Since its
launch a few years back, the PSP has managed to represent just about every
gaming genre available from racing games to some impressive role-playing games.
If you’re a fan of puzzle games then the PSP will not disappoint and the same
can even be said about action games. What we don’t get are many flight combat
games but, thankfully, Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II meant to
change that on Sony’s handheld.
Sadly,
Air Conflicts misses the mark in almost every way in this arcade-styled
fighter-combat simulator set during World War II. This is really too bad
considering the fact that the game includes a number of planes and mission
campaigns that offer different perspectives of how the war was fought in the
skies of Europe. In the single-player campaign, we are even offered a choice
between playing as the Russian’s Soviet Air Force, the Royal Air Force, the
German Luftwaffe and the U.S. Army Air Force.
Depending on
the country you pick, the game’s campaign offers missions that cater to the
war’s scenarios involving said country. For example, playing as the German
Luftwaffe you will not only be pushing back Soviet planes from reaching Berlin
but you will also participate in bombing runs over London. As the Royal Air
Force, on the other hand, you will be taking on German Heinkel 111H-2 fighters
in some crucial battles that will help the Allied forces push on towards
Germany. As the U.S. Army Air Force, you’ll be aiding the Royal Air Force and
bombing enemy tanks below.
The
campaigns are composed of multiple missions that include multiple mission
objectives you must complete in order to earn a new rank but also unlock extra
planes. If you happen to get shot down, crash or fail a mission objective by not
completing it then you will not be able to redo the mission again. Instead, you
move on to the next mission. Fail all the missions and you must start the
campaign all over again from the very beginning. Sure this makes the campaign
mode more challenging but it’s also very frustrating.
The mission
objectives are all the same, which makes sense but makes the game pretty boring
seeing as you’ll be bombing the same enemy trucks and battleships or taking on
wave after wave of enemy fighter planes. Wouldn’t it have been cool if we had to
take on a German blimp in one mission or defend a plane holding an important SS
officer headed for Berlin? Instead, we get a repetitive mission campaign.
Thankfully,
the dogfights in the game are exciting. If you want to get into many skirmishes
I really recommend playing as the Germans seeing as the Luftwaffe were anxious
to go into battle against the Allied forces. The opponent AI in the
single-player campaign is smart enough to attempt to dodge your fire and some
enemies are good at attempting to get the upper hand on you. Some dogfights are
actually quite lengthy, which might not sit well with those gamers who like
playing in short bursts. Then again, the fact that you have limited ammo and
bombs might cut the action short.
Oh, but the
game does experience some major turbulence in the form of the awkward controls
and the fact that the planes can easily stall when you decrease the altitude. We
love realism in these games but having your plane sputter often before stalling
completely is a nuisance. The game does try to mix things up by throwing in a
night mission but these are actually too difficult seeing as you can’t see much
on the PSP’s screen. The missions do get repetitive quickly in the game and the
really long load times will not fail to annoy. I clocked it at seven minutes
when I reached the last two missions of the U.S. Army Air Force campaign. Seven
minutes waiting for the mission to load is way too long especially when the
mission itself wasn’t particularly lengthy.
My other
biggest gripe is the shooting reticule that is so small that it tends to
disappear with it comes into contact with a surface of the same color. It’s
sometimes hard to calculate how close you are to the ground so it’s good that
the game doesn’t force you to land your plane. There’s also a multiplayer mode
for up to 8 players via an Ad Hoc connection. This game is actually more fun
when you’re playing against others. The game even features Game Sharing for
those who don’t own a copy of the game.
Visually,
Air Conflicts will not impress and you will not fall in love with the game’s
graphics. The planes look really good, although I’m disappointed that there’s no
damage effects and they don’t blow up as good as it should. In fact, there are
times when the enemy’s plane doesn’t explode either. A downed enemy simply
vanishes. With the exception of the city landscape, the backgrounds are dull and
ugly.
The game’s
sound isn’t very impressive either but does the trick anyway seeing as it
features decent sound effects and an excellent score. Play as the German side,
for instance, and the music tends to have a German feel to it, for instance.
There are no voices in the game so there’s not much to really enjoy in terms of
the sound.
Unfortunately, Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II just doesn’t have what
it takes to be that spectacular flight combat simulator worth playing on the PSP.
Much of the game’s problems go way beyond the hardware limitations and this is
too bad seeing as the game features a number of planes, missions and a somewhat
decent multiplayer mode. Sorry, Air Conflicts, but you don’t have what it
takes to own the sky.
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Gameplay: 6.0
The good news is
that the dogfights are actually fun despite the lack of visual razzle dazzle
that goes along with it. The bad news is that bombing runs and the repetitive
mission campaign are lackluster affairs no matter what side you pick. Then
again, the German campaign does see better action.
Graphics: 6.5
The fighter
planes and bombers actually look good on the PSP but most of the backgrounds
feel like they belong on the original PlayStation. What happened to the
explosions and why does your plane fall apart like it was made of LEGOS?
Sound:
6.0
There’s no voice
acting in the game and the sound effects are very limited to a few engine sounds
and gunfire. It’s the soundtrack that isn’t bad at all and offers a number of
tunes that are appropriate to the specific campaign.
Difficulty: Medium
Some missions
have multiple objectives that will not be easy to complete seeing as you only
have a limited number of bombs and ammo. The bombing runs are the hardest seeing
as the controls play against you. If you fail a mission you will have to restart
the campaign to try again.
Concept: 6.5
There are more
than 17 planes to fly in the game and they all control differently. While
there’s some diversity when it comes to the missions, they all tend to follow
the same objectives. There’s a multiplayer mode in the game that’s actually
good.
Multiplayer: 7.0
While there’s no
online play, up to eight players can take each another on via Ad Hoc in a
deathmatch-styled game mode. There are many options, planes and maps to use in
this game mode.
Overall: 6.0
Air Conflicts
could have been a
great flight-combat sim seeing as all the right elements are present but there
are way too many obstacles that make flying these unfriendly skies too boring.
Plagued with a number of frustrating problems, this is a game that fans of the
genre should skip.
