Cabal (NES) Playthrough
206A playthrough of Milton Bradley's 1990 shooter for the NES, Cabal.
D.R.A.T., the Dreaded Republic of Allied Terrorists, is preparing to stage a worldwide attack. Major I.M. Havok of IWAC ("International World Affairs Council") has handpicked you to be the commando who infiltrates the enemy's compound, destroys it, and puts a stop to their nefarious plans. The 80s sure loved their acronyms, didn't they?
Cabal for the NES is an adaptation of Tad's 1988 arcade game, a single-screen military shooter that was influential enough to spawn a short-lived subgenre fashioned in its image, serving as direct inspiration for such games as • NAM-1975 (Neo Geo CD) Playthrough , • The Punisher (NES) Playthrough , • Dynamite Duke (Genesis) Playthrough -... , and • Wild Guns (SNES) Playthrough - Ninten... .
There are twenty stages to tackle. Each ends once the enemy gauge at the bottom of the screen has been filled, and there's a boss encounter waiting on every fourth stage. Your commando(s) are locked to the bottom of the screen, where they can run, jump, and roll between cover as they trade shots with the enemy forces. You can destroy virtually everything on the screen, and crumbling structures often drop extra grenades, better guns, and point bonuses. You have to watch where you shoot, though, because it's easy to wipe out your own cover with a few errant shots if you aren't paying careful enough attention.
It's not as smooth moving as the arcade version, but the graphics do a nice job of mimicking the look, and despite the lack of a trackball, the controls are still reliable and quick to respond. Like most of Rare's arcade-to-NES jobs, Cabal does a solid job of recreating the experience for a much weaker hardware platform. It won't win any beauty contests, but it looks and feels enough like the original game to warrant a look from anyone who likes these types of games.
I remember seeing it advertised on TV quite a bit, and man, I wanted it. I loved the movie Commando, and the flaming skull in the commercial looked so cool! It was also because of this game that I learned the meaning of "cabal." If memory serves, my second grade language arts teacher was duly impressed when I used it correctly. I wish I could remember the context, but it happened almost thirty-five years ago. Like sands through the hourglass, you know?
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