Devastators

Devastators, known as Garuka (餓流禍^?) in Japan, is a third person shoot 'em up game developed and published by Konami for arcade platforms in 1988.

Plot[]

Set in 1989, the player takes control of a mercenary duo known as the "Devastators", who are hired by a small undeveloped country to defend their land from a fanatical Middle East dictator threatening to conquer it.

Gameplay[]

The game is seen from a third person perspective behind the player. It consists of seven stages, where the player will have to complete various missions, such as destroying the enemies' ammunition dump, freeing hostages, cutting the enemies' communications, etc., culminating in the final stage, where the enemy has taken over the US Embassy and the player has to defeat them and rescue the Ambassador.

Each stage consists of a long straightforward battlefield where the player has to advance while breaking through enemy lines consisting of a plethora of infantry troops and armored vehicles that constantly charge forward. For this end, the player counts with an Uzi sub-machine gun with unlimited ammunition that shoots straightforward a medium distance, as well as a limited supply of grenades.

Soldiers wearing yellow uniforms will frequently appear among the enemy troops; when one of these soldiers is shot down, they'll drop a power-up, which can be either a case of grenades or a bazooka. Pressing the secondary button will make the player character to throw a grenade forward, which causes heavy damage to enemies. However, when an armored vehicle appears on the battlefield (armored trucks, tanks, aircraft, submarines, etc.), a red reticle will appear over the one that is closest to the player's line of sight; pressing the grenade button at this moment will make the player character to fire their bazooka instead (if they have any in their supplies); the launched missile will then automatically seek the marked target wherever it currently is and most likely destroy it in a single hit; or, in the case of bosses, heavily damage them. The remaining number of grenades and bazookas will be carried on to the next stage.

The player has to manually keep advancing forward until reaching the end of each stage (that is, the stage won't scroll automatically). It is possible to make brief stops during the journey to fend off the incoming enemy troops more strategically (for example, by taking cover from enemy fire behind environmental objects), although a commander's voice will soon be heard ordering the soldiers to keep on moving.

Notes[]

The "Continue" option is disabled during the seventh and final stage, meaning that if the player loses all their lives in it, they'll have to restart the game from the beginning.

Gallery[]

Packaging artwork[]

Screenshots[]

Promotional artwork[]

Trivia[]

The kanji in the Japanese title reads Ga Ru Ka (餓流禍), which translates to English as "hunger" or "famine".
The design of both player characters, as well as the whole thematic of the game (US soldier infiltrating a foreign corrupt country to save a political prisoner while single-handedly defeating an entire army) is inspired by the Rambo/First Blood series of action films, as well as their title protagonist, John Rambo, played by American actor, Sylvester Stallone.

External links[]

Devastators at Gaming History
GameFAQs
MobyGames