Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few minutes are easy to understand: your character stays on the ground, the stage pushes ahead, and survival comes down to putting shots into incoming enemies before their attacks reach you. That over-the-shoulder, pseudo-3D chase gives the action a Space Harrier-like forward rush, but the grounded heroes make it feel less airborne and more like a firing-range sprint through hostile terrain.

Shooting is your dependable answer, while melee attacks add a riskier wrinkle because they can evade enemy attacks. That creates a nice little decision point when foes crowd in: keep firing from relative safety, or gamble on getting close to escape pressure. Destructible obstacles also stop the routes from feeling completely decorative, since clearing them can open up the action rather than merely watching scenery slide past.

Power-ups give the run some welcome momentum. Weapon upgrades, autofire, and health-restoring food are exactly the sort of arcade rewards that make you want to stabilize a shaky attempt, while the special tickets add a useful shopping break. Being able to buy upgrades and super-attacks means you have something tangible to work toward beyond simply reaching the next boss.

Boss battles provide the expected punctuation at the end of stages, and two-player co-op is the version to choose if you can. A second person turns the constant enemy pressure into shared chaos and makes the shop economy more interesting as a joint survival problem. Solo, the game’s directness can wear thin if you want elaborate stage objectives or deep character differentiation; with a partner, its lean arcade structure has more room to breathe.

Graphics

The game uses an over-the-shoulder pseudo-3D view, with your hero advancing along the ground toward enemies and obstacles ahead. That viewpoint is well suited to its forward-driving stages: you can see threats coming and judge when a destructible obstruction is worth blasting apart.

Story

This is a loose, exuberant use of the Iljimae material rather than a careful retelling. The starting idea has real pulp appeal: a mysterious thief, known for stealing from the rich to help the poor, becomes wrapped up in a hunt for a magic bamboo flute capable of ending wars.

Then the game wanders far from that foundation, adding its own characters and locations, including futuristic ones. That makes the setup feel more like a broad arcade adventure borrowing a famous folk-hero name than a historical or mythological drama. If you want fidelity to the original Ming Dynasty tale of Yi Zhi Mei, that looseness may disappoint.

If you can accept the story as an excuse for varied action, though, the mix of fantasy and science-fiction is part of the charm. The flute gives the journey a clear high-stakes goal, while the strange detours keep the premise from settling into something too predictable.

Overall Experience

Iljimae-jeon: Manpa Sikjeok-pyeon is a compact, unpretentious shooter whose best quality is how quickly it asks you to engage. Shoot, dodge, grab food, improve your firepower, make it to the boss, and hope the next ticket lets you buy the edge you need. There is no need to overthink its basic loop before trying it.

Its limitations are part of the deal. The heroes are ground-bound, the action stays focused on forward shooting, and the story’s wild departures from its source are likely to land as either playful nonsense or a missed opportunity. The game does at least add enough texture—melee evasion, destructible obstacles, shops, super-attacks, and co-op—to keep that simple structure from being completely flat.

Give it a chance if you enjoy early arcade shooters that favor immediate pressure over complexity, especially if you have a co-op partner. Go in for the strange genre mash-up and the satisfaction of building a stronger run, not for a faithful Iljimae adaptation. It is rough-edged but lively, and its best moments have the straightforward “one more stage” pull that this kind of game needs.

Retro Replay Score

6.7/10