on any of them because of how janky they were.
Besides that, pixel art is less appealing (they went for a more “cartoony” fashion this time), music is cringey at times, sound design (specially voice-acting or whatever they use as human voices) is simply terrible. And they almost completely scrapped one of the key aspects of the original Shock Troopers, which is the option of choosing which route to take.
This game feels almost like a shoot em up in many sections, specially in boss fights, which tend to be a bullet hell mess. Not really my cup of tea. And as a design choice, i’m not sure if i should qualify it as a misconception (the fact that is a top-down game doesn’t make it a Shoot em’up) or simply a risky/polarizing decision.
Now, the truth is that 2nd Squad is not a bad game at all. The problem of this game is living under the shadow of such a perfect title like Shock Troopers. If you never played the original you’ll probably enjoy this game a lot, because you won’t feel biased at all. But still, i have to say that if you already enjoyed the first title, you should play this one too, because at some point is more of the same, which is not a bad thing at all considering how short Shock Troopers was.
It’s kinda sad that we could never see this becoming a bigger franchise.
Following up the original Shock Troopers was always going to be a tall task, one that I question the value of even attempting. 2nd Squad is, unsurprisingly, not as good as the original, but is still a fairly solid little run-and-gunner that's held back by a few unfortunate choices.
The roster of characters and levels is heavily stripped back. You can now select between a more varied yet condensed squad of characters, each of which feel more unique to play when compared to its predecessor's lineup. This is actually one area where I think 2nd Squad is perhaps better off than the original, as the smaller and more thoughtfully designed squad makes each character feel more robust and fun to play as.
On the other hand, the smaller number of levels I think is more to the game's detriment. There are now a total of only 7 levels with the player only going through 5 during any one playthrough. The change in the art direction is also not great, but it was 1998 and by this point you just had to put 3D objects in your arcade game. I'm not entirely against meshing 3D and 2D, but I just don't think it comes together well here. The visual style of 2nd Squad feels noticeably aged compared to the first Shock Troopers.
It's not like 2nd Squad is a bad game, it's just that Shock Troopers is so good it's hard to not feel like its sequel is a step down.
The roster of characters and levels is heavily stripped back. You can now select between a more varied yet condensed squad of characters, each of which feel more unique to play when compared to its predecessor's lineup. This is actually one area where I think 2nd Squad is perhaps better off than the original, as the smaller and more thoughtfully designed squad makes each character feel more robust and fun to play as.
On the other hand, the smaller number of levels I think is more to the game's detriment. There are now a total of only 7 levels with the player only going through 5 during any one playthrough. The change in the art direction is also not great, but it was 1998 and by this point you just had to put 3D objects in your arcade game. I'm not entirely against meshing 3D and 2D, but I just don't think it comes together well here. The visual style of 2nd Squad feels noticeably aged compared to the first Shock Troopers.
It's not like 2nd Squad is a bad game, it's just that Shock Troopers is so good it's hard to not feel like its sequel is a step down.