Elevator Action II
Released: 1994
Pitch: Find secret data to stop the nuclear terrorists!
I really enjoyed playing the first Elevator Action on the previous collection and so the sequel was one of my most anticipated games in this one. And...it's fine. This sequel improves on it in all the ways you could want: Better music and graphics, handcrafted levels, three distinct playable characters. You go up or down a building/airport/bunker/whatever via elevators looking for red doors to collect vital intel or defuse bombs and blue doors for extra stuff like weapons and life and points. There is a surprising variety of different enemies to shoot and the levels are all visually distinct. But I can't help feel that it lost something. There was something pure about the experience of playing Elevator Action. The levels feel too complicated. I miss the days of just working my way down a building. Technically speaking, it's very good but this is an instance where I feel that the simple experience was the better.
This is a pretty cool game. I never got more than a few missions into it though.
It's two-player too, though my five-year-old daughter could not wrap her mind around what we were supposed to do.
I loved Elevator Action Returns. My brother Jeff and I played it all the time on that collection. Jeff liked the original Elevator Action more than I did.
I had to go verify that we're talking about the same game lol. That's weird that it has two different names. But I have to side with your brother Jeff, though this is certainly a quality game. It's just not what I was hoping for.
Reading Jamie's retro review of Elevator Action made me remember a new Elevator Action game that came out fairly recently in arcades. Have you ever heard of Elevator Action: Death Parade? It's a light gun game like Time Crisis, but you can push buttons to close an elevator and they even have real elevator doors that cover the screen, and you can even use those doors as shields!
I saw something about that when trying to determine if Elevator Action Returns and Elevator Action II were the same. Seems like that could be a really cool game...or a really bad one...
I've played it. It's a fun little light gun game with a gimmick, that's all. I was surprised the first time the real life elevator doors closed over the screen! I bet that's a pain in the butt to maintain if it ever breaks down!
Huh ... I expected something more like Atari shovelware with that title. Now I'll go look up the original.
Hey, you're alive! Both Elevator Action games are good but I do like the original best.