1942: Joint Strike Critic Reviews

If you loved the original 1942 then Joint Strike will likely conjure up memories of the golden days of shooters.

This is another must have Capcom game for your Live Arcade collection.

Drenched in 1940's art, stellar presentation and some tough boss battles; 1942 Joint Strike is one of the best shooters on XBLA.

A competent but uninspiring update of a classic arcade game.

Joint Strike is a great way to kill a short period of time...just like an arcade game should be. It's brief (you can beat it in about 30 minutes), but that plays to its strengths, as it never feels repetitive during such a short time period.

For the fans of the beloved series I would absolutely recommend playing 1942 Joint Strike.

The game employs some brilliant animaitons for dying enemy units.

This is one of those games where it can be a lot of fun to play with your friends and relive the experience that you had in arcades years ago.

A classic arcade game is brought to XBLA the way old titles should be. With a fresh coat of paint but still keeping the same feel and magic that made it great and popular in the first place.

It's short length, combined with a very forgiving Easy (AKA "Penguin") difficulty level, means that most experienced 1942 fans will blow through the whole game in an afternoon. But if you are a fan, this reimagining is very rewarding indeed.

If you liked the original coin-op game or are a fan of scrolling shooters, Joint Strike should definitely be in your collection.

This most certainly isn’t a game that you’ll be able to relax and play with a smile on your face. That’s not to say it’s bad, but just that it’s going to cater to a smaller segment of the Xbox 360 population looking for maximum challenge.

Joint Strike's short length is bolstered by its difficulty, but it's hard to see gamers coming back for repeated solo player; co-op is the most impressive feature of this update.

If it weren't for the highly enjoyable multiplayer, we would have to rate this with a "Skip It." But it really isn't all that bad. Check out the demo of the game beforehand.

1942 is a solid vertical-shooter addition to XBLA, just do not expect a killer revamp, a la Pac-Man Championship Edition.

Ultimately, only true hardcore arcade fans prepared to look beyond the relative gameplay brevity and sporadic online hiccups are likely to revel in the revamped iteration of 1942: Joint Strike.

The kind of game that will have you very excited for about an hour. It looks great, it's accessible, and it's fun. But come back on day two or day three and you'll probably be eyeing other games on your hard drive to play.

Sure, it's not the deepest of shooters, but for $10, you could do a lot worse than 1942.

I won't pretend that Joint Strike is the most thrilling shoot-'em-up to be revived and relaunched as a digital download, but it's a damn solid effort and if all classic arcade titles received this sort of careful updating before being shunted into our cyber-pipes the world would be a better place.

Although the gameplay is limited and only takes around 30 minutes to clock (per plane), 1942: Joint Strike is still a satisfying gaming experience.