Note: This review was written at the time of release for this game; therefore my writing style and references may be a bit off.

Sick of all those 3-d fighters? Tired of hearing about the latest 3-D platformer? Think you'll throw up if you hear one more tech-spec for the latest super system? Well you are not alone, and gaming companies, always eager to please the consumer have reacted by repacking old favorites in one CD and calling them classics. The nostalgia craze gets bigger and bigger by the second, with the most successful, and arguably the most enjoyable being those Namco collections (can't get enough of that Pac-man). Looking to capitalize on this craze, Sega of Japan has decided to release a bunch of their classic arcade titles on the Saturn. Dubbed the "Sega Ages", Sega takes one game, ports it to the Saturn and sells it at 40 dollars a pop to a nostalgic gamer (aren't we all?). Sega's first Ages entries Space Harrier and Outrun, were arcade perfect and greeted with approval by gamers who cared to buy the imports. Sega hopes to duplicates that success in their latest, release Afterburner 2.

The first thing you'll notice when you boot up your Afterburner 2 disk is the one time load time of about 8 seconds or so, after that no more loading, as you shoot your way through arcade perfection. Yes just like previous Ages games, Afterburner 2 is arcade perfect. Unfortunately, unlike previous Sega Ages, this is not a good thing. You see Afterburner 2 has aged rather poorly. The graphics look butt ugly, almost like the colors don't match, it's hard to explain but when you play it you'll see. Afterburner 2's attempts to be a 3-D game fail quite badly, as I often found my view of the enemies oncoming attack blocked by my own plane. Quite frustrating to say the least, and not really much fun. The game's quick movement coupled with the gripe about difficulty in seeing your enemies make Afterburner 2 a struggle to play through as you're often being hit with stuff you haven't even seen.

Afterburner 2's music is what you would expect from a 10 year old game, nothing memorable, but nothing horrible either. Gamers who like some variety in their sound track can try out the arranged tunes. The sound effects are right on - the firing of your gun and the lock-in of the missiles is all there and they sound great, but then again sound doesn't save a game.

Gamers looking for a old school shooting challenge would enjoy Afterburner 2 much more than me. The game’s quick nature give your reflexes a workout and provide a very worthy challenge, almost too much of one if you ask me. It's OK when a game is challenging because it has great AI, but when a game is challenging simply because your own plane gets in the way of the enemies, things get mighty annoying. I kept on trying to peer over my plane but to no avail, instead the only way I found to successfully advance through the game was to constantly do 360's while firing away your missiles.