Review: Hellfire on Sega Mega Drive

Picture the scene if you will: a group of developers are sat around a table dissecting their latest masterpiece.  They’ve developed a horizontal shooter that has all the key ingredients: ace graphics, check; storming soundtrack, check; rock hard difficulty, check; novel weapon system, check; great array of enemies, check; compulsory Egyptian themed level, check!

That’s a lot of boxes ticked but they’re still not happy:

“We need something else to really grab peoples’ attention” says one.

“We could add some burst processing?” ventures another.

“Nah, Sonic’s already got that covered”

“Maybe split-screen two player?”

“Wouldn’t work with the horizontal scrolling”

“How about some digitised speech?”

“Dude, did you even play Street Fighter 2?”

“How about we just stick a sodding great gun on the front of the ship!?”

“Love it!  Gentleman, Hellfire is born!”

OK so I may have employed a little artistic license with that conversation but I’d love to think that’s how these kind of decisions went down back in the 90s.  Hellfire is a game I have a lot of time for, and it’s another Mega Drive classic that never was.  I’ve recommended it a lot on Twitter and I’m staggered by the sheer number of people who have never even heard of it!

Hellfire is a standard horizontal scrolling shoot ‘em up so nothing untoward there then, but at the core of the game lies an unusual weapon configuration that made this title really stand out for me.  The standard forward fire is actually just one of four available options, with the other three comprising backwards, vertical and diagonal.  The direction of fire can be cycled through at will, and of course the game throws waves of enemies at you in such a way that you’re always frantically cycling through your options to find the most effective form of attack.

As well as the firing system, the game also incudes a fairly hefty power up stack.  Each life sees you start with what can only really be described as a Robin Reliant floating around in space with the handbrake off.  You have to kill enemies and blow up scenery in order to unlock power ups that include speed, upgraded fire power, a shield and also a little helper robot that attacks enemies and even soaks up the occasional bullet for you – cheers bud!

Now we come on to the piece de resistance of your weapon arsenal, the title of the game is also your ships main weapon: the Hellfire!  A quick tap of the C button and you unleash a behemoth of an attack.  A super powered laser-flamey thing (that’s the technical description I believe) gushes forth and tears into any standard enemies and makes short work of bosses.  Handily it also clears the screen of any standard enemy bullets, which means it’s equally effective as a defensive tool.

The graphics in this game are good, with suitably themed levels and enemies and some nice explosions and effects.  The soundtrack however is something else entirely.  It’s not a stretch to say that the music in this game is some of the best produced on the Mega Drive.  Each level thumps along to a kicking beat and the tunes stick in your head long after you thrown your Mega Drive out of the window because the game is so stupidly hard!

That brings me to my only criticism of the game: it’s simply too hard.  I’ve been playing it for over 15 years and I’ve never completed it – I don’t think I’ve even got to the last level!  It’s such a shame because it really mars what is otherwise a great package.  If you’re a glutton for punishment then I really recommend seeking this out – it’ll chew you up and spit you out over and over again.  If however you have the gaming dexterity of a space amoeba then this probably isn’t a title for your collection!