Review - The PCE library is a “gold mine” of quality 2D shooters and from time to time, I just stumble across great little games that I didn't even know they existed!

It's been the case with Data East little known vertical shooter Override. For a card game, Override is a welcome surprise.

The spartan but very functional audio-visuals provide the ideal frame for undiluted, hardcore gameplay mechanics. The fast scrolling never shows any uncertainties while the screen is often littered with bullets and alien waves that will give you little time to think and even less time to react!

Luckily, your ship can take about 4 hits before going down but each hit downgrades your weapon. Interestingly, weapons selection is varied and allows the player to develop different playing styles. Power ups significantly increase the lethality of your firepower and are scattered generously throughout.

To use the devastating secondary weapon, just wait (without touching the fire button) for a few seconds for it to charge up and it will be ready to be unleashed. It is very powerful but exposes your ship to enemy fire. I found it to be very useful especially against bosses since there are idle periods in which you are not continuously exposed to bullets. That's when you can use your secondary weapon proficiently!

This particular aspect of Override is maybe what makes it stand out from other shooters. Do you keep on shooting at the boss hoping to outlast him, or do you just use the riskier but more rewarding strategy of unleashing the secondary weapon on him to finish him off quickly?

As I said before, the graphics aren't particularly fancy but they do their job efficiently. In some levels, you'll even be treated with a multi-layered parallax scrolling and for a game running on card, it looks like a real achievement.

The audio part is maybe the weakest of the package since it sounds very generic but at least it doesn't gets on your nerves!

There are 6 stages to take care of and the last one is probably the hardest as you'll have to face all the bosses of the previous levels in a row before confronting yourself with the one-eyed brain thingy which is the last boss. This probably sounds harder than what it really is as the game often awards you with extra lives as long as you stay alive for enough time! I finished the game with 4 credits left (out of five) after I played Override for a couple of times.

The game is really not as challenging once the play mechanics are understood :)

To conclude, Override provides a good amount of basic but satisfying shmups action. Sure, it is overall a very classic game with all of the typical ingredients of old school shooters but everything it does, it does it right.

If you are looking for a simple yet solid and challenging enough game, Override will not let you down!

Bottom line: a solid shooter, playable and challenging without being nerve-wrecking....7/10