There’s been a renaissance in gaming over the past couple of years centred on a particular genre: the blowing-up of stuff on a 2D plane, or ‘Vertical Shooters’ as they are called by those in the know. Laying down some proverbial smack on enemies from another galaxy (who have lovely, great big shiny ships but incredibly poor aiming and guidance systems) had been a staple of gaming from the year dot, but fell out of favour with the masses once things all went a bit polygonal.

Still, most things in life are cyclical, and the rebirth of up-the-screen blasting is concrete proof of this. Why, then (despite the competent R-Type Final and amazing Gradius V appearing on PS2), has the horizontal strain of putting a cap in the aliens' collective ass not had a triumphal comeback? Well, probably because, if you take away the visuals and the clichés, Verts are more like puzzle games than Intergalactic war simulators: memorise a pattern; choose a route; use one object to remove another to create a pathway and so-on. Great puzzles never age.

Horizontal shooters have ostensibly the same blueprint, but the perspective shift means the dynamic is different. In the better examples of the genre, physical objects and barriers are as much your enemy as the warmongering hordes, and balancing an aggressive and defensive stance with negotiating tight corridors takes nerve, verve and the ability to swerve. Last Resort, released in 1992, takes these Horizontal Shooter tenants and runs with them. More specifically, it takes a ton of ideas from R-Type and runs away with them into the night, like a common thief. This doesn't mean it isn't an excellent game, though, and a decent example of the fun still left to be wrung from the genre.

Piloting your craft into battle is similar to Irem's classic: waves of enemy ships stream into your sights and you gun them down. Shoot an oddly coloured ship and a glowing object is left behind. Collect the object and you are rewarded with a weapon upgrade, speed boost or orb ('Unit', as the game suggests this version of Irem's 'Force' should be called. No law suits here). At this point, the game starts to diverge from its inspiration in subtle but acute ways. For starters, the Unit is controlled with a single button that acts as a toggle; in one position, the Unit moves in opposing directions (but in proximity) to your craft exactly as a certain orb would around, say, an R-9 ship, when recalled but not attached. In the other, it is locked in place to be used as both shield and battering ram, where the Unit fires opposite to your direction of travel. In either situation, holding the button charges the Unit up ready to fire as a projectile, releasing it catapults the Unit in the direction of its lock, or in the direction of the joystick if in its 'free' toggle situation.

Deciding on the correct use of the Unit requires instant decisiveness. As Last Resort’s Unit boomerangs back to you (unlike the R-9's Force, which remains in position until recalled with a button press), the risk/reward of such vulnerability has to be weighed-up in a fraction of a second - a very twitchy, nervous moment. When the game's first played, the natural reaction is to lock the Unit in front to absorb impact and incoming fire, launching it only when the screen is relatively clear of obstruction. You soon find, though, that this tactic won't work, as levels become more labyrinthine and opponents more wily in their modes of attack. Soon, you’re pinging the Unit all over the shop then flinging it into position as sentry, guarding your rear, all without a moment’s hesitation.

Weaponry is split between a few standards that have their own usefulness, with no single one emerging as singularly indispensable. You have a choice of laser (direct; powerful; slow), homing missiles (weak; accurate; fast) and bi-directional bombs (destructive; precise; leave you undefended from the front) and the levels constantly play with your need for each. Whereas in a game like Thunderforce you can swap-up your armoury at will to best suit the situation (as long as you have a weapon 'stocked'), Last Resort forces you to employ a mixture of skilful and dextrous control over your Unit, squeezing the best out of whichever current weapon is equipped, and gambling on grabbing a different one when the opportunity arises.

The dirty alien scum are familiar hazards of the biomech type popularised by Irem (who were, in turn, influenced by H R Giger). Last Resort slathers-on a layer of Terminator, with stalking HKs and a blatant T-800 torso as the boss of level one. Each boss is well designed, as are all the enemy ships, which are skewed enough from their progenitor's designs to remain interesting zero-grav duelists.

The game’s selling points are neon-bright and obvious: shooting things is fun, stealing your competitor's designs mean you have recognisable references for people to latch-on to and the grunt of the Neo Geo ensures the visuals have gravity and heft. The slightly hoary Cyberpunk references mean the game feels older than it is, and would have even at the time, but presentation is slick and polished from front to back.

The flaws are subtler. Last Resort's largest stumbling block is the ship itself: although agile (once speed-up tokens are collected), and the Unit nimble, the hit box takes up almost the entirety of the ship. As the ship is particularly large for the genre (it's a giant next to the Vic Viper sprite, for example) this compounds the problem, and many shooter fans are put out as - psychologically - they feel they are being punished, throwing around an unwieldy chunk of metal rather than a sleek engine of destructive intent. The only other complaint is that the game lacks originality, although this doesn't change the amount of excitement created by the tense, tightly-designed levels and pace-changing variety of the alien masses.

If the renaissance ever happens for the horizontal genre, Last Resort won't be used as a template for innovation, but if designers are looking for how to maintain momentum and excitement over some frantic stages, this little shooter can give them some damn good pointers.