Ashura

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The game is loosely based on the film Rambo: First Blood Part II! Sega found fit to pick up the Rambo movie license for the American version, replacing the original main characters of "Ashura" and "Bishamon" with redrawn sprites resembling Rambo (S. Stallone). The game was also released in Europe and Australia without a Rambo license, under the title of Secret Commando. The gameplay is similar to the famous Ikari Warriors and Commando games. You control Rambo moving slowly through fields, villages, jungles while soldiers attack you shooting unceasingly. Snipers, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers occasionally appear throughout each level making your mission even harder. Shoot enemy soldiers swarming the screen and destroy tanks and "huts" by using your grenades or explosive bow. The huts hold a prisoner and when you blow them up the POW is free and grants additional explosive arrow bombs or screen-clearing explosions. The game is very difficult to play! Yes, it's hard to avoid the enemy fire since you cannot move fast, a fact that gets frustrating! The game loses points in gameplay due to its toughness.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
WThe game features pretty nice and colorful graphics for its time, having similar level design to the Ikari Warriors games. Each level features different terrain design i.e. jungles, rivers etc. The sprites move smooth on screen and looks like there is no framerate drop during gameplay even when too many sprites occupy the screen.The sound is nice too, featuring several tunes that fit to the Rambo atmosphere along with plenty of effects such as gunfire, explosions, tank engine sounds etc.