Jet Setting

Developed by Fever Games and Published by Com2us, Strikers 1945: RE is a licensed spinoff of the classic top-down shooter series. Specifically, developers primarily adapted it from Strikers 1945 III, also known as Strikers 1999. However, developers also copied some enemies and bosses from Strikers 1945 II.

Strikers 1945: RE doesn’t provide much context for who players are or who they are fighting. Strikers 1999 was about extraterrestrial nanobots arriving in 1999 and taking over most of the world’s military vehicles. I’m assuming that’s still what’s happening in Strikers 1945: RE. Players are a member of the Strikers, an elite military unit equipped with the few remaining uncorrupted jet fighters.

Strikers 1945: RE players choose between the F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-22 Raptor, AV-8 Harrier, F4 Phantom II, and F-117 Nighthawk. Players pick one to start with, but unlocking all the others doesn’t take too long. The Raptor fires triangular volleys of bullets directly ahead. The Nighthawk fires in two streams but trades damage-per-hit for a secondary explosive projectile. The Harrier and Super Hornet fire in different shaped cones while the Phantom II does the same but with an additional incendiary attack.

Each plane also has a unique Special Bomb that charges up over time. The Raptor launches a cluster bomb, the Harrier calls a fight of carpet bombers, while the Super Hornet fires one very large missile. The Nighthawk summons a lightning storm, and the Phantom II fires a magnetic pulse. Notably, the Phantom II and Super Hornet are the only planes whose Special Bombs don’t hit everything on the screen. The Hornet’s missile hits the center of the screen, while the Phantom II’s magnetic attack hits everything in front of it.

Supersonic Shooting

Strikers 1945: RE’s gameplay is otherwise straightforward. Players control their plane using a virtual joystick, dodging the increasingly dangerous waves of enemy aircraft. Stages consist of multiple smaller Chapters, each ending with a boss. As players rack up kills, they collect Coins and Experience Points. Players spend Coins upgrading their planes and plane components outside of combat.

Meanwhile, XP lets players unlock Powerups for that Stage only. Strikers 1945: RE splits Powerups between Parts and Boosts. Parts include things like weapons and shields, while Boosts are upgrades to things like speed and health. Players can equip four of each, including the Bullet Part that every plane starts with.

Combat is tense and fast-paced, while the Powerups offer great strategic options despite their small number. I also expected to hit a wall of artificial difficulty, but that never materialized. Instead, the difficulty gradually ratchets up, and I never got the impression I needed to spend money to keep going. Strikers 1945: RE is pay-for-advantage, but not what I would call pay-to-win. I’d say it was perfectly satisfactory if it was a standalone game.

A Worse Version of a Good Game

However, the top-down shooter still loses points compared to its predecessors. S&C Entertainment ported the original trilogy to mobile a few years ago. If anything, that means they are even more accessible than they were in the 1990s. On a whim, I decided to look at Strikers 1945 III, the game RE borrowed from the most heavily.

Frankly, I was blown away by how much better it was. The gameplay is faster and more difficult, and each Stage has more enemy variety. Every boss has a quick intro and multiple phases, each accompanied by a change in appearance. Not to mention that the presentation is much better, with more detailed animated backgrounds and better music.

However, what Strikers 1945 III drove home for me is how much RE outright steals. It’s the same bosses but with fewer phases and less dramatic introductions. The environments resemble the ones from 1999 but are less detailed and interesting. It’s many of the same enemies, but fewer and less varied. It’s a game from 2023 using the same sprites from 1999 and, in many cases using them in a worse way.

It all just makes Strikers 1945: RE feel like a cheap knockoff. If the older games didn’t exist, or RE was more original, I would endorse it without hesitation. However, in a world where Strikers 1945 III exists on the same platform, I’m not sure.