The Perfect Dogfighting Game!
Pros:
The Perfect Dogfighting Game!
Cons:
You'll need 256M RAM to really appreciate it
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
This game is the best dogfighting game ever made, and I don't say this lightly! I have played them all! What else can I say; I'm addicted and you will be too!
To quickly summarize, it is like "Wing Commander" with sweet-looking airplanes, air pirate swashbuckling, beautiful girls, splendid art-deco styling, radio-age drama, and multiplayer support!
The game hits that perfect sweet-spot of fun, where everything blends together into a harmonious experience. It is the modern equivalent of that old Dynamix game "Red Baron" which was a masterpiece of aerial combat in its own time. It is tons more fun than any other airplane combat offering out there.
Your planes are launched from Zeppelins, like big Aircraft Carriers in the sky, so there aren't any take-offs or landings to bore you to tears. Instead, you are launched immediately into a situation where fast flying and accurate shooting are paramount.
The singleplayer game is a little bit on the short side with just 24 missions, but the multiplayer extends the value of the game a great deal. Singleplayer missions are a lot of fun, with good variation and storytelling. Multiplayer games come in three flavors: Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Zeppelin vs. Zeppelin.
The flight physics engine works perfectly for the game's purpose. If exact flight-dynamics are something you're looking for: go fly a real plane. The planes behave in a rational manner, and have similar physics to what was considered the best on PCs three years ago. This doesn't detract from the game, but rather greatly improves the playability!
Concerns: You will definitely want at least 256M RAM in your machine. Just navigating the menus with 128M is painful. Also, there is a rather nasty bug which should be fixed in the first patch, whereby your singleplayer game's state is lost if you start a multiplayer game with the same character name. The multiplayer system is a little flaky at times when network conditions are bad, but that should improve with patching.
I really can't wait for a mission pack or a sequel!
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