If you’re in the mood for a classic arcade-style shoot out, this may be for you. For all those who remember and love Capcom’s classic 1942 arcade game or any of its progeny, and even for those younglings who roll their eyes when their elders wax nostalgic, this latest installment in their 194X series of World War II shoot-‘em-ups is good old-fashioned fun.

Like the original 1942, 1942: Joint Strike is a vertically-scrolling, eagle-eyed view, shoot-like-mad game set in an alternate-reality World War II period-themed world.

When starting out, you can jump into the cockpit of one of 3 World War II-era fighters to shoot at enemy targets while evading enemy fire as best as you can. Each fighter offers different strengths and weaknesses (speed, missiles, etc). You can also choose from 4 game difficulty settings.

You can control your airplane’s movement from right to left and forward and backward as you pilot it through waves of attacking enemy aircraft, shooting at air, ground, and water targets. Movement only occurs on a flat plane, though; there are no “up” or “down” controls.

While game play resembles the classic 2D version of the game, the graphics in this new incarnation are kicked up a notch (thank you PS3). This results in a game with all the feel of the classic 80s experience that you know and love, but with more realistic and gritty 3D graphics to give you the eye-candy that draws you into the game. I particularly love the shimmer of heat that rises over burbling lava as your plane flies over a volcano on the way to the 2nd level.

As you defeat enemies, you can collect floating icons that can supply you with point bonuses, health recharges, extra missiles, weapon changes or the all-important weapon upgrades. These definitely weigh into your strategy, as the type of ordinance you can fire greatly impacts your ability to survive to the end of each level. You also have a more limited supply of missiles that you can unleash to destroy multiple targets when necessary.

At the end of each level, the last enemy to be defeated is a big boss, or a really difficult nemesis that takes many, many shots to defeat.

But the name of the game is 1942:Joint Strike. As with the arcade game, you can play with 1 or 2 players. A 2-player game allows both players to play simultaneously, working together to blow up the bad guys. A nifty feature here is the choice of one of 3 special attack weapons that requires you and your partner to cooperate with each other to utilize fully. Those special attacks are very useful when taking down a big boss. Your ally can be recruited either locally or through the Playstation Network if a suitable player is available. Online options allow a choice of difficulty level, and also has an option for Voice Chat.   

After a few rounds of dodging explosions, narrowly surviving waves of enemy fire, and battling huge bosses as best I could, I came to the conclusion that my shooter game skills haven’t improved over the years. I fully expect my 7-year-old to outscore me by the end of the month. In spite of that, I find myself coming back to play this game again and again, drawn by the adrenaline surge that can only be brought about by rapid fire weapons railing against overwhelming numbers of enemy targets. Luckily, I no longer have to spend a quarter per game to find that rush!