| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Release Date | 10/4/2022 |
| Cost | $9.99 |
| Publisher | Consulog |
| ESRB Rating | T |
Mission 1985 bills itself as a love letter to run-and-gun arcade games of the 80s and 90s like Operation: Wolf. This should immediately send up a red flag.
Arcade games were designed to be two things, easy to pick up and play, and be bone crushing hard so you pump quarters into them. Game design was based around this philosophy. For example, why did arcade fighters like the original Mortal Kombat have such hard bosses, like Goro? Simple, to make money. Every time you die, that’s more money into the machine.
Mission 1985 apes the arcade design a little too well, being both shallow and hard at the same time. There is no twin-stick shooting, you shoot in the direction you run. There are boxes that contain special guns like flame throwers. The POWs who you can rescue that act as extra lives.
Mission 1985 is downright punishing. I played the game twice. Once in the middle of the night, and once again a few hours ago fully awake. Both times I couldn’t get past the first level. I set the game to nine lives, but they went quickly. Unfortunately, once your lives run outs, its back to the main menu, no checkpoints, no continues.
In the end, Mission 1985 is exactly what it says it is, a 1980s arcade game. However, it’s 2022, game design has moved past that era(well, except for freemium mobile games like Candy Crush). It’s stuck in the past, and should stay there.
Overall: Mission 1985 is straight out of 1985, and that’s not a compliment.
Verdict: Not Recommended
