Air Zonk

Air Zonk is exactly the kind of game I look for when I reach for a "character" driven game. It's cute, exciting, and full of ideas. Some may dismiss this as nothing more than a shooter, but Air Zonk is one of the best games you can buy for the TurboDuo.

It's no coincidence that Air Zonk is reminiscent of Hudson's Bonk character. In quite the same way the Flintstones and the Jetson's lived in similar (yet totally different) universes, Bonk and Zonk co-exist. However, unlike the previous Bonk game, Air Zonk is a two dimensional shooter that doesn't try to reinvent the genre, but rather has a lot of fun with it.

Air Zonk owes more than a little to Konami's popular Parodius titles (Konami's parody of Gradius), but Zonk manages to hold his own. The graphics are slick, and the control is fast and furious. The game is really a lot of fun, and if it were more interactive it would be even better than the Bonk games. The colors are extremely vibrant, the look is cute, and it's full of humor. They really have to be seen to be believed, especially when you figure the Turbo as not known for being a graphic processing machine.

And the weapons! After years of complaining about how the same weapons are being used over and over and over again, Zonk comes together with tons of original and unique weapons. And you can even power them up. You get a second character, which you can later merge into one SUPER character! A must see.

My one complaint, though, is that it's entirely too short. The original Bonk's took about ten times longer to beat. This problem, however, is inherent with the style of game. The game only contains five levels, and can really be beaten on almost all difficulties without using any continues.

What is here is great, the bosses, the level design, the great graphics ... everything is top notch. Just don't expect too much lasting appeal. This is one of the best 2D shooters you can get on the TurboDuo, a pretty strong distinction when you consider the quality of the other games.