Play It:
For the arcade, PC, Playstation, Saturn, SNES, and Genesis. Though the last 2 ports suck. Hard.



Story:
The New Order Nation is trying to take over. The New Order is a fascist regimen that wants to take away all that is fun and whatnot. But now they've gone too far and kidnapped Aerosmith! You need to grab you guns and start blasting away the NON, or else the world will suck really hard; even more than it does now.

I think you probably have made up your mind if you would like this game or not, and I think this game gets a bit of an unfair rap right here. I don't care much for Aerosmith either but I don't hold them against the game. This game got bashed by whinny 16-year olds for having Aerosmith rather than Rage Against The Machine or some other shitty 'political' band that doesn't begin with "Bad" and end with "Religion."

Sure, the plot is absurd (that's putting it mildly), but you know, some plots are not meant to be serious at all. I used to think the exact same way. I saw this at Blockbuster, and I thought something like this, "How retarded. Man, I will NEVER play this game." Oh, man, did I eat those words. Once I saw this in action at the arcade, I was hooked. An intentionally silly plot doesn't automatically mean a game sucks, guys. I also think the whole Aerosmith thing probably was enough for many to simply toss this into the fires of hell. If you hate Aerosmith, you'll probably hate this too, and have plenty of reason to never touch this. If you don't care or love them, then it should work for you. I personally don't hate Aerosmith, nor would I be moved if they were suddenly run down by a school bus.



Graphics:
Outdated now, but I'll admit that they weren't that impressive back in the day. That's all I'll going to say. The SNES and Genesis ports had especially shitty graphics.



Sound:
The music is a bit mixed. For the most part, its all good. There are also a few Aerosmith songs thrown in, which is both good and bad. Obviously, if you hate Aerosmith... Another bad thing about the Aerosmith songs is that they are little looping excerpts. The Playstation version has "Dude Looks Like A Lady" playing during the credits. Too bad they only bothered to record twenty-something seconds of the song, and then it loops endlessly. The SNES version lasts about 5. I honestly don't remember if the arcade's music was like this, but I'm willing to bet it was. This is especially disappointing when the non-Aero music is not repetitive. The sound is done well and so are the voices. It really does add something to hear the pursuing helicopter bark out threats at you.

However, the home ports lose almost all the cool soundbites. And the SNES and Genesis versions lose all sense of quality. The Genesis version just sounds awful. The SNES version is competent, except the tracks are generally only 10 seconds, tops, then it plays endlessly throughout the entire goddamn level.



Difficulty:
This game is something of a rip-off. It is impossible to beat this game without getting hurt, and I sincerely doubt that beating this on a single credit is possible. My last run through cost me like $5. I always thought I just sucked but that seems not to be the case. For those of you with a home version, this doesn't really matter since it's got tons of continues. But for those of us who have to pay to play, it sucks. It is for that reason why I can't really say that this game is great.



Enjoyment:
Well, I gave it a chance, and I liked it. Its just a shame that none of the home ports are up to snuff (though the PS and Saturn version come close), and I don't just mean the graphical or sound quality. Little things are missing from the home ports, from little sound effects to secret rooms. And no lightgun support?!? The arcade version allows for 3 players! Not five, not four, not two, just three. However, some cabinets only allow 2, and so do the home ports.

I am putting all my street cred on the line by actually claiming this to be a good game. I loved this game back in '96, and in recent years have gotten the Internet to see that this game has garnered a reputation of being "one of the worst games ever made". I was shocked. Are we really playing the same game? The answer, I realized, is we are not. Look at every scathing review, and I guarantee the one they're looking at is either the SNES or the Genesis version. Those I can't defend; they are every bit of shitacular as the reviewers say. True, the systems could never have handled a close port, but still there's a whole world of better than what we got. However, the arcade version is actually a good game forever soiled by lame ports.

Another reason why is because lightgun games aren't generally loved by the gaming public. Even cream of the crop shooters like Time Crisis, Virtua Cop, or House Of The Dead rarely get exceptional ratings from professional reviewers (although they DO at least give credit that gunstars like us will eat it up) and never even dent any top-seller charts. If you look at Revolution X compared to other shooters, you've got a good game with multiple paths, a quirky premise, and secrets galore. What's not to like if you love shooters?




Replay Value:
Most levels have a couple places where you get to choose a path or find some secret areas. Plus, finding all the Aerosmith members without any help can be a good challenge.





Rant Session:
No lightgun support for the home versions!?! This is a shooter! Well, sort of. This is NOT actually a lightgun game. The gun is really a special kind of controller, and therefore making this into a lightgun game would require much tweaking of the engine. Not really a rant, but how do you make fun of a game that stars Aerosmith as the heroes?





Bottom Line:
A totally underrated arcade game. Don't bother with the SNES or Genesis ports. But you've probably already made up your mind, and I'm sure my comments haven't swayed your position any.

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