Quite possibly the best game focused on the 1940s to come along in a while.
1942: Joint Strike casts you into the middle of the Pacific Theater with a bird's eye view as players battle wave after wave of land, sea and sky enemies. The title has a fair bit in common with Capcom's recently released top-down shooter Wolf of the Battlefield, but delivers stronger visuals and tighter controls that will appeal to an audience broader than those just hungering for an old-school shooter.

True to its arcade-shooter style, Joint Strike is fast, furious - and short. With a combination of moderate skill and luck, or the help of a friend, completing the game's five levels takes less than an hour. Joint Strike accommodates various skill levels and lowers the risk of frustration (or alternately, boredom) with difficulty settings. As a Penguin, even the most novice player will get some enjoyment out of the game, score some good combos, and outlast the bulk of the enemy onslaught. With no continues and no stage select, however, the less successful player will probably become discouraged. The ease of getting into the game is conducive to some proper PSN title casual replay, and will have you coming back for a higher score on the leaderboards. Mostly, however, the replay value is in the multi-player.


Available both locally and online, multi-player allows for up to two players. In addition to the choice of three planes, players select from among three Joint Strike powers, or special attacks used in tandem for peak damage. The Joint Strike attacks include a bomb, a large charge shot and my favorite: chained lightning, which forms a bolt of lightning between the planes and fairly obliterates anything that strays across its path. This sort of attack requires those pesky communication skills, and is best achieved locally. As you might conclude from the above description, Joint Strikes are not available in single player. Instead, the single player is experiencing something more like 1942: Missile Strike. In the end, though, this sort of nostalgic experience is best enjoyed with a friend, and locally. While I had no troubles with the online, the arcade style intensity is just more fun with a friend.

The game's controls are tight, clean and intuitive. The trusty left analog handles navigation, and congratulations button mashers, the X button will get you pretty far as long as you don't neglect some weapons upgrades and the charged shot option. You can acquire weapons, health, lives, medals (which increase your points but are otherwise useless) as well as bombs. Planes come equipped with a few of the latter (controlled by the triangle button); effective screen-clearers they come in particularly handy against Joint Strike's tough bosses. Huge and well-armed, they put up a real fight. Boss attack patterns do not allow for careless flying, and dodging is key or you will just be watching your health drain away.


1942 in HD affects the playing field both positively and negatively. By widening the field of play more enemies can fill the screen, but the view feels shortened making it difficult to plan for what is coming and limiting maneuverability. The additional room for enemies often means that it is difficult to navigate or even find your plane in multi-player. The added area did facilitate two-player navigation, though it also made it easier to get things jumbled and while trying to dodge attacks without getting in each other's way.

While sound doesn't carry quite the same wow factor as the visuals, the latter really do impress. Level environments have players flying over cityscape and ocean, volcanoes and forests, and even a shipyard. Damage done to your plane as well as larger enemy craft shows as smoking or fiery components, a welcome detail. The retro film grain treatment to the game and animations is fitting and complements gameplay. Joint Strike really has the overall whimsy of, hey, let's go buy some war bonds! The game is pretty, even in moments where the screen becomes a muddled disaster, and it is clear that this is not just a face-lift or a fresh coat of paint.

The game's appearance combined with solid controls and generally tight feeling of the game make it more than an old remake, and evidence the success of a less direct tribute. Backbone's Joint Strike does right by the original, and in the end a little cost and value analysis is the biggest downside to the game. With a $10 price tag there just isn't enough content to satisfy the average gamer. That said, Capcom's classic top-down shooter stands the test of time in this updated iteration and will thrill fans of the original or offer a pleasant diversion for the idle.