As you may know, Elevator Action Returns is one of my favourite games ever, one of those titles that i periodically play for a quick 1-CC. As it will soon get reprinted in the first volume of the Taito collection, i’ve decided to write a few lines on the game. So:

INTRO

The first Elevator Action was basically one of the first, if not the first, mixes between a platform and an action game.The status of the two genres is surely much more fuzzy than the one of shmups, as differences are very subtle: many elements are basically the same of run and gun games, but you also have platforms and free-scrolling (or, well, the stage is not limited to one screen only). Elevator Action was clearly inspired by tv series like Mission Impossible and the like, with its secret agent that had to stole the secret plans while being hunted down by various baddies. When Taito released their F3 hardware, they also made a series of of sequels/remakes of their classic titles: Bubble Symphony, Darius Gaiden and Elevator Action Returns are all in this vein, in the sense that they are modern versions of their ‘80s ancestors, but with new gameplay and a complete new look. In this regard, Elevator Action Returns is the game that is more distant from its “ancestor”: not only (obviously) for its graphical aspect, but mainly for the gameplay. This is not a negative thing, as the first title was pretty old and had a few mechanics made obsolete by the evolution of the genre: after all, a simple remake of a game, but with updated graphics, would just be a commercial operation,no?

But let’s stop digressing and go to the review.

GFX:10

In one word: amazing. The game has a slightly Manga-like style regarding characters’ design and the end-of-stage screens, something which was indicative of the more general change to a fully japanese style in 2d graphics, typical of the ‘90s.Stage design is a bit more generic, but quite amazing: what is particularly surprising is the richness of animations and the incredible amount of detail. You have to consider that, given the gameplay (i.e. you always have many floors on screen) all characters are relatively small, but this is not a limit, as every single enemy (and of course the characters) is drawn with a richness of details and is very well animated.When you shoot, you will see every single shell falling out of the gun and bouncing around, or you can observe bombs and objects to explode in one thousand shards.There are also a lot of cinematic effects, like the beginning of the second stage: an enemy notices something shining on the horizon, calls the other and the shining thing is revealed to be your character dashing at full speed on its helicopter against the airport window, killing everyone (save for himself, of course) in the crash. In short, every single element is carefully designed and very detailed, absolutely brilliant.

BGM:10

This is probably one Yack’s best works: basically all the songs are jazz/lounge pieces that define marvelously the game’s atmosphere.Every song is divided in two or three parts, which correspond to different sections of a stage: this implies that every stage has two or three related themes, which also mark the the change of pace. For instance, the initial part of the second stage is a slow fanfare-like theme, with a slightly sad flavour, that changes abruptly in a very syncopated jazzy theme (with a menacing edge, so to speak) that accompanies the very fast central section of the stage.Once this section ends, the theme reverts back to a few lines of bass and organ, to comment the slow, platform-oriented part that ends the stage. All songs work more or less in this way, with changes of pace being synchronized with the different parts of the stages, strengthening the “overall cinematographic” feeling.If this is not enough, all sound effects are also extremely realistic and very clear, with the best ones being the comments that your character do when hit, like “I’ll get you next time!”. In short, another brilliant masterpiece by Yack and Zuntata.

GAMEPLAY: 10—

There’s just one reason that prevents the gameplay from being a perfect 10, which could also be open to debate: the overall pace. Let’s start from the basics, though: the gameplay is pretty simple, as you can shoot, jump, dash (and jump after dashing).If you press fire and jump at the same time, you will throw a grenade.You can choose among 3 characters, Kart (the fast guy with the napalm bomb), Edie (the fast-shooting girl with the burning grenade) and Jad (the though guy with the sensor mine). Hit points vary with character, Edie being the weakest and Jad the thoughest. When shooting, you can aim high (up+shoot) to have your shots placed at 30° above the normal line.In case you’re close enough to your enemies, you can use various close range attacks, which do twice the damage (i.e. all enemies requiring two hits will die with one punch).You can also use jumps to do one hit, but be careful.Said that, let’s analyze the structure of the game: as always, you need to enter the red doors to retrieve data.However, this time you will go around many locations and fight a wide array of different enemies. You can use your bombs for a variety of purposes: not only they deal a lot of damage (four hits), but they will also destroy scenery and cancel all bullets engulfed in the explosion.If this is not enough, You can also get two special weapons: machinegun (M icon, 100 shells) or the missile Launcher (L icon, 20 shells).Aside the red doors, you can also enter the blue doors, which have “bonus roulettes”: depending on location, you can get items (bonus points) or ammos (bonus bombs), or even food (bonus energy, points if you’re unharmed).In order to get points, you can also take down every light or other destroyable objects: background items (like the red boxes) will require a bomb, but they will usually release a 2k item. Speaking of items, their value ranges among these values: 500-1k-1,5k-2k, so no item is fundamental.Also speaking of points, the game has a sort of “tension metre”, as all kills based on close range hits and missile launcher are worth x2 the points (same for bombs), very risky kills are worth x4 (i.e. you kill the enemy when the shot animation has just started: by killing it, you also cancel the bullet, very tricky!). Last but not least, like in the first game, you can control the elevators,once you’re on them, by moving the joystick.Don’t jump in the void or be under an elevator, you will die!We should also explain why the vote is not a perfect 10, but let’s first move to the Longevity section.

LONGEVITY: 9+

The key aspect to be taken in consideration, when making a final evaluation on the game, is the pace: the game is basically slow-paced.This is a sort of heresy, if you consider that it is an arcade action game.However, this is not an absolute statement. The key idea is that some sections are slow, mainly based on careful movements between floors with the elevators.In these parts, they aspect is precision and carefulness, as often you need to quickly formulate the best strategical approach to advance.In other sections, instead, action and speed is the key: platforms are reduced to a minimum and you just need to shoot a lot.In this regard, the duality between platform and action is brilliantly expressed by the change of pace, mirrored in the different rythm of the songs too.However, the game can also be played for points: the arcade version maxes out at 1M, a difficult score to attain.Why? As i said, the key to points is bonuses and close-range or risky kills.These are not enough, though, as you will still need to milk a lot to get these remaining points. The basic idea is that there’s at least one point per stage where you place yourself and start killing, by short range attacks, all spawning enemies.This, of course, is pretty tedious, unless you’re a fan of milking (i’m not).However, in order to properly milk those sections, you need to quickly clear the rest of the stage, making the difference of pace even more dramatic (i.e. dash around for the whole stage and then spending minutes to milk). If you disregard this aspect, however, you still have an excellent title that can be picked up at any moment and fully enjoyed in its entirety. In short, a modern masterpiece.

FINAL REMARKS AND VOTE: 10—

Elevator Action Returns is one of the best action/platform games around. While the changing pace and the scoring systems may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the game is still a perfect blend of genres and features excellent gameplay and gorgeous visuals and music.It is well emulated on Raine and MAME (some minor graphical effects are absent) and there’s an expensive Saturn port, which also features the original game after a completion.Last but not least, it will be reprinted on the upcoming “Taito memories” collection.

MINI-GUIDE

As i said, the game revolves around clearing most of the stage quickly and then moving to the key spot where to start milking.There are six spots for this action: first one is at the very last floor, on the right (last blue door, take the item and then kill enemies); second one is one the right, immediately before the last platform); the third one is the last door on the left before the section with no doors (near the end); the fourth one is the door on the right of your last red door, but you can also milk a bit during the stage (first horizontal tunnel); fifth one is the first door on the last downward section, you take the data and a flood of enemies will start appearing; the last one is the blue door before the final section, when you see that you’re almost in the big room, that’s it.For the rest, general tips are: take every bonus, shoot inflammable cans when enemies can go onto them, as fire will make you get twice the points,use as much close range or bombs as possible,destroy all the scenery, use the elevators to take yourself out of the shooting line of enemies.For the third stage “boss”: you can place yourself at the second platform, on the corner, or move up and down on the elevator.Bombing will cancel bullets and double your scores, so…

Please write me if you need help! R