Red Heat Longplay (Amiga) [QHD] 

Game Info
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Developer: Special FX
Publisher: Ocean
Year of Release: 1989
Game Review & Impressions
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How time flies. I covered the C64 version of Red Heat almost a decade ago, which proved to be a laughably awful beat 'em up of sorts with burly brown men duking it out in the nude.
The Amiga version is basically identical to the all the other versions, with the exception that it looks prettier. It retains the narrow game window where only the top half of the characters are displayed, and the gameplay involves little more than repeatedly punching bad guys when they appear. Unlike the C64 port, Danko actually gets to use a gun in later levels, as do most of the enemies, but it's the same crap game with better visuals.
On the subject of which, the graphics ARE genuinely impressive. The move to 16-bit definitely gave resident Special FX artist Karen Davies to put her talent to use. The pixelated representation of muscular dudes, particularly those during the sauna stage, are highly detailed, and the on-screen representation of Schwarzenegger is a a good likeness. The backgrounds are almost entirely statics, but they're highly detailed, with some amusing nuances and designs that add some levity to an otherwise dull and repetitive experience. This is all comes crashing down, however, when you witness the laughable depiction of Belushi's Art Ridzik during the briefing sections which preface each level; his mouth and bottom jaw opens and closes in a yapping style reminiscent of South Park's Terrence and Philip, and is so utterly crap that it would have been far better if it had remained a static image.
Sadly, "crap" sums up the entire game. Kung Fu Master did the same thing 5 years earlier, and you could see the character's legs! In fact, the C64 version is probably the better and more playable version, thanks to the machine's support for hardware scrolling. The Amiga version is clearly just another Atari ST port, lumbered with jerky animation and twitchiness, with no specific machine optimisations. Just awful!
Related Longplays
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Red Heat (C64) • Red Heat Longplay (C64...
Chapters
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