148Apps: "I fairly jumped at the chance to review Capcom Mobile’s 1942: First Strike, the iPhone debut of Capcom’s arcade classic. This was a game that helped define a genre, and I was eager to see it grace the touchscreen. Unfortunately, the game just did not live up to my expectations. It’s a decent-looking game, but 1942: First Strike’s low challenge level and poor controls really hamper it."
NZGamer: Owned a Sega MegaDrive back in the day? You might remember Streets of Rage, a side-scrolling eighties beat-em-up that managed to overcome its rather banal gameplay with a great soundtrack and a decent co-op mode. In what is surely a financially driven move (read: quick buck) Sega have decided to port their minor classic onto the iPhone.
Pocket Gamer:
Even though I've seen Saving Private Ryan and all ten hours of Band of Brothers, I'm grudgingly prepared to admit that I don't really have battlefield experience.
To the soldiers who fought in the Second World War, the ordeal was long and brutal. To me, it's usually over in an afternoon, and not very dangerous.
In a way, 1942: First Strike bears a similar relation to the 1942 that came to the arcades in 1984. The original is brutal, thrilling, and comes with a life expectancy of about a minute. The new one is gentle, attenuated, and comes with a life expectancy almost as long as the game itself.
Game Vortex writes: "1942: First Strike] is the game that you're playing when your girlfriend is taking way too long in Forever21, and you're sitting outside and you're just like 'Alright, fine...'" Those are the exact words I heard from Capcom's Mike Larson at E3. Nobody could have come up with a better description for the game. This is a title that knows its role in the handheld space; it offers a quick distraction from the kinds of situations that most gamers usually want to escape. First Strike isn't the kind of game you'll want to play when you're reclining on your sofa, but if you're on the go and want to get a really quick arcade fix, this game will do you right."