Project Horned Owl

Project: Horned Owl or Horned Owl (ホーンドアウル), is a light gun shooter video game developed by Alfa System and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. Sony’s Japan Studio assisted on development while Movic provided anime cinematics for the game. The game was released in Japan in 1995, and in North America in 1996. It features character designs by manga artist Masamune Shirow. The game was a stylistic predecessor to Elemental Gearbolt, also developed by Alfa System.

Gameplay


Project: Horned Owl is an arcade-style rail shooter, with the action taking place in a first-person perspective. It has the option of utilizing the PlayStation mouse or the Konami light gun. There is a two player co-op as well as single-player mode, both taking place across five city-based levels, where the player controls a giant mech and fights off a variety of mechanized enemies. At the conclusion of each stage there is generally an anime cutscene.

Plot
The events of the game take place in the somewhat futuristic Metro City, where the player controls one of two Horned Owl Armored Mechanized Unit police officers, Hiro Utsumi or Nash Stolar, as they attempt to take down a terrorist organization known as Metalica.

Reception
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "There are a few highlights, including some nicely-detailed and futuristic 3D environments, lengthy missions, and interactive backgrounds. Also, the game has an overwhelming sense of Japanese style which anime fans will likely appreciate. For the most part, however, the game is pretty average – nothing wrong with is, just not that much to get excited about."

Aaron Curtiss for the Los Angeles Times commented that "even though PlayStation went almost a year without a decent shooter, it finally got one it deserves in Project Horned Owl."

Bill Hutchens for The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington found that while the game can be played using the standard controller, it was "much more fun when played with a light gun".

Reviews

 * GameFan #39 (Vol 4, Issue 3) 1996 March
 * GameFan #46 (Vol 4, Issue 10) 1996 October
 * Electronic Gaming Monthly (Jul, 1996)
 * GameFan (Mar, 1996)
 * NowGamer - Aug 31, 1996
 * IGN - Nov 25, 1996
 * GameSpot - Dec 01, 1996
 * All Game Guide - 1998
 * The Video Game Critic (Jan 29, 2002)