!!WARNING!!
Our Planet is under attack by a planet sized, planet eating monster! It is up to you to pilot your spaceship and destroy the monster and his horde.

Lifeforce is a game known to some by another name, Salamander, depending on which release version of the game you got. The two games are almost identical minus the title. You control your spaceship which starts with a regular single shot gun and try to reach the end boss of each stage while shooting bad guys along the way. The game contains 6 stages each with it's own boss. The game begins as a sidescroller space shooter very similar to another game called Gradius, but also alternates to a vertical scroller depending on the stage.

GRAPHICS: 9
I give the graphics a highscore for Lifeforce because they look incredible for a game from the 1980s. The levels vary greatly between them , adding a unique feeling as you go from one level to the next. The backgrounds become part of the game and obstacles that you must avoid and the special effects look amazing. I especially like the end bosses of each stage, you will never forget some of them. The only thing stopping Lifeforce from receiving a perfect 10 score for graphics is the regular enemy's and your own spaceship's sprites, which I feel could have been maybe made more detailed or something to make them stand out better.

SOUND: 7.5
For sound I score this game a 7.5 which I feel is right around an average rating. The music doesn't especially stand out or become memorable to me personally but it also is not annoying. I think maybe some of the sound effects could have been made louder or something to make the explosions sound a little more dramatic.

ADDICTIVENESS: 9
I've owned a NES cartridge of this game since I was a baby and I still continue to go back to play this game. The game is very challenging and if you don't use the cheat code allowing you to get extra lives it is borderline impossible. It is a pretty fast paced game so it tends to give you that adrenaline rush as you're trying to safely pilot your ship while killing all of the enemy's and grabbing your upgrades.

STORY: 5
If I didn't own an extremely rare instruction manual for this game , I would have never known this game contained a story. Their isn't even a paragraph or sentence during the actual gameplay explaining any sort of story. Apparently though the story goes about as follows; Your name is Vic Viper and you are your planets defense to destroy a planet sized monster that is eating planets whole. If you are playing 2 players apparently the name of the 2nd player is Road British. The End.

DEPTH: 9
The full 6 stages probably wouldn't take more than a few hours to complete if you are good enough to reach the end, but the game offers enough of a challenge that you will never get to the end of the 6th stage unless you either use the cheat code or you have practiced the game many times. The game does offer 2 player which I feel adding multiplayer always adds twice as much depth to a game, twice the players twice the fun. Certain enemy's drop upgrades which you can use in varying ways to upgrade your ship. Since you can change which upgrades you get each time you play it adds more reasons to come back and play the game again if you do ever manage to complete it. Lifeforce also has a score system allowing players to challenge themselves to top their own highscore or even compete for highscore with the entire Vizzed community!

Difficulty: 9.5
This game is very hard. I've played this game hundreds of times and I still cannot beat the entire game unless I use the extra lives cheat code. It does balance the difficulty well enough though that it's not frustratingly hard that you don't have fun, but it is super difficult to complete the entire game. For a new player the only way I see them completing this game soon after first playing it is if they either use the extra lives cheat code OR play with a friend 2 player and use continues. Apparently the game does not allow you to continue on single player but if you play 2 player you are allowed 2 continues if both players run out of lives.

OVERALL: 8
Overall this game is perfect for anyone who enjoys the space styled shoot em ups. Anyone who is a fan of the Gradius series should check this game out because Gradius took a lot of features from this game and used it in its later titles. The game is very fun alone or with a friend, just don't expect to beat it on your first night playing it!

Of course a lot of NES game are really difficult, but fun to play at the same time. Good review too.