[HEADING=1]
Since my PC is being upgraded at this point(and secretly writing on my brother's, which is a steam engine compared to mine) I decided to dust off my good old PS2.
The PS2 had a humongous third party support, with in it's hayday getting something like 15 games a year. It could happen some games went past the costumer's radar, usually with a good reason as to why.
I present to you, a game found long ago in the second-hand bin:
What you can pretty much tell from the game's name and the boxart, it's set in World War 1. We're gonna be flying double deckers and shoot bad guys. Nothing wrong with that, WW2 is getting used too much these days anyway.
The main concept is this: It's WW1, you choose 1 out of 4 planes(2 English, 1 French and 1 American) to play a campaign with to complete missions for the Allies. Missions usually comprise of flying through checkpoints, attacking buildings and convoys, shooting down other planes and zeppelins alike and not dying before the mission is complete. You shoot, drop bombs and you can speed up like a sparrow on chili peppers or slow down like you're trying to piss off the rules of aerodynamics.
As I said, I'm a sucker for games involving nothing but flying, so I tend to forgive the game quite some when it lacks. Sadly, my limit was close to being reached playing this.
For starters, we play 1 character at a time for the rest of the game and all the characters + their planes are from the Allies' side. For a game proudly sprouting the nickname of Manfred von Richthofen on the cover, you would at least expect to play as him; Call it nitpicking, but it keeps coming back if you think about it.
Aside from that, there's also a few good things worth mentioning; Instead of having a central point where you have to take off all the time, we fly around in a large open map(slightly resembling a sandbox) with enemies dotted throughout the landscape, with you to decide if you want to chase Richthofen's clones around or immediately fly towards the next mission icon.
But again, aforementioned game almost tries to dissapoint me.
1. You never land, apart from a scripted scene,
2. Aside from being able to attack enemies between missions, there's not much else to do,
3. There are 2 large maps, a grassy field dotted with small towns and trees and a desert.
My biggest dissapointment however, was the fact I finished the entire game in less then 2 days. After seeing the credits, I felt unstatisfied. Unstatisfied over the fact that this game was short, clunky and unfinished. It was like Davilex thought "Meh, this game is getting boring to make, let's ship it as it is"
Can't take much more of that guys.
Pros:
- A mixed feeling of arcade and sandbox.
- Lots of missions.
- Open map(s) with plenty of enemies to shoot.
Cons:
- Red Baron without THE Red Baron but Red Baron-clones.
- Story? What's that?
- My plane seems to be as big as a church...
- Trying to fly like a turtle the entire game already is a speedrun.
P.S. Interested in other reviews I did? Here's one:
James Cameron's AVATAR: THE GAME (for Nintendo DS)
Segadroid's Retrospect Review of Red Baron (for PS2)
[/HEADING]Warning, this review contains small spoilers.
Since my PC is being upgraded at this point(and secretly writing on my brother's, which is a steam engine compared to mine) I decided to dust off my good old PS2.
The PS2 had a humongous third party support, with in it's hayday getting something like 15 games a year. It could happen some games went past the costumer's radar, usually with a good reason as to why.
I present to you, a game found long ago in the second-hand bin:
[HEADING=2]Red Baron[/HEADING]
I'll admit, I'm a sucker for flying games.
So... on who's side are we?
[HEADING=3]Getting down to business...[/HEADING]
What you can pretty much tell from the game's name and the boxart, it's set in World War 1. We're gonna be flying double deckers and shoot bad guys. Nothing wrong with that, WW2 is getting used too much these days anyway.
The main concept is this: It's WW1, you choose 1 out of 4 planes(2 English, 1 French and 1 American) to play a campaign with to complete missions for the Allies. Missions usually comprise of flying through checkpoints, attacking buildings and convoys, shooting down other planes and zeppelins alike and not dying before the mission is complete. You shoot, drop bombs and you can speed up like a sparrow on chili peppers or slow down like you're trying to piss off the rules of aerodynamics.
As I said, I'm a sucker for games involving nothing but flying, so I tend to forgive the game quite some when it lacks. Sadly, my limit was close to being reached playing this.
For starters, we play 1 character at a time for the rest of the game and all the characters + their planes are from the Allies' side. For a game proudly sprouting the nickname of Manfred von Richthofen on the cover, you would at least expect to play as him; Call it nitpicking, but it keeps coming back if you think about it.
But wait! We still get to fight the Red Baron! ...And his clones. Flying identically painted Fokker Dr.I's throughout the game.
Note the GORGEOUS graphics even for it's time and the fact this is a screenshot for the PC version since it's the only type of screenshot I could find for this review >_>
Aside from that, there's also a few good things worth mentioning; Instead of having a central point where you have to take off all the time, we fly around in a large open map(slightly resembling a sandbox) with enemies dotted throughout the landscape, with you to decide if you want to chase Richthofen's clones around or immediately fly towards the next mission icon.
But again, aforementioned game almost tries to dissapoint me.
1. You never land, apart from a scripted scene,
2. Aside from being able to attack enemies between missions, there's not much else to do,
3. There are 2 large maps, a grassy field dotted with small towns and trees and a desert.
My biggest dissapointment however, was the fact I finished the entire game in less then 2 days. After seeing the credits, I felt unstatisfied. Unstatisfied over the fact that this game was short, clunky and unfinished. It was like Davilex thought "Meh, this game is getting boring to make, let's ship it as it is"
Can't take much more of that guys.
"Préparez-vous à mourir chiens allemands! En outre, Google Translate pour la victoire."
[HEADING=3]So, what's the verdict?[/HEADING]
Pros:
- A mixed feeling of arcade and sandbox.
- Lots of missions.
- Open map(s) with plenty of enemies to shoot.
Cons:
- Red Baron without THE Red Baron but Red Baron-clones.
- Story? What's that?
- My plane seems to be as big as a church...
- Trying to fly like a turtle the entire game already is a speedrun.
[HEADING=3]This was Segadroid's review. End of line.[/HEADING]
P.S. Interested in other reviews I did? Here's one:
James Cameron's AVATAR: THE GAME (for Nintendo DS)