Low G Man
System: NES
Release Date: August 1990
Developer: KID
Publisher: Taxan
Genre: Action
Save the Earth from technological takeover as the Low G Man! Aliens have hacked into the AI robots that take care of everything on the planet. The Intergalactic Marines have all been wiped out. The last hope are the Low-G-Men, an elite arm of the government specializing in hostile environments. Of course, the plan is to send in one Low G Man, and that’s you.
You shoot a freeze ray straight ahead, but use a spear when shooting up or down. Killing an enemy while frozen only gives a drop about one tenth of the time, but spearing an unfrozen enemy gives a powerup all the time. This information gave me the complex of not wanting to freeze enemies. Some drop a weapon pickup regardless of being frozen or not. Realizing which enemies are which is important to success. The different weapons are useful in different situations and can be switched in the weapon select screen by pressing the Start Button. The more pickups you collect, the stronger the weapons become, up to level three. The Boomerang shoots up and in both horizontal directions and as expected comes back toward the Low G Man. The wave gun blasts a wide beam. Bombs are thrown up in an arc. The fireball splits and shoots ahead.
The Low G Man can jump really high. Collecting Anti Gravity Material allows you to increase your jump. This leads to more verticality in levels, which can be disorienting if you don’t know where to go right away. One hit doesn’t kill you, as you have a life bar, but it sure can go fast! Powerups are important, but they disappear from the screen too quickly, causing you to miss that health you desperately need. Other drops increase the length of your spear, number of shots from your freeze ray, and an invincibility shield.
There are different vehicles that you can get in after freezing and killing them. The Walker, which shoots a spray of bullets and has the ability to jump really high. The Hovercraft, which shoots bombs and flies through the air with the push of a button. The Spider doesn’t have any weapons, but can walk on the ground or ceiling and crush enemies. These vehicles only last as long as there is time on the VEF timer. Getting hit drains this faster.
Bosses require you to learn patterns and choose the right weapon to take them down. I figured out a cheap kill to this guy that spits out poison potions. Some others took a lot of trial and error. The final boss has lots of different bits that need to be destroyed before you can save the world. The go through and give it a try on a harder loop.
Graphics: 2.5
I don’t think the graphics are amazing, but they are certainly good. I think we’d be better with smoother animation.
Sound: 3.5
It’s a step below Mega Man 2 quality, but I actually think the soundtrack is pretty great. The sounds were pretty good, too.
Gameplay: 2.5
Levels are pretty straightforward. Drops disappearing quickly is an unfortunate design decision. Hit detection is sometimes infuriating.
Difficulty: 2.5
Levels were mostly fair, as long as you don’t miss too many helpful drops.
Fun Factor: 2.0
I had an alright time, the game isn’t too long, which is a plus.
Overall Rating: 2.6
Low G Man earns a B-. There’s enough to enjoy here that I can give it a recommendation to try. I didn’t think it was a classic, but maybe a rough gem.