REVIEW: SEGA AGES G-LOC: Air Battle


Title	SEGA AGES G-LOC: Air Battle
Developer	SEGA
Publisher	SEGA
Release Date	April 30th, 2020
Genre	Arcade
Platform	Switch
Age Rating	E10
Official Website

When I was a young man way back in the Stone Age, these magical places called arcades existed. There were two air combat games that ruled the genre, Afterburner and G-LOC: Air Battle. In the 1990’s you could find both of these games in about any arcade in their amazing moving cockpit cabinets! Now thanks to the SEGA AGES series I can relive this classic game from my childhood in a more portable form without quarters. Let’s see how this newly released version of the game turned out.

The SEGA AGES version of G-LOC: Air Battle looks fantastic. The visuals are crisp and clear even when docked on a good sized TV. The game gives you several different graphical options to choose from. These include standard things like borders and filters, but the most interesting addition here is Cockpit Mode. This mode actually simulates the moving cockpit the arcade version had many years ago. While this is pretty much just a novelty and it’s much easier to play with standard borders, I really enjoyed messing around with it.

The classic chiptunes from the arcade return here in all their glory. These tracks are all pretty short, which makes sense because the gameplay here is always on a timer. The sound effects really add to this title. The gun and missile sounds blowing apart your enemies is satisfying. Hearing that voice say “FIRE” every time you get a lock on just adds to the tension as you always end up spraying a ton more missiles than you intended to!

Gameplay here is pretty straightforward. You have a time limit to shoot down X number of enemies. The quicker you do this, the more time you will have for the next wave, which is most likely bigger. You will also get added time for how many missiles you have left over. This gives you a choice of trying to shoot down enemies faster with lock on or shooting them down with your guns to get a bigger time bonus from leftover missiles when the round is over.

There are two modes of play here. A classic arcade mode where you can keep pumping in virtual quarters and an Ages Mode. In Ages Mode there are no continues, so players will have to use their wits and skill to get as far as they can on a single coin. This mode also has online rankings so you can compete with players all over to see who hauls in the most points and completes the game the fastest.

At the $7.99 price tag G-LOC: Air Battle is pretty easy to recommend to anyone that loves arcade shooters. The action here is as fast paced as it every was, and this is an amazing port from top to bottom. The extra bells and whistles like Cockpit mode and the scanned manual are just icing on the cake. Now I must crank up “Danger Zone” as loudly as I can and shoot down many more bogeys!