Windjammers 2
Review
Frisbee pong
by Howie Howard
reviewed on PC
A long back story
The original Windjammers game was first introduced in 1994 for the Japanese produced Neo Geo MVS, 68000 series CPU powered arcade machine. This was a very advanced and expensive system during the day; so playing Windjammers back then meant you were doing it on a coin-op machine in an arcade venue. Later, a still expensive and rather obscure Neo Geo AES home console was introduced and the game continued entertaining its loyal fan base. Windjammers popularity, especially with its cult followers continued after its 2010 reintroduction on the Wii Virtual Console. In 2017 it was added to the PlayStation Network's game catalog. Now, in 2022 Windjammers has been upgraded and reintroduced yet again as Windjammers 2 for the PC.
Windjammers 2 is an arcade, sports game by developer DotEmu that has a retro look to it but it still features much of the same frisbee disk tossing excitement of the original game. Windjammers 2 can be played in an improved arcade mode vs. the computer, a local player vs. player feature or online multi-player mode. It offers hand-drawn animations, new and improved characters, new stages, new venues and totally revamped power moves along with enhanced game mechanics. It is an exciting game for those of us that literally grew up in the arcades tossing quarters away while playing for hours on end.
Windjammers 2 is a top-down kind of pong game with an air hockey bouncing off walls element that is played with a frisbee disk. It sounds complicated but is quite the opposite. One player in a walled tennis court setting throws the frisbee disk at the opponent on the other side of the court with the intention of getting the disk past the defender's goal. Points are scored every time this happens, and the first player to get to fifteen points wins the match. When two matches are won then the players character advances to the next match. This serves to open up new courts to play on and advancement of a very limited story line.
Simple to play, hard to master
Winning matches earns a credit which is important because losing a match subtracts a credit. Lose all your credits and the game ends and players will be required to start over. Although the principles of the game are quite simple, mastering the techniques needed to win can be a tad more difficult. Perhaps those that are adept at using a game controller will excel in Windjammers 2, but those that are poor controller users like myself could have a difficult time. When I first started to play, it took several matches of losing before I could even score a point. Eventually, I won a game and a match but that was pretty much it, but I kept playing and learning. A practice area would come in handy so that moves could be learned before embarking on real matches. Unfortunately a practice area or tutorial isn't included and there isn't much if any information on how to perform the moves.
Game matches are played on various sized courts that look like tennis courts. As progress is made by winning matches newly unveiled courts increase in size with special game elements that make game play more difficult. The ultimate and last court in the game is the Stadium and its the largest court. All of the earlier courts offer enhanced scoring options and various barrier features that can serve to change the direction and speed of the disk. This of course increases game difficulty. The final Stadium court offers a special feature whereby if a player can manage to score points on consecutive volleys, then the 5 point scoring zone in the Stadium grows larger. This in effect could allow a losing player to more easily overtake the leader and pull out a last ditch victory.
The game sounds simple enough and it basically is. When starting out you need to chose from several different player character choices that you will use in the game. Since game play is based mainly on movement speed and throwing power then it makes sense for the game designers to create the usable characters with various strengths and weaknesses. Some characters can throw with great power and be very slow while others move fast but have weak throw-ability. Still others have middle of the road abilities on both trait. Luckily the choice of a game controller or keyboard is available for those that might prefer an alternate style game controller. Unfortunately for me, both were rather difficult to master because I'm not a very good game controller using guy.
Old school arcade done right
Windjammers 2 is definitely a worthwhile game and it's a lot of fun. As I went along in the game my Windjammer playing skills improved. I didn't give up because the game does bring the satisfaction of playing a retro style sports and action arcade game that we all might have loved in days gone by. After mastering all of the tactics and game moves the option to go on line and play against extremely experienced human players is there and it should be taken advantage of. With that said, we wholeheartedly endorse the new Windjammers 2 game and give it a two thumbs up rating. Windjammers was worth the money and game playing effort some twenty seven odd years ago in 1994 and its just as viable and fun to play today in 2022.
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9.2
fun score
Pros
A very welcomed upgrade and return of an old and very popular retro action, sports title
Cons
No in game tutorial or practice area where game movements can be practiced. No available information on how to perform said moves
