SHOCK TROOPERS: 2ND SQUAD

3/5 for the lack of two controller support in the Linux and Mac versions. Shock Troopers 2nd Squad is a pretty good 2D shooter. In the Windows version two controller co-op is supported. In the Linux and Mac versions the second player is stuck using the keyboard. A bit of slow down and flicker occurs, but doesn't hinder gameplay. If playing the Windows version it's worth owining at only $6. Side note: I'm really getting burnt out on Linux and Mac users getting the shaft. Emulators made by hackers can support two controllers in multiplayer mode. These "professional" companies need to get on the damn ball.

Symptom: If you have a high refresh rate monitor the game will sync the fps with the refresh rate. AMD Radeon Chill won't work to force 60fps. Workaround: I downloaded RivaTuner Statistics Server and created a profile for the game. 60 for the frame limit, On-Screen display rendering mode = Vector 2d On-Screen Display coordinate space = framebuffer. Had to do this for all games from DotEmu Snk for them to run normal. If you have a 60hz monitor then the game will run normal out of the box. Only applies for high refresh rate monitors. Awesome game, hopefully this issue gets fixed in the future even though I highly doubt it.

To put in plainly, there's no aspect that this sequel did as well as the first game. The gameplay doesn't feel the same, the branching paths seem to be gone, there aren't as many characters, and the graphics are chunky pre-rendered sprites. Its obvious that this one was farmed out to one of SNK's B-teams.

In virtually every meaningful way, this game is worse than the first. If you LOVED that game and need more, maybe you could play this. The framerate drops are frequent but not terrible.