Beach Head 2002

The Good
Beach Head 2002 is a great game, I think. It doesn't try to be anything more than it is. It doesn't try to be a "breakthrough" game, it doesn't try to bring the gaming world to life, it isn't trying to bump it's way to #1 on the Greatest Games of All Time list. No, it's nothing about that. It's about shooting a bunch of guys until you can't shoots no more, and that's it.

This is apparently a remake of an old, old game. I can't remember the original Beach Head - probably before my time or something - but I can remember playing the countless clones of the original, and loving every minute of it. Beach Head 2002 is a 360 rendition of the classic. You're a lone gunman, armed with a machine gun, some missiles, and a bazooka. Oh, and a pistol (ha! Good luck with that!) With this small arsenal and limited amunition, you must defend your little pillbox thing for as long as possible. Infantry will come running at you on the ground or spilling out from APCs, or even parachuting down from passing planes. Jets will bomb you, tanks will shell you, and somehow...somehow you must stay alive for as long as possible.

Every mission things get a bit harder. More planes, more infantry, more tanks. Less ammo, less ammo, less health...less ammo. And then it's night! You can't see nearly as well as you could during the day! How are you going to survive? It's impossible! It can't be done! But you must try! You must...

Ahem.

You must make the high score.

The Bad
Well, there's just not much to this game to make it worth a whole twenty bucks. I'd say even ten dollars would be pushing it. This game is a modern "five dollar game", and not worth the twenty bucks. That's not to say it's a bad game, it's just, you don't really do much in the game. You sit in a box and shoot, and you never leave the box. Serious Sam costs less than this game did, and you had a lot more gameplay.

The Bottom Line
If you need a small, easy-to-learn shoot'em-up time waster, you can't go wrong with Beach Head 2002. And it is quite fun to try and beat your friends' scores.

The Good
Hmmm... it works on Windows XP :) And the graphics and sounds are okay.

The Bad
Games like these are simply boring. You just scroll the background graphics back and forth, shooting everything that moves. This may be fun if you can play the game with a lightgun, but this isn't the case here. Okay, you can use rockets and handguns and stuff but there still is zero gameplay. And you won't get an end sequence anyway, because the game is virtually endless. Oh yeah, the levels will get harder and harder just because they add more and more enemies, but a good player can sit there for hours doing nothing more than shooting enemies without getting a reward. Highscore list? Who wants to see it?

The Bottom Line
Don't buy Beach Head 2000 - it stinks. Better put some quarters into your favourite arcade machine - or simply buy some better game :)