When the news came out that Flying Tiger Entertainment would be releasing a brand new game rather than another arcade port, I was confused. I couldn’t say I was expecting anything new to come out of the Data East names, nor would I know what the developers would have in mind. I still wasn’t sure what to expect when this game was announced as Heavy Burger. But you know what? For all my confusions during that period of time, I’m happy to have been curious enough to give it a shot.
Graphics
Running at a silky-smooth sixty frames per second no matter how much happens onscreen, Heavy Burger wears the 80’s on its body and ensures it has no other hill to die on. Characters and worlds from Karate Champ, Bad Dudes, Heavy Barrel, Lock ‘n Chase, Burgertime, and even Side Pocket play a part in making up this game’s structure. The only instance the framerate shifts to less is when it does that really cool room transition (in which the camera moves from one arcade cabinet to another). Between the Data East eye candy and the great performance, I say Heavy Burger does plenty right in this category.
Audio
Of course, a lot of the sound effects and music come from various games Data East released in the arcades, too. That alone’s a thumbs up in my book; I dig the sounds of 80’s arcade games, and Data East’s games did not disappoint. Having them here and then some allows Heavy Burger to feel that much more retro despite not playing like any of the games it’s based around. However, I do think some of the sounds can get annoying over the course of the session’s duration. There will be a lot of death voice samples triggered, and in Karate Champ‘s case, a lot of bull yells to go with it.
Gameplay
If you haven’t paid close attention to the screenshots, Heavy Burger is a combination of Smash TV, tug of war, and a bunch of assets from Data East arcade games. In this dual-analog shoot ’em up, a bag of money spawns in the middle of the field. As the Burgertime guy equipped with a giant gun, your goal is to snag it and take it to the bank at the end of the series of rooms you travel through. This would be simple enough if it were not for that (a) there are enemies that could lurk on the field and (b) your opponents will be determined to snatch that bag off you. Reach the bank, though, and you’re rewarded with a glorious variation of Bad Dudes‘s ending screen.
Now, I’m not much of a fan of at least some of the games represented in Heavy Burger. In fact, Karate Champ is freakin’ awful, and I’ve already written about Bad Dudes here on TiCGN. However, Heavy Burger manages to be so much better than those. Even though you see all the game has to offer in perhaps the first 10 minutes of play, the sheer insanity and moment-to-moment action makes it hard to put down. The multiplayer is great for a party setting as well; there are a good amount of options to go with it. Such as altering who’s on what team and whether or not CPUs can join in. Other features, like the gun pickups and previously covered territories being immediately skipped over, further keep the frenzy going on without making the Point-A-to-Point-B goal becoming a drag to deal with.
Verdict
All in all, this is easily my favorite of the games the folks at Flying Tiger have put onto the eShop thus far. It revels in its Data East license while also throwing in unexpected scenarios that not only players could be amused by, but also work well from a gameplay standpoint. I don’t know who in their right mind would have come up with this game, but I’m glad it managed to become a finalized product for people to buy. Fans of Data East’s oldies should have a blast with Heavy Burger, but even those that aren’t into them can find fun to be had here.
Review copy provided by Flying Tiger Entertainment
