Underrated and More Realistic than Ace Combat

Lethal Skies - Elite Pilot, Team SW
AT A GLANCE

Cerberus435's rating system:

1 = MiG-15 F*gg*t (seriously), the most shot down fighter in the Korean War.
2 = F-4J Phantom II, a victim of government intervention in military matters.
3 = F-16C Falcon, "The Lawn Dart" or "The Viper." Love it or hate it.
4 = F-22A Raptor, America's newest Advanced Tactical Fighter.
5 = MiG 1-42, Russia's top secret "Raptor Killer."

Graphics = 4
Detailed aircraft models. Cool particle effects. Decent environments.
Audio = 4
Techno soundtrack. High-impact SFX. Decent radio chatter.
Learning Curve = 3.5
Higher fidelity flight models. More sophisticate HUD. Most simulation aspects for a console game.
Fun Factor = 4.5
Challenging carrier traps. Mid-air refueling. More realistic confrontations.
Difficulty = 3
"Super bosses" are hard to beat. HUD symbology is archaic. Arcade action simulation physics = tough game.
Longevity = 4
As hard as it may be, playing LS can be a satisfying experience once you get used to it.


OVERVIEW


Admit it. Most of you who read this review must be Ace Combat fans. You may have gone to your local Blockbuster or Electronics Boutique and spared a glance at the box of this game. At first glance, it looks easily dismissable...

Come on, "Lethal Skies? Elite Pilot?" What kind of dumb title is that?

Whoa, F-14 flying in the sunset. Yeah, that's an original cover picture.

Man, "Ace Combat" will beat the crud out of this game.

Actually, Lethal Skies may give Ace Combat a run for its money. Suit up and I'll tell you why I would make such a blasphemous remark.


CONCEPT


Lethal Skies: Elite Pilot, Team SW (aka LS) is another entry into a very light console Flight Simulation market. You play the role of squadron commander among the six pilots of Team SW, an elite multinational unit (a la Rainbow Six ) of the struggling World Alliance.

The game is set in the near future, where environmental troubles have destabilized the planet. Old New York is now a watery ruin. Los Angeles is a floating megacity above the waters of Southern California. Siberia now resembles something from Dante's Inferno . All of this is caused by a terrorist group (known as the World Reorganization Front) who controls the world's greatest superweapon: the Leviathan.

Okaaay... Add some elements of Ace Combat , Air Force Delta , et al, emphasize realism, invent some new "spider weapons" here and there, sprinkle some salt, dash some pepper, and you get Elite Pilot - Team SW !


GAMEPLAY


Navigating your way around the interface is quite simple. Pick your mission from a world map, set the difficulty and gameplay parameters, read your objectives, select your wingmen, choose your plane, and arm it.

Your choice of planes and ordnance is moderate, but filled with variety. You can fly ~ 14 planes, from the basic F-14D to the S-37 Berkut (Russia's newest Raptor killer.) You can arm them with missile and rocket-based weapons, such as the AIM-9, AIM-120, AGM-65, AGM-88, rocket pods, and two fantasy "spread missiles." No bombs, I'm afraid...

Unlike Ace Combat , where each plane seems like only a small upgrade to the previous one, the planes here have many parameters and are very different from each other. Some planes are either much faster, much more nimble, much stronger, have better avionics (how quickly your radar can lock onto a target. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in this game.), have higher weapon capacities... The variations are incredible. There are huge incentives for unlocking the better planes.

Speaking of incentives, you unlock better planes, extra stages, and wingmen by finishing your missions efficiently. You are evaluated after every mission in terms of accuracy, destroyed targets, and time.

Now you know the rules. Let's see how it is in the cockpit.


FLIGHT MODEL


It's safe to say that LS carves its own niche by having the more realisic flight model. I've never flown a plane before, so I don't have firsthand experience on what a "realistic" flight model truly is. However, I've taken a bulk of courses on Physics and played high-end flight simulators on the PC (i.e. Falcon 4.0, MS Flight Simulator, F/A-18, Pro Pilot ), so I will compare the realism based on "high-fidelity" simulators for the computer.

Your stick inputs are very sensitive. A light touch on the controls produce light bankings. A heavy jerk may cause your fighter to roll quickly. In all inputs, you can "feel" the momentum; so much that you may be tempted to correct the stick to stop the momentum.

You and the plane will be affected by G forces when you pull or push on the stick. The game gives you the option to toggle G Force effects on or off. When on, a tight break turn will cause your pilot to black out. You can see that once you hit 5 - 7 G's, the screen will get progressively dark. This is a nice simulation of gravity's effect on the body. I have yet to find this simulation in any other console flight sim.

Throttle is controlled by power level (indicated by a percentage) unlike Ace Combat , where you have a default cruising speed and the throttle is directly linked to your airspeed. Here, you have to choose the right throttle settings to keep your plane afloat. This comes in very handy, because you have LIMITED FUEL. Yes, another feature absent from Ace Combat .


COMBAT


All these intricacies must be mastered to survive in air combat. Here, one missile hit and you are dead. Evading missiles in this game is much harder because the missiles fly a "lead pursuit" pattern (instead of the "lag pursuit" pattern used in Ace Combat .) This means the seeker heads try and predict an interception course in front of your plane instead of tailing you. Thankfully, you have chaff and flares to thwart them, but they are limited in quantity.

Because of the controls, aiming with the gun can be difficult, but satisfying. However, there is some kind of assist that helps you hit air targets that I found unecessary. Unlike your other weapons, you have plenty of rounds in your cannon. As for your other weapons, you are constricted to a realistic amount. For example, you can't load 72 "all-purpose" missiles onto a Hornet. Thus, you are limited to a standard complement resembling 2 AIM-9's, 2 AIM-120's, 6 AGM-65's, and a fuel pod. You can change your loadouts, of course, but the quantity and type you can load per hardpoint is constrained to its real-life settings (i.e. you can't load heavy missiles onto a wingtip mount.)

The enemy AI isn't all that hard, but their numbers are a bit too overwhelming sometimes. You can exercise some control over your wingmen, but they mostly fly on their own. I only found them useful for taking some of the attention from the AI away from me.


MISSIONS


Here's the part of the game that has received much criticism. Most of the missions are standard fare (search and destroy, strike, escort.) However, the number of enemies in some stages approach the number of enemies on Ace Combat so things can get quite difficult.

Even worse, there are some missions that have Bosses.

These bosses are horribly difficult to take out. To defeat them, you must shoot (with the appropriate missile) a certain portion of its body. If your missile strikes something aside from the vital part, you basically wasted a precious shot. Because you have a realistic loadout, this arcade-ish aspect does not fit well with the simulation models AT ALL.

You'll find yourself flying in so many circles, finding that small angle that would allow for a clean target lock and an unobstructed path for your missile to follow. Each boss has an average of 8 to 10 "weak points" to destroy.

This was a novel idea, executed very poorly. Very very frustrating...

On some missions, you will have to land on a base or a carrier. The carrier landings take a while to get used to. It's not the flight model that will hamper you (though the parameters for a safe landing are narrow.) The HUD and the game's system of measurement will confuse you. The HUD itself can get very cluttered. You have the option of turning it off, but you lose the important airspeed, throttle setting, and angle of attack indicators. The airspeed is measured in some weird system. It's definitely not measured in Knots, because the optimal touchdown speed on landings in this game is 500 (500 what? In real life, it would be around 130 - 160 Knots for a fighter.)

It's an annoying quirk, but carrier traps are still fun, even though you still don't get a tangible arrestor hook to aim for.


AUDIO AND VISUALS


To rate this category, I'll compare and contrast the graphics and sounds to Ace Combat 4.

Now, do I think LS is better than Ace Combat ? Barely... But AC is its own beast. It excels at being a great arcade sim, and I love to play it when I want to play God and engage in target-rich environments. In terms of the categories it can be compared to (graphics, sounds, tangible stuff), yes it can go toe-to-toe.

Aircraft models are very detailed. You see lots of seams (the good kind, i.e. welding and riveting) and "wear" on the planes. They look a tad too glossy though. At least in AC4, some of the paint schemes are matted and don't shine as brightly as the LS planes. Also, like in AC4, combat damage isn't reflected on the exterior view. And just like AC4, you get all kinds of particle effects (like exhaust, smoke trails, etc.) but some new effects that you don't see in AC4 (like chaff and flare release.) The only thing that LS lacks that AC4 makes great strides in are detailed terrain. In AC4, the terrain is truly involving and full of life. In LS, they are simple and not wholly interactive. There is a Paris stage in there, but you'd be hard-pressed to identify that it is Paris.

Sound effects... I'd be hard-pressed to rate this! Anyway, sounds from engines, missiles, explosions, etc. are great. They don't sound flat and simple like in AC4. However, the one-track Techno beat sucks. The instrumental tracks in AC4 are WAAAAY better. Radio chatter is about even. Both have pretty bad voice actors. One of your wingmen, when he's in trouble, actually yells, "Have mercy on my soul!" in a whiny, high-pitched voice! However, it doesn't get annoying in LS as it does in AC4.

So, one game has something that the other game doesn't. Not one game truly outshines another in either graphics or sound category, but I could use a really nice entertainment system to fully endorse my synopsis.


CONCLUSION


After you beat this game, you get treated to a rather lame ending screen. I just don't get why games nowadays are taking the endings for granted. They should really reward us when we beat the game, especially after going through those darn bosses (heck, there's even one stage where you have to fight THREE of them, while protecting some friendly targets at the same time!)

Hardcore sim fans will appreciate the level of detail given to the simulation aspect. However, arcade fans and casual flyers may get easily frustrated. The odd angle taken by the game designers definitely isn't conducive to a casual gamer, but flight sim fans like me really like it.

It's your call. I've given you the veteran simmer's perspective on this game. Regardless, LS is still worth a rental, even just to check out the nice-looking models and to get a feel for the flight model.