A disappointing step down from Electrosphere. The removal of branching narratives and the complete lack of any unique wingmen really strips the game down to an experience that felt pretty hollow until its finale. But man, what a finale.
Though very brief, the story is engaging enough to give the mostly repetitive missions some semblance of emotional weight. Yellow Squadron gets a great build-up as rival aces, but without getting into spoilers, I found them to be very underwhelming by the end. A non-story related reason for that was the enemy AI in this game.
Every enemy fights the same, maneuvers the same, and shoots the same comically slow missiles. By the end it felt like there were only two types of enemies for the whole game; Yellow Squadron and regular fighters. Both of which barely put up any fight at all while the dozens of AA guns in most missions do the actual work in trying to shoot you down. And boy do you have to deal with a lot of them.
The biggest problem with the game lies in the sheer lack of variety and creativity in its brisk 18 missions. Nearly every mission plays out the same; do laps around the enemy base while peppering ground targets as a countdown timer in the corner of the screen solely exists to remind you not to fall asleep. There's also a dozen or so fighters buzzing around the sky in each mission, but for how little they contribute to your final mission score, dogfighting is often a waste of your time compared to ground targets. Baffling in a game that's supposed to be about planes shooting other planes.
It's extra frustrating that the missions were designed this way when the gameplay is as good as it is. The evolution from the rather barebones gameplay of Electrosphere into the PS2 era can be felt from the second you enter the cockpit. In fact, I enjoyed how the flying felt so much that when the actual objectives became too monotonous, I had to make my own fun by stunting on the air-to-ground targets that make up the bulk of the gameplay. Fighting dozens of tanks and SAMs grew to be so mind-numbing that the only thing to kill me in this whole game ended up being the ground.
All that being said, I do think it's a 'fine' game. Most of the missions suck, but the core gameplay and easy-to-follow story manages to keep it engaging for just enough time before you're hit with an incredibly memorable finale that blows the rest of the game out of the water. I won't spoil any specifics, but if you've been on the internet for any reasonable period of time you'll have at least heard part of why it's so memorable, even if you might not realize it. The sheer spectacle nearly lives up to some of the set-pieces in Electrosphere.
It's hard not to recommend the game. For such a short experience (3-4 hours) and a finale ending on the highest possible note, it's absolutely worth checking out.
Though very brief, the story is engaging enough to give the mostly repetitive missions some semblance of emotional weight. Yellow Squadron gets a great build-up as rival aces, but without getting into spoilers, I found them to be very underwhelming by the end. A non-story related reason for that was the enemy AI in this game.
Every enemy fights the same, maneuvers the same, and shoots the same comically slow missiles. By the end it felt like there were only two types of enemies for the whole game; Yellow Squadron and regular fighters. Both of which barely put up any fight at all while the dozens of AA guns in most missions do the actual work in trying to shoot you down. And boy do you have to deal with a lot of them.
The biggest problem with the game lies in the sheer lack of variety and creativity in its brisk 18 missions. Nearly every mission plays out the same; do laps around the enemy base while peppering ground targets as a countdown timer in the corner of the screen solely exists to remind you not to fall asleep. There's also a dozen or so fighters buzzing around the sky in each mission, but for how little they contribute to your final mission score, dogfighting is often a waste of your time compared to ground targets. Baffling in a game that's supposed to be about planes shooting other planes.
It's extra frustrating that the missions were designed this way when the gameplay is as good as it is. The evolution from the rather barebones gameplay of Electrosphere into the PS2 era can be felt from the second you enter the cockpit. In fact, I enjoyed how the flying felt so much that when the actual objectives became too monotonous, I had to make my own fun by stunting on the air-to-ground targets that make up the bulk of the gameplay. Fighting dozens of tanks and SAMs grew to be so mind-numbing that the only thing to kill me in this whole game ended up being the ground.
All that being said, I do think it's a 'fine' game. Most of the missions suck, but the core gameplay and easy-to-follow story manages to keep it engaging for just enough time before you're hit with an incredibly memorable finale that blows the rest of the game out of the water. I won't spoil any specifics, but if you've been on the internet for any reasonable period of time you'll have at least heard part of why it's so memorable, even if you might not realize it. The sheer spectacle nearly lives up to some of the set-pieces in Electrosphere.
It's hard not to recommend the game. For such a short experience (3-4 hours) and a finale ending on the highest possible note, it's absolutely worth checking out.