Strikers 1945 Plus’ theme seems inspired by 1942, but Psikyo’s game has one thing that Capcom’s doesn’t — massive mechs. At the end of each level you battle tanks and planes that transform into bullet blasting robots after taking a certain amount of damage.
One interesting design choice is Strikers 1945 Plus’ shuffles stages. You might start the game flying over an ocean. The next time you play it you could be in a jungle before going to the ocean level. There’s a limited number of stages to play, but mixing the order adds an extra layer of challenge. It also makes it impossible to practice a stage by repeating it over and over.
There are six ships in Strikers 1945 Plus and each of them are different, well, more different than being faster or having a spread shot. Take the Flying Pancake as an example. Power up its regular shot and you get homing lasers. This ship can also fire a piercing laser when you activate its super shot by holding circle. Super shots are limited. You start with one, but can stock more by shooting planes down. If you die you lose your super shots so don’t be afraid to use them. The Zero Fighter fires a line of shots and launches a missile that creates a black hole on impact.
The “bombs” in Strikers 1945 Plus vary too. First, they’re not actually bombs. When you use a bomb you call an invincible ally plane that flies in and acts a gunpod for a few seconds. The plane also shields you from damage, but a stray pink orb can destroy your ship if it slips past your allied plane. Each ship calls a different allied plane too.
Strikers 1945 Plus, like most shoot ’em ups, can be “beaten” in half an hour. However, blowing through the game with bombs isn’t the way to enjoy an arcade shooter. The goal of the game is to beat it or in the case of Strikers 1945 Plus survive as long as you can. As soon as you “crush the enemy” the game starts another loop.
