Irem Collection Volume 2 – PS5 Review

Irem Collection Volume 2 is a compilation of arcade games from legendary coin-op company Irem who have a history dating back to the ’70s.  This, of course, follows up from Volume 1 which featured three shoot ’em ups (two vertical, one horizontal) but this volume now has a bit of a run-and-gun focus with GunForce and GunForce II included, along with vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up Air Duel.

What you get here are three arcade-perfect ports, along with a SNES port, along with the emulation features such as scanlines and CRT filters as well as a couple of useful quality-of-life features rewinding and quicksaves (although not if you want to earn any trophies).  There are no museum features (soundtracks, concept art, documentaries) so really this package is just all about the games.  So let’s break them down one by one.

GunForce

This classic coin-op run-and-gun shooter hails from 1992 and is considered something of a spiritual prequel to the Metal Slug series (while the games had different publishers, many of the development team from GunForce ultimately ended up working on Metal Slug).  You play as a single soldier who has to take on six stages of furious shooting action full of giant enemy vehicles, loads of troops and plenty of set pieces.  While it’s the detailed visuals that most remind you of the Metal Slug games, the game also has other features in common with it:  the tough difficulty, multiple weapon types and the ability to hijack everything from tanks to helicopters.

The game still stands up over thirty years later though.  It still looks good, plays well and is arguably better than a lot of the modern run-and-gunners we see on PSN.  It’s definitely pretty brutal at times though, especially during boss encounters, but for us it is the best thing on the compilation.  You also get the SNES port of the game which definitely streamlines the experience, and simplifies the visuals to cram it into the SNES’ limited memory.  We enjoyed playing through it.

GunForce II 

Also known in Japan as Geo Storm (that version is also included), this is where the Metal Slug DNA really started getting formed.  Everything in this game is stepped up from the action (which is wilder and more varied, while still sticking to the basic run-and-gun template), the visuals (which are absolutely tremendous considering the 1994 release date) and the difficulty.  While we’re happy about the first two things there, especially the way the game has you interacting with the environment in various different ways, the difficulty step up really is brutal.

We played some of this recently on the Antstream service and there are times where it is barely playable.  From hard to see bullets, to super awkward sections where you struggle to aim at what you need to because you’re hanging off of something, GunForce II just isn’t as much fun as it should be.  The boss battles are just as bullet-spongey as what we’d end up seeing in the Metal Slug games too.

It’s worth playing through though just because of how gorgeous it looks and how ambitious the developers were with it.  The set pieces are so much fun to see play out and definitely make this the most interesting game on the collection.  Just don’t expect to feel good about your gaming prowess after playing it.

Air Duel

This 1990 vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up is a slightly odd inclusion in the compilation as it’s just a straight forward example of the genre and has nothing to do with the GunForce titles, nor does it include the sort-of-sequel Air Assault.  But this is a playable and fairly impressive game that definitely looks nice and plays well enough.  It’s still pretty savage though and you do feel a little underpowered in it.  Especially if you lose a life and then have to take on the rest of a level with what feels like a pea-shooter.

You get two vehicles to choose from – a jet fighter which shoots forward quite normally and a helicopter that angles your shots based on your movement – and you get to switch between them at the start of each level.  Aside from that though, there aren’t any real gimmicks or features to elevate it above any of its peers.

We’re not sure of the price but Volume 1 costs £19.99 on PSN and so we’d assume this one will be the same and, well, that’s arguably too much for essentially three arcade ROMs and a SNES one.  Indeed, the more we think about it, the more we’re unsure as to why this compilations even come in volumes.   There are five of these compilations planned and together they’ll probably total at 15 core games, so why not just make that the collection, even if you have to charge a little more?

These aren’t remakes or remasters.  They’re straight up ports.  They don’t add in-game achievements or unlockables so essentially you’re just getting what you’d get on an emulator like MAME here.  The compilations won’t tell you anything more about the games, their developers or Irem as a company.  There’s no sense of history to them.  So in these three-games-at-a-time compilations, you’re not really getting a ton of value.

But, crucially, these are good games – arguably better than the ones in volumes 1 and 3 (the game lists for 4 and 5 aren’t confirmed yet but are likely to be fighting and platformer games) and retro fans should enjoy what’s on offer here.  Especially if you’re into the GunForce, Metal Slug or run and game games in general.  But as an offering, the content here definitely feels a little light for the price.