Get Yoga Flamed all over again.

There’s something ironic about a shmup being developed by a Japanese company where the ultimate goal of the game is to destroy the Japanese fleet of planes, isn’t there? Odd cultural paradoxes aside, Capcom’s venerable shooter franchise, 194x, is back again for the Xbox 360, where we find the first downloadable installment in the series to date.

 In 1985, Capcom released Commando, followed sometime later by a sequel known as Mercs. Both of these old school games featured Rambo like characters that were likely inspired by Hollywood figures of time, and both games led players through short, but satisfying all out blastfests. Recently, Capcom released Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 for consumption on the PSN and XBLA. For $10, you can choose from one of three characters and take it to the enemy across five terrains. Each version also supports online and local play with up to two other players. As typical of these older shooter games, Commando 3 is short, but still a blast with friends.

Dating sims are to American gamers as Xbox is to Japanese gamers; niche market doesn't quite begin to describe the simultaneous incomprehension with these respective genres. A fundamental difference exists within our two increasingly diverging cultures, for whatever reason the Japanese cannot produce a significant reason to own an Xbox just as my fellow Americans are similarly apathetic to dating sims.  Oh, we can certainly enjoy dating elements in our mainstream titles (hello Sims, San Andreas, and Persona 3), but focusing an entire game toward trying to score with the opposite sex is relatively untested in our market.  Everyone needs a guinea pig and, whether it was intended to be or not, Brooktown High is here to try and crack the genre open.