Korean Soul SKC Soft Land 1992

An interesting game that can compete with Defender of the Freedom for the title of the very first South Korean shoot 'em up'a for PC. Despite some ugliness, this game was released not just as a commercial product, but in a real cardboard box, while at the same time being a colossal rarity hidden from the public by greedy people. Plot: aliens attacked South Korea, and a local pilot, sitting at the helm of the newest fighter, alone fights against them; that's all - but more is not required to justify what is happening. The gameplay is very standard for the subgenre. Perspective of the review - top view; the airplane moves forward automatically, but at our command it can go left and right, as well as “slow down” and “accelerate”. Ammunition in the form of missiles is endless; shooting is carried out using the "space" (alas, you just can’t hold this key, you just need to press it). There are only six levels, and four “lives” (the number of remaining, that is, not counting the current, is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen), and within each of them, which is not very typical for shoot 'em ups, there are also the smallest margin of safety, expressed as a decreasing red vertical scale along the left border of space; in the event of death and in the presence of "attempts" the airplane revives instantly in the same place where it exploded. During the passage, you can collect a variety of bonuses (one of their types, which is interesting - national flags); apparently, all of them somehow strengthen our attack, which is manifested in the addition to its visualization of some additional effects. The contents of the “arsenal”, divided into categories, are available for study on the left side of the screen - and it is noticeable that when firing, the reserves of the corresponding gizmos decrease. In addition, there are special items to restore the "health" of the airplane. Opponents are represented by various futuristic aircraft and robotic entities of various shapes and sizes; some die almost instantly, while others need to get a fair number of times before they explode; it seems that in fact individual enemies move lower or higher than us, since contact with them is sometimes (but quite rarely) harmless. Some adversaries simply fly themselves up and down the screen and although they shoot, they do not intentionally attack us, so they can be avoided; while others, on the contrary, attack precisely with purpose and can even “back up”. In general, the concentration of enemies is quite high, so the gameplay cannot be called easy; however, its main difficulty lies in not very, to put it mildly, responsive management. From the point of view of graphics, everything looks simple, but pretty cute: our airplane and objects opposing it are like toys, and urban landscapes stretched below (and shown on the title screens) are drawn quite carefully and atmosphericly. If we recall that this thing is one of the very first South Korean PC-games, then the impression becomes completely positive. Yes, there are enough shoot 'em ups made much more professionally in all respects, but the historical significance and cultural value of Korean Soul is huge, plus it’s relatively entertaining in itself, attracting attention including patriotic pathos, albeit somewhat funny.
Screenshots
Full Demo 1.2MB (uploaded by Old-Games.ru)
Videos


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