Gunforce 2
2 Players	Arcade
Irem 1994

The sequel to the original Gunforce was (together with "Dream Soccer '94") one of Irem Corp.'s final breaths. The company's newly found post-apocalyptic graphic style was prematurely cut short at its zenith in 1994 after titles like 1990's "Air Duel", 1991's "Gallop", 1992's "Undercover Cops", and 1993's "In The Hunt" helped evolve and strengthen this theme over only 4 short years.
Mixed opinions about their gameplay aside, there's no doubt that this short collection of cyberpunk games were getting technically better with each year; and it's truly a shame that its distinctive attention to detail, smooth animation and overall uniqueness was stopped short by its company's financial demise.

As the last example of old Irem's taste for rusting metal and decaying cities, Gunforce 2 (known as Geostorm in Japan) feels no remorse for once again submerging players into yet another poorly explained (as in "total lack of intro") and generic one-man-army war as long as that basic instinct/primal enjoyment of indiscriminately blowing stuff up with big guns is satisfied. Not a bad thing at all considering this genre benefits very little from having interesting back stories and much more from the "blowing stuff up" part actually being fun.
When compared to its prequel, Gunforce 2 slightly reduces the platforming action while still holding on to the series' awesome signature vehicles. These and the previous arsenal of weapons have been completely redesigned, not only looking unbelievably more beautiful than its predecessor's but also feeling overall more effective and solid, delivering a much more refined package than before.

Japanese arcade flyer

The main characters (Max and Lei) now carry two weapons instead of one in what is an obvious nod to Konami's "Contra", but Gunforce's can shoot independently from each other in different angles depending on tiny variations in the joystick's positioning.
Both these weapons start off as the default main gun, but an odd design choice allows the player to upgrade only one of them to the game's more powerful arsenal while the other remains fixed to the basic shot. Strange, but not a big deal.
Jumping and dodging bullets are now much more friendly affairs. The physics of the game have been improved by the polished controls, eliminating the frustrating, less-than-perfect movements that were specially noticeable during the prequel's boss fights.
The enemy's inability to kill the main characters just by bumping into them (a brilliant design choice that both lowers the difficulty and gives the player more room to move around on the screen) has also carried over onto Gunforce 2, and even "Metal Slug" years later. Other traits and gameplay characteristics passed on to the Metal Slug series include rescuing hostages (in this case sexy girls), medals that grant extra points, and of course, a wide variety of vehicles to control.
No secondary grenades or bombs are available in this entry either, but our heroes are still as skillful at hanging from ceilings and wires as in their previous mission.
New, impressive, and this time around non-rigid end-of-level bosses take the place of the dull Contra-like walls and static shooting structures found in the first Gunforce, while 11 completely redesigned machines to pilot are also a welcomed extra.

Eleven methods of mayhem:
	Mortar walker		Anti-air tank
	Mobile suit (Gundam?)		Rescue helicopter + sexy legs
	Jeep		Missile walker
	Heavy tank		Cannon walker
	Motorcycle		Cable turret
	Aircraft

Gunforce 2's main dish is, of course, the visual department. Inherited straight from Irem's then evolving taste for "beautiful" holocausts and decimation, this sequel's rich hand-drawn explosions, detailed sprite art, and unusual smooth animation are the culminating example of this visually-attractive collection of cyberpunk titles. Comparisons to Metal Slug's graphic style are inevitable, and while not as rich (specially the animation) and cartoony, they are still a very impressive inbetween evolutionary step.

In what was probably a last effort to exploit the only decent aspect of Irem's own mediocre shoot'em-up "Air Duel", some of its soundtrack (namely the tracks for stage 1, 3, and 4) was recycled, remixed, and added to Gunforce 2's track list. This does not mean they are anything special though.
Many sound effects found in this game were later re-used in Metal Slug too.

So, was Gunforce 2 Irem's swang song? Not really. It's cabinet suffered from poor distribution and marketing due to the company's abrupt disbanding in the same year, quickly turning it into a very sporadic find. Soon after that the complete lack of console or computer ports finally sealed its fate.
Ironically, while some arcade goers recall playing the inferior prequel, they have no knowledge of the existence of the much superior successor; which while still not as elaborate or replayable as Nazca's Neo-Geo hit it does make for some great quick arcade fun.