Lethal Enforcers on the Mega Drive
Review Version - Mega Drive
Developer - Konami
Publisher - Konami
Lightguns, since the dawn of computing people have looked at the screen and thought, "I really want to shoot that". Quite frankly I have always found lightguns to be a total pain but that could have more to do with my inability to aim than anything else.
Lethal Enforcers started out as an arcade game before being ported over to the 16 bit consoles.
The Story
You play as Don Marshall, an officer in the Chicago Police Department. It would be so much better if you were a US Marshal, called Marshall. Imagine the hijinks you could have with that premise.
It’s like when my sister thought the police woman in Juliet Bravo was Juliet Bravo. I appreciate 90% of the people reading this have no idea that Juliet Bravo was a TV show but I like to keep that memory alive!
Apparently you have just sipped the last drop of coffee when the dispatcher calls to tell you that a major crime organisation has invaded town. I assume that is all they say, I am going by the manual here.
You are one of two survivors of an elite group of officers. The rest have been killed apparently.
Now call me Mr. Picky but I wouldn’t expect the elite team to all be dead. It doesn’t scream, elite to me.
Also if the bad guys managed to wipe out a whole elite team what chance do you have? Or are you supposed to be the elite of the elite? The best of the best of the best sort of situation.
If that's the case why are you sitting around drinking coffee when the rest of your team is annihilated?
Welcome to the bank.
The Bank
Once the call ends you decide to check out the bank. Possibly because you have some cheques to cash, maybe set up a direct debit.
Once you arrive at the bank there is a hostage situation going on. This means you need to get your gun loaded and shoot some bad guys.
You can tell this game came out in the early 90s. Anyone robbing a bank today needs to check what 15 minute window the bank is actually open.
Once inside the bank you instantly question what sort of bank this is? There are no counters with staff sitting behind 10 tons of glass, no ATMs, no little pens on chains.
For reasons only known to them, civilians are walking around inside the bank. It's possible they are so shocked the branch is open they are willing to risk death just for a chance to cancel that standing order.
If you shoot them you lose points, which is a bit mean frankly.
The Identical Twins
You quickly realise that the organised crime group is made up of lots of identical twins. Really stupid twins at that because they roll and jump out the same way each time despite just seeing their brother getting shot.
There is a lot of them as well. I don’t know how much money they are hoping to steal but split 100 ways even a million isn’t much.
Of course that is after paying for the guns and ammo and balaclavas.
Apparently they all went to the same school of tactics.
Outside
At some point you arrive outside and it only gets worse. People rolling out from behind cars is one thing, even if it is the same car, but how many people are hiding in that dumpster?
The really weird one is the guy who pops up right in front of you. I am not kidding, he literally pops up directly in front of you.
How on earth did he manage that? Was he crawling along the floor till he got close enough and then jumped up? Why didn’t he shoot me in the leg or at least tie my shoelaces together?
There are probably another 30 people in that dumpster.
Everybody Into The Car
Eventually you kill enough baddies to move to the next stage which is driving alongside them in a car and shooting.
Now I said car, not bus. Again, how many people fit into a standard car? 5 at a push I would think. The last car is clearly a 2 seater sports car but still about 5 people are somehow inside.
It is clear they didn't think this through very well. I mean I shot like 50 people before this point, how were they planning on escaping? Uber?
Shooting the car makes no difference at all. This is disappointing and frankly ruins the immersion.
Just kidding of course, nothing could ruin that.
You can shoot the tyres which should cause the cars to at least slow down. All it in fact does is make the people in the cars harder to shoot because the cars bobble up and down.
Rocket Man
Once the three cars are dealt with you get a van with a side door. The door opens and there is a man with a rocket launcher.
Those things were really popular in the 90s.
Anyway he fires rockets at you and you have to shoot the rockets before they hit you which is a common defense tactic against rocket launchers.
Everyone knows the tiny bullet will cause the huge rocket to explode.
Apparently those rockets he is firing are around £500 each and he shoots at least 20 at me. Clearly he isn't worrying too much about budgets.
Tiny bullet. Huge rocket. Science.
China Town
The next stage takes place in China town. How do you know it's China town because everyone is walking around dressed like extras in a Bruce Lee movie. Seriously every single person is wearing a Tang suit.
At some point a chicken appears being chased by a Chinese chef who has a really large cleaver. I honestly expected a dragon to appear at one point.
I have no idea what happens after this stage because quite frankly, I was bored by this point.
Is It Any Good?
This game is hard with a capital H. Granted I am not using a light gun but I don’t know how much easier that would actually make the game.
Around the time this was released SEGA actually brought out the official light gun for the Mega Drive, the Menacer. Konami chose to release Lethal Enforcers with their own light gun, the Justifier. They are compatible with each other, if you wanted a two player version you needed to buy the Justifier's twin brother, which is pink for some reason. This is the reason no one played this game in two player mode.
I looked at some reviews from the time and lots of people said it was a hard game.
The graphics are that weird digital thing they did for a while. Think Mortal Kombat but with less animation frames (and less decapitation).
As I generally do when reviewing games, I have to assume I am missing something here because this game got a sequel so clearly it was well received.
I just found it to be boring and repetitive.
Lethal Enforcers
A brutally difficult light-gun shooter that feels repetitive once the novelty wears off.
Maybe the light gun was the missing ingredient. Or maybe my childhood memory was simply being kind to me.