From the mid-1980s to the early part of the 2000s, light gun rail shooters were a staple in both arcade and home system gaming. Arguably, the genre started to really hit its stride in the mid-1990s. While games like Time Crisis, Virtual Cop, and House of the Dead, among others, dominated both the home system and arcade space, some one relegated to only home game systems. Today, we’ll be talking about a little-known cult game published by Sony called Project: Horned Owl. This game was developed by Alfa Systems, and all in all, this is a fun game. Originally, it was released in the winter of 1995 in Japan. It was released in North America the next summer. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, this never had a European or PAL release. So sadly, if anyone from the EU or PAL region wants to hunt this down, you on have the Japanese or North American versions to choose from.

Now, to start this review, I want to touch on the art of this game. If you’re a hardcore anime fan, you might recognize this style. The reason I say that is because this game’s artwork was penned by Masanori Ota, better known as Masamune Shirow. Now this legend has some pretty well-known classic anime and manga under his belt. Dominion Tank Police, Appleseed, Black Magic, and the legendary Ghost in the Shell are just some of his works. So when you see the artwork in the game, if you wonder why it’s so familiar. There’s your answer. The game’s look is a total ’90s throwback. So even though this is a Playstation 1 game, which makes it a throwback in itself, the artwork doubles that fact.

Now, the story of this game is a pretty standard affair. When you consider this is a light gun game, the story doesn’t need to be anything too epic. The game takes place in a futuristic world in some futuristic city (mind you, the future was a big money maker for entertainment back then). Two armored horned owl mechs using police officers along with their bossy dispatcher are fighting against an evil organization called Metalica, led by a maniac named Flair. That’s pretty much it. Nothing to really ride home about, but again, it’s a light gun game.

Now, in terms of gameplay, you have three options. One, you can play this game with the Playstation mouse. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame many of you for not knowing it existed. I hardly remembered it myself. Second, you can play with the normal control. which is pretty much just like any other light gun game played with a standard gamepad. Or lastly, you can play the fun “meant to be way”, with the Enforcer light gun. In fact, one of the tragedies of this game was that it wasn’t compatible with Namco’s Guncon, and rather, they went with Konami’s Enforcer. But Alfa Systems learn from that error with their next light gun game. Despite that, the Enforcer way is the premier way to get the most out of this game.

As a whole, the game is pretty short. It only has five chapters. They’re of decent length and difficulty. And it’s not too tough to get through. I’d say this game can be completed in about just under an hour. Of course, that’s made easier if you have a second player join the game and go cooperative. If you’re into light gun games, this one isn’t the best of the bunch, but Masamune Shirow’s art and design make it worth it. If you ever want to hunt down the PlayStation 1 disc, you can usually find it in the range of $70 – $120 USD as of the making of this review. Anyway, if you want to play a Playstation 1 light gun game that’s NOT one of the Time Crisis or Point Blank games, here you go.

See our gameplay for Project: Horned Owl here