LogFAQs > #950816400

#21. Elevator Action Returns (Arcade, 1994)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQfxM7QzOiM



I've talked a couple times about playing games in the arcade during my DDR days. Here's another one of those games! It's not a popular hit by any means, but for years, it was always fun to pop on over to this cabinet for a play. I'm not amazing at the game, but I got decently good at it, and could run through the whole game on a dollar or less. It's about a 30-45 minute playthrough. It later released on the collection Taito Legends 2, which I bought, and had a lot of fun playing even more at home. Sometimes it's fun to turn to a shorter game and just play through the whole thing in one sitting, and this is often I game I put in when I'm feeling that vibe.

The original Elevator Action was uh, nothing special. I'm amazed it got a sequel, especially because the sequel came over 10 years later. The original game involved a spy breaking in to the top floor of a tall skyscraper, and descending towards the bottom, while breaking into various doors along the way to collect classified info. It was a run-and-gun game, but very slow paced.

The sequel uses that same basic premise, but adds a bunch to make it way more fun. There are now three characters to choose from (Kart Bradfield, Edie Burret, and Jad the Taff; maybe the best-named trio of characters in video game history?), each of which plays a little different and has a different weapon. The action is a lot better paced than the original, but still calculated. There are way more environmental features to interact with and destroy. There are more doors to get things from, some containing power ups and new weapons. The first stage is a skyscraper, similar to the original, but later stages go through a variety of buildings and scenery, and in a less-linear layout.

Graphically, the sprites were pretty sharp for the time, but the game really shines through with its sense of style. It really feels like it pulls inspiration from every '90s action movie. There are a variety of locations, and even within them, every screen looks different. Explosions are huge and satisfying, and there are tons of small details all over in a way that just makes it feel good and look good to run through levels. On the sound side, Yasuhisa Watanabe does the music. He made a lot of fantastic soundtracks for bad and/or lesser known Taito games, and he got the assignment again here. It's another set of songs from him that I love.





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