Edward
Vernon Rickenbacker, a famous aviator and dogfighter, once delivered the highly
regarded quote that "Aviation is the proof that given the will, we have the
capacity to achieve the impossible." In case you didn’t know, Rickenbacker is
one of the greatest aces to ever fly the open skies with 26 victories in the air
over rival planes. Heroes of the Pacific is a rare arcade flight sim that
finds its way to the PS2 to compete directly with the Ace Combat series. It’s
safe to say that Eddie won’t be turning over in his grave, as Heroes of the
Pacific is a good game that actually focuses around World War II. Yes, the
story revolves around World War II…
Don’t stop
reading just yet if World War II turns you off. It shouldn’t discourage you as
there are a lack of WWII flight sims. Sure, gamers have been over-exposed to
World War II video games but Heroes of the Pacific is worth your time I
guarantee it. With the lack of flight games, it fits great into the PS2
collection you may have. The online perspective could be the biggest draw for
those who pick up HotP (now short for Heroes of the Pacific).
Before I
jump too far, I might as well speak a little about the story. You are in the
shoes of Lt. Crowe, who has been stationed at Pearl Harbor. Also, Lt. Crowe has
some big shoes to fill himself. His father is an Army Air Force pilot and also
Crowe’s brother enlists in the Navy with him as a lieutenant pilot. So your
family is heavily keen on the idea of the armed forces, nothing like upholding
an image and name. If having a reputation already isn’t something that isn’t
exciting, just wait for the good news. Not only are you being stationed at Pearl
Harbor, but you’re based on the U.S.S. Arizona. That’s right … the “famous”
U.S.S. Arizona.
With your inevitable doom being fated on the U.S.S. Arizona, you won’t stay
there long enough to go down with the ship. You’ll be thrown into almost every
major event of World War II and given the chance to have an enormous effect on
the war. I’ll move on from the story so there aren’t any spoilers. What better
element to move on to than to the gameplay.
The gameplay
of course takes place in the air and you’ll have four wingmen to assist you.
They will be able to attack targets (not that accurately), defend you or an area
(they aren’t reliable) and scout around to find targets on their own (which they
never do). Overall, your wingmen are as dependable as any “Gomer Pyle” (someone
lazy) in the Marines. So if you can’t count on your wingmen to help you out, is
the game easy enough to complete on your own? You’ll be happy to hear that
almost every mission you can finish it on your own without the aide of your
wingmen.
Mission
objectives range from prison breaks, protecting your carrier, eliminating the
enemies completely and several other objectives that you can come to expect from
flight sims. You’ll be outfitted with the worst plane that could be flown by man
but the more you complete objectives, the better off you’ll be. With receiving a
new plane to take to the air every so often, you’ll feel proud of how well you
have done in the game. Earning points to upgrade your planes is a great way to
beef up your roster of planes. All the planes, besides the bombers, can be
upgraded. Don’t worry about not being able to upgrade the bombers, they’ll be
used sparingly. The need for upgrading is to give you adequate planes to use
against the bosses. The bosses do have a hint of difficulty to them. Though it
is nothing you can’t figure out after a few tries if you aren’t a hardcore
aviator but nonetheless, the boss battles require some thought.
This isn’t
the best looking PS2 title out right now but it doesn’t fail to meet up to the
current standards of the PS2. As you dwell further into the game, the graphics
begin to perk up with effects and visual quality. Hundreds of planes will be on
the screen at one time and it will look like an all-out war. The sight of all
this mayhem is great to see and gives you the sense that you are actually in the
battle.
Moving onto
the audio category, it isn’t exactly ‘sound’ itself. The voice acting is
terrible and you’ll want to have the game on mute. The worst part of it is that
it seems like they couldn’t bring any authenticity to the game. Japanese air
pilots sounding like they are from America and likewise for American air pilots
sounding like they are from Japan. Why the switcheroo? I have no idea; this is
one bad case of a horrible audio division. The sound effects of the planes
exploding, engines rumbling and so forth sound great but not enough to even out
how much the voice acting brings down the game.
There are
two options for your control scheme. There’s the sim option (which gives you
rudder control) and the arcade option (think of the automatic option when
playing a racing game). The sim option is there for the hardcore gamers who want
more “control” of their plane. I say that because controls for the sim option
are disastrous. The right analog stick is used for the rudder which also happens
to be the control for the throttle. How convenient? The game will discourage
casual players from playing beyond the first few levels due to the controls. If
you manage to get the controls down, you’ll begin to like the game a little more
but I highly doubt many will take the route of the sim controls after a few
tries with it on.
The online
portion of HotP is well developed. Up to eight players are able to
dogfight online. If you don’t want to straight up dogfight, there’s a mode where
you defend your carrier from bombers. This is a lot of fun because it livens up
what is available to play online. Those who are looking for the Crimson
Skies: High Road to Revenge killer on the Xbox, this isn’t exactly it but is
darn close.
Is this the
next step for the evolution of WWII based games? Probably not, but it comes
close to being one of the better online PS2 titles out currently (SOCOM being my
favorite). I’d recommend this if you are a fan of your shooters or just in WWII
in general.
|
Review Scoring Details for Heroes of the Pacific |
Gameplay: 8.0
Being in a fighter in WWII was quite fun. Though I must state that the first
half the game isn’t nearly as enjoyable as the last half. If only they could
have packed in more exciting moments to keep you interested in the story, maybe
it would attract more people to the game.
Graphics: 8.2
Good but not great. All the planes on the screen at one time seems like a lot
but still isn’t the best PS2 title to be seen at the moment. If you are a
graphics’ fanatic and must have the best graphics, look elsewhere.
Sound: 5.8
What’s left to say about this horrid department they have delivered? I like the
very best when it comes to my voice actors and HotP let me down.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The real difficulty in the game lies within the controls. If you struggle to
learn the controls, it will be difficult all the way through the game. If you
are a pro, then you might just pick this up easily and have no problems.
Concept: 7.2
World War II? We’ve seen that before, though what I haven’t seen too often was a
flight sim based in WWII. It isn’t totally refreshing but does deliver an
interesting story to play through.
Multiplayer: 8.0
The multiplayer is there and is great compared to what else is offer on the PS2.
It doesn’t live up to other flight titles in comparison to how it plays but
HotP doesn’t have to since it does have online to throw as a jab against its
competitors.
Overall: 7.6
If you are looking for something to play online, pick this up on your PS2. If
you are a World War II freak, you’ll definitely want Heroes of the Pacific.
If you like anything with planes, what better than to use the wealth of planes
HotP provides. It does have its downfalls so beware.
