Muscles and big boots
After the War was released in 1989 by Dinamic Software, and it's (partly) a fantastic beat 'em up, similar in style to Double Dragon 3. We are Jonathan Rogers, aka Jungle Rogers, and we must assassinate Professor McJerin, who is today's nutcase. Worryingly set in the near future, during a post-apocalyptic Manhattan, where you must kill all the bad dudes and escape to somewhere better than this hellhole! Sounds easy, right?
The game is split into two parts: the first is a scrolling beat 'em up. The second is a bizarre shoot 'em up platformer. Upon playing part one, the first thing that struck me was the amazing graphics!! Huge sprites, great colour, and good scrolling. I adore the backgrounds and found the artwork to be apt for the grungy scenario. The sound effects are very cool and are made up of low-quality grunts and thumps with silly cries when somebody is killed. It is worth mentioning the awesome title theme, which I think is utterly superb!
The game is split into two parts: the first is a scrolling beat 'em up. The second is a bizarre shoot 'em up platformer. Upon playing part one, the first thing that struck me was the amazing graphics!! Huge sprites, great colour, and good scrolling. I adore the backgrounds and found the artwork to be apt for the grungy scenario. The sound effects are very cool and are made up of low-quality grunts and thumps with silly cries when somebody is killed. It is worth mentioning the awesome title theme, which I think is utterly superb!
Controls are easy to master and offer: a punch, a flying kick, jumping, and a get-me-outta-here rollback. Strangely, the keyboard is needed to activate another type of kick and a nut-crushing low punch, especially useful for dogs! Sadly, I found flipping between the two sets of controls an awkward killjoy.
Part two is only playable once the first is completed. Our musclebound hero is now equipped with a giant weapon as he heads off into the underground. Gamestyle is a platform shooter where we need to blast everything, even the pesky rats! The controls aren't great, and the directional aiming is overly complicated. This stage is okay, but I found myself stressing over the controls rather than having fun, which isn't good.
Part two is only playable once the first is completed. Our musclebound hero is now equipped with a giant weapon as he heads off into the underground. Gamestyle is a platform shooter where we need to blast everything, even the pesky rats! The controls aren't great, and the directional aiming is overly complicated. This stage is okay, but I found myself stressing over the controls rather than having fun, which isn't good.
After the War is two games in one, which may sound great, but it's not. The beat 'em part is superb with decent graphics, sounds and lots of violence - I enjoyed playing it a bunch!! But that's more than can be said about the second part, which doesn't work as there is too much going on. It's not enjoyable if I'm honest.
Download this game, if only for the beat 'em up stages, and you have yourself a winner. Tons of fun!!
- Update September 2017: 8BitChip has a new hard drive installable download!
- Atarimania has the floppy disk version.
- Who fancies a couple of cheats...
--> Fancy the code to part two: 101069 (tested and works)--> Inf.energy in part one, press keys: ALT, 1, B (untested)--> Inf.energy in part two, press keys: ALT, 1, M (untested)
It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum... No, wait... Wrong game!
As I didn't like the second part, here is another screenshot from the better game!
