66. Cabal

(Arcade/Various Home, TAD, 1988)
War...HUH! What is it good for?
80's Arcades apparently. Many 10p eaters in the 80s/90s were based on the concept of one or two guys trapped behind enemy lines, fighting they're way through an entire army single handed. Usually armed with a machine gun and a handful of grenades, these one-man war machines would gun their way through an entire regiment of men and often several tanks and helicopters without batting an eye. USA! USA!

Cabal is a game that requires the fire button being held down. A lot. The players run back and forth across the bottom of the screen, relentlessly pumping lead into anything that moves in front of them. Wave after wave of infantry, grenadiers, jeeps, tanks, helicopters and even jet fighters charge headlong at the two warriors, whose first mistake was to show up to the jungle in red and blue jumpsuits. After a certain quota of kills has been made, everything explodes on cue, the music stops then, out of nowhere, this comedy tune kicks in as our heroes DANCE their way into the distance to perform another massacre. Without a shadow of a doubt its the most inappropriate mission complete sequence in game history, and its AWESOME.

After four screens, the player comes up against a boss vehicle, these must be taken down in one life, as a player's death results in the boss getting all it's energy back, a high pressure situation for sure. Once five missions are completed, the rainbow warriors can return home, well, actually they'll just start again from the beginning. That's old school.

Cabal is your standard arcade shooter, what could essentially be an Operation: Wolf clone is twisted by having an actual on-screen character to dodge and weave amongst the bullets slowly trailing toward him, the game also has destructible scenery, with all the buildings in an area satisfyingly crumbling to the ground under heavy fire. The player is one-shot, one-kill so great care and fast reflexes are required to avoid the hot steel rain incoming from all and sundry. The sound is super basic, with putt-putt machine guns and a repetitive beat instead of actual music.
Although the game is very straightforward and incredibly bare bones, it's still good fun, especially with another player. The onscreen carnage never stops and although the gameplay is simple, it still requires cat-like reflexes and even a bit of forward thinking.

Of course, if nothing else, THAT end of level song and dance routine is worth the price of admission alone. Cabal is tense and exciting, with brutal violence that builds to a comedy farce conclusion. Reminds me of something else...