Genre: Light Gun Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Players: 1-2 Released: 1994
Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters is the follow-up to the original Lethal Enforcers that was released the year prior. While the gameplay is fundamentally the same (shoot the bad guys & don’t shoot the good guys), the modern-day setting of the first game is replaced with an old west setting (1873 to be exact). Unlike its controversial predecessor, Lethal Enforcers II only carried an MA-13 rating instead of MA-17.
The game supports either a Genesis controller or the Justifier light gun. For the purposes of this review, I used the Justifier. Using one requires a CRT television since light guns do not work on modern TVs. From a control standpoint, the Justifier is the way to go. It is pretty accurate overall and it does a great job of taking you back to when you used to pump quarters into this game at the arcades. Given the speed at which the enemies come at you, using the controller is challenging. I lost count of the number of lives I lost when having to move the reticle quickly from one side of the screen to the other.
When the game starts, you are armed with your trusty six-shooter. As the action progresses, you have the opportunity to upgrade your weaponry. Try shooting objects like signs and vases to reveal weapons. like dual pistols, 50-caliber sharps, rifles, shotguns, Gatling guns, and cannons. Each one only lasts for a short while, so make the most of them while you have them. Enemies are quick on the draw and you’ll need that extra firepower.
The game comprises of five stages. In the first stage, you thwart a bank robbery. After making your way through the bank, you are greeted by a boss holed up in a covered wagon armed with three cannons. The battle forces you to continuously switch between shooting the cannonballs before they hit you while trying to take him down at the same time. If playing with a friend, the best strategy is to have one player focus on the cannonballs while the other player continuously fires at the boss.
Stage two has you pursuing a stagecoach and a covered wagon that are under attack. This stage introduces more moving targets with most enemies riding on horseback. The boss throws a seemingly infinite supply of barrels at you, again causing you to move between shooting the barrels while trying to get shots on the boss. Upon defeating him, the wagon explodes, sending him flying through the air. Now, we have our first bonus stage. You are in a saloon, where you have 15 seconds to shoot all the bottles on the shelves along with any drinks that come sliding across the bar.
The third stage brings you inside the saloon where you blast bad guys and avoid shooting ladies of the evening. Your enemies are a mixture of gun, knife, and hatchet-wielding bandits and bandidos. The stage concludes with an old west standoff, where you go out to the street and get into a quick draw duel with three black-clad gunfighters.
For stage four, hit the rails and try to stop a train robbery. You start at the caboose and work your way to the locomotive. The locomotive is driven by a psycho hurling dynamite at you. Shoot the dynamite out of the sky and keep blasting the boss unless his life meter is no more. After defeating him, you’re greeted by another bonus stage. This time, you have a lady throwing bottles in the air. Shoot as many of them out of the sky as you can in 20 seconds.
The journey to the final boss brings us through the OK Mine Company. You make your way into the bowels of the mine and are greeted by our main antagonist. He proceeds to summon an onslaught of skeletal warriors that heave knives and their own heads at you while the boss pelts you with the occasional fireball. You have to shoot the boss to reduce his life meter. Shooting the skeletons does nothing. After his life is depleted, you are greeted by a quick animation of him morphing into a mere skeleton. And with that… roll credits!
The graphics are nearly identical to its Genesis counterpart, which suffers from the same reduced color palate. This causes the the game to have a dull, blurry look compared to the arcade. The audio is where this version shines. With CD-quality audio at its disposal, the music, sounds effects, and the voice samples have superior clarity to the Genesis version and are nearly on par with the arcade original.
From a difficulty standpoint, Lethal Enforcers II is considerably more challenging than its predecessor, but it comes with a trade-off. Unlike the first game, there is no minimum accuracy requirement to move on to the next stage. The removal of that challenge is exchanged for more unforgiving enemies. They come at you faster and open fire faster once onscreen. Additionally, some regular enemies require more than one shot to take down, so be sure to double (or triple) tap just to be safe. When you get to the end of a stage, your rank is determined by your accuracy, with points deducted for any innocent victims that you hit. The ranks are determined as follows:
59% and under – Posse
60-69% – Deputy
70-79% – Sheriff
80-89% – Deputy Marshal
90% or above – U.S. Marshal
Overall, Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters does a great job of replicating the arcade experience. The Justifier is a responsive, accurate light gun that has a similar look and feel to the original arcade gun. The superior sound quality makes it a notable upgrade over the Genesis version. The difficulty is higher than the original, but you do get nine credits to continue your game, compared to five in the first game. If you are a fan of the arcade version and are looking for a challenging light gun experience, this is a great way to bring that experience home.
SCORE: 8 out of 10
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