After Burner Climax

After Burner Climax is a reedit of the classic aviation arcade game of the same name that first came out on arcade machines in June 2006. Years later it appeared on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, iOS, and Android, but after a while it stopped being available for download. Luckily, five years later, SEGA has rescued it and now offers it for free (with ads) as part of the SEGA Classics line.

The default controls in After Burner Climax are very simple: on the left is your virtual stick for moving around and on the right your trigger button and speed lever. That said, from the options menu you can pick different control schemes, and or even invert the Y or X axis.

When you start playing you've only got one plane available, although you can pick from four different pictures. Luckily, all you have to do is view an ad to unlock each of the three extra planes, which also come with their own selection of paint jobs.

The game system in After Burner Climax should feel very familiar for anyone who's ever played any of the games in the saga. You've got to plow through relatively short levels, lasting barely a minute, destroying all enemies that get in your way. Sometimes, between levels, you can pick which way you want to go. And which settings and enemies you see depend on which paths you select.

After Burner Climax is an excellent aviation arcade game that lets you enjoy a modern classic in a completely free way on your Android device. Plus the game has outstanding graphics and manages to transmit a feeling of spectacular speed.