Action 52 Wiki

'Norman' is the 41st game in the Sega Genesis version of 'Action 52'. As a shooter game in which you take control of a tank, 'Norman' is very similar to 'Storm Over the Desert', the NES counterpart of 'Action 52', especially the main concept of the game.

Gameplay[]

'Norman' is a basic tank shooter game. You take control of a tank (the grey one in the picture) and your task is to destroy all of the enemies on screen (the other green tanks and foot soldiers).

The controls and soundtrack of 'Norman' are way better than those of its NES counterpart, 'Storm Over the Desert'. However, the levels are less varied as in this version they remain the same after you progress from one level to another. Only the number of enemies and their respective movement speed (and proximity to you) is increased as you progress.

Another big difference between these two games is that in 'Norman' you can actually die. In 'Storm Over the Desert', you cannot die even if you happen to touch the other tanks or soldier as they just 'explode' (literally) when you do so. With regards to the gameplay, one of the biggest threats in 'Norman', in fact, is enemies running directly into you as in this game it counts as a death.

Trivia[]

  • It is never specified who the titular character, Norman, is supposed to be but it is likely a reference to “Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf”, the US Army general in command of the 1990 Desert Storm invasion of Iraq and a well known figure in American media at the time.
  • The Middle-Eastern and Saddam Hussein references in 'Storm Over the Desert' completely disappear in 'Norman' with the possible exception of the name itself.
  • The foot soldiers appear to melt after you shoot them (refer to the photo in the gallery).

Gallery[]

Norman 2

Soldier appearing to 'melt' when shot