Well, you fly a lot...!
Pros:
Flying planes is kinda cool.
Cons:
Planes go fast, almost too fast to be playable.
The Bottom Line:
There are planes and there are guns, sadly they are rarely used together.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
If there is one game-type that developers just cant seem to get right it is the flight sim. Ill admit I havent played all of them but Ive played a whole bunch. They all seem plagued by the same basic problem, too much to pay attention to at once. You have to watch speed, altitude, bank, etc, all while trying to control a rather clunky feeling plane. The early reviews for Iron Aces said it was more arcade-like than most other flight sims. I figured that was reason enough to give it a shot. Turns out, arcade-style or not, this game has the same problems.
Gameplay
6/10
In this game you take on the role of a World War 2 figher pilot. The planes are all from that era and therefore do not have missiles. You fly various missions (some of which are as basic as flying from point A to point B to point C) as you do in most flying sims. None of them are particularly interesting and dont take advantage of the WWII setting. Oh well.
The controls in this game are slightly less responsive than in Aerowings 2, the most similar game on the Dreamcast. You have basic speed up/speed down, flaps on/off, fire and toggle view. L and R turn the plane without banking which is a rather nice addition. L and R in Aerowings 2 just let you correct your heading a tiny bit, that mattered in that game, it doesnt in this one so Im glad to see the developers changed it. The planes handle adequately though their turning radius is very large. To do a full 180 youll need to either slow to almost a dead stop or make a very wide arc. This is a problem since you cant correct your mistakes very easily.
And the mistakes will come often. Once again the game plays way too fast. This game is slowed down a great deal from Aerowings 2 which is a dang good thing since there are no homing missiles in this one. You must make all your fighter kills with bullets and drops bombs on stationary targets. This is often difficult since the levels are incredibly huge and you often manage to fly right past the enemy you are trying to shoot. Luckily in many missions you have other planes flying with you and they will often engage the enemies keeping them nearby. This gives you a bit of time to make the incredibly long 180 degree turns.
The game also has a training mode, however, I find it ridiculous at best, useless at worst. You get one try. If you crash, you must start the training over completely. How is that training? Its not. Shouldn't training mean you can die all you want? Its a bland mission with simple goals that is far more frustrating than the actual mission mode. Aerowings 2 had a great training mode. It taught you how to do loops, how to fly level and straight, etc. This games mode seems to have been simply thrown in as an afterthought.
The versus mode is as bad as found in any other flight sim. 99% of the time is spent simply trying to find the other plane. The only game I can think of that did a good job with a similar versus mode is Starfox for the N64. That game moved slowly enough that you could find your opponent and stay on them pretty easily. In this game even if you manage to find them chances are they will be coming at you at full speed and be out of sight as quickly as they entered it. Wow, fun huh? At least in Aerowings you got homing missiles so that in the unlikely event you found an opponent you could be sure they would die.
Graphics
6/10
Absolutely average. The FMVs use in-game graphics which normally I would applaud but they just look so dang plain in this game. They aren't even as pretty as Aerowings 2 which came out months ago. The details of the land are also sorely lacking. There are no buildings except the one which is your target for that mission. I find it hard to believe that on an entire island the only building is a single radar site. Still, the planes look ok and seem to be represented accurately. Only feature I do like is that when you shoot down a plane or drop a bomp the camera switches to a cinematic view which looks pretty cool. Sadly it stays on too long leaving you rather disoriented when you return to regular action.
Sound
4/10
The background noise is just the steady buzz of your engine. The bullets sounds like pop rocks and the crashes sound like a 4 year old made with his mouth. Otherwise it is great!
Overall
5/10
I am suprememly dissapointed with this game. I had high hopes because I still long for a good flight sim. They can be so fun when they are not frustrating. I like Aerowings 2 a great deal more than this game since it has some things which are actually possible. Still, you can get some enjoyment from the random flying and shooting entailed in this game, so its not a total loss.
Rent/buy?
There are definitely better games out there. If you are a flight nut give it a rental, otherwise, ignore this one and get Aerowings 2.
