Fighting for your attention amongst a sea of "Could've beens", you'll find Lazer League, another side-scrolling shmup.
Lazer League represents one of the more accessible entries in this compilation. Where games like "Micro Mike" clearly needed to have a few of its variables tweaked, Lazer League approaches you with some laid back gameplay, presentation of enemies in a simple, one-by-one fashion. The term "Programmer Art" was probably coined the first time a critical eye looked at this game, but it's one of those titles where that doesn't matter much.
The game is actually beautiful in its simplicity, the background music is the chiptune equivalent of a Gregorian chant, reminding you of the emptiness of space. In a rare moment of cohesion, the sound effects actually match the actions taking place on the screen. The video glitches that randomly shift the sprites for a second before restoring order even instill nostalgia, like a well-worn vinyl record, warm and bursting with definition, yet riddled with crackle and errors; while the content tells one story, the medium tells another. If I didn't know that we're looking at a game on the Action 52 cart, I'd wonder if it was intentionally introduced.
This is the kind of game Tim Rogers would write up a six page "review" about, taking the mundane roommate and/or girlfriend drama that occurred around him while he was briefly obsessed with the game, turning it into something Tarantino would be ashamed of, and then try to loosely wrap everything together with a closer like, "Lazer League may not be great, or even just good, but just playing it takes me back to these moments, and that's why I'm a shitty gaming journalist. 3/5". I could see doing something similar if this game weren't seven years late and didn't randomly freeze up the NES. I guess that's why we're here.
Re-reading this, it might appear that I'm looking back longingly at a lost lover. Let's be clear, the state that Lazer League is in is inexcusable, but there's just something about it.
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