Jet Lancer

Jet Lancer offers some fine shmup gameplay that offers a good amount of challenge without being too oppressive. It's unfortunate that some missions are simply not all that fun to play and seem to inflate the difficulty. Some of these really should have been optional missions, as requiring them to be finished before moving on gates the rest of the game behind levels that simply don't work as well as others. However, if you do happen to get past those obstacles, Jet Lancer features fast-paced action, old-school graphics and music, and a talking cat-focused story that could make it a swell game for shmup fans looking for something new.