Knife Edge: Nose Gunner (or just “Knife Edge” in Europe) is a lightgun shooter game that doesn’t come with a lightgun – the N64 itself never had a lightgun, either. A large part of the enjoyment of lightgun games is the manual aiming and firing, so this loses a lot from just moving a cursor and holding down fire.

Spectacle is another big part of them, and this also misses there. The locations are rather bland and lifeless, with very little colour. The camera whizzes around the map, jerking around randomly with unnatural movements, and you have very little time to shoot anything.

There are six short levels, although the game does provide replay value by offering you the option to select a different route at the start of each level. The game is so incredibly dull that you’ll have no desire to actually do this, but at least it’s an option.

You’ll encounter some bosses, which do require you aim for certain parts, but this is mainly solved by wiggling the stick wildly while shooting and seeing what part of the boss flashes. That’s as advanced as the tactics get in the game. There is a dodge option, but the camera just slides slightly to the side so you have no idea if it’s actually done anything.

If this was in the arcades with a proper lightgun, it might provide some entertainment, but would still be a very boring lightgun game.

Poor

You’re the nose gunner in a futuristic helicopter spaceship sort of thing and your mission is to fly around Mars shooting down aliens until: a) you die, b) they all die or C) you fall asleep. Outcome C has so far triumphed in the N64 office.

James Ashton, N64 Magazine #24. Review Score: 42%

Remake or remaster?

Nothing special needs doing with this game.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Knife Edge: Nose Gunner