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As with Commando 3, Capcom has decided to revitalize their classic 1942 franchise with lavish 3-D visuals, new gameplay tweaks, and awesome remixed sound track. Sadly, even with the new stuff, there’s a distinct lack of levels and replay value for the non-scoring types.

With only five levels, 1942 Joint Strike can be taken down in under 40 minutes, if not less depending on the difficulty. Even worse, one of the bosses is repeated, cheapening the game as whole. The difficulty won’t be enough to appease the hardcore SHMUP crowd, though those looking for a more casual and properly old school approach to the genre (devoid of merciless bullet hell segments) will love this.

The core mechanics are fine. Three different weapon types, the usual screen clearing bomb, and missiles are at your disposal. In co-op, the added Joint Strike attack is new to the series, allowing for a combination assault against the enemy in one of three forms. However, the Join Strike eliminates the ability to use the missiles even though most of the buttons are available on the 360 controller. This makes some segments far more difficult than they should be.

Backgrounds are only slightly interactive, and it would have been nice to see more building go down in flames due to the overhead combat. A change that will have some series veterans calling foul is the switch from the usual vertical screen to one made to fit the 16×9 ratio. This is the only game in the series to do so.

Online play is smooth for two players, even though three different planes can be selected. It would have nice to see an increase in intensity with a third player involved, though any lag can kill a shooter online, so simple is probably for the better. Of course, local play is also an option.

As a final knock, there is no option to have auto-fire. Fans of this series probably grew up on button mashing shooters, and to expect their thumbs to take this much punishment is a stretch. Still, at its core, this is an adequate and beautiful shooter that’s simply way too short for its own good.