Battle Engine Aquila – PS2 – Review

Battle Engine Aquila is a
unique kind of flight/ground combat game.  From the gameplay to the graphics,
Aquila is filled with elements that take the genre in a whole new direction.
In fact, this game may have just invented a new sub-genre.

As you may have noticed from
the videos of the game circulating the Web, Aquila is all about action.  Long
story sequences slow things down only a small amount (and can be skipped for
those of you who prefer to leave movie-watching at the theater).  Most
missions are short in length and have very few objectives, but there are more
than 40 to conquer, with varying paths leading to each one, ensuring that
you’ll want to play through the game at least twice.  Some of the missions are
so entertaining that you’ll want to play through those additional times as
well.

Aquila’s moderately high
replay value is caused by every gamers’ favorite disease: action-itis.  Each
mission suffers from it, giving gamers more than enough of a reason to play
the game.  Studies show that action-itis is very contagious and should be
embraced with open arms.

In this severe case,
action-itis has taken the "protect your allies by shooting every enemy in
sight" form.  It’s a common, perhaps over-used form of the disease, but is a
bit more complex in Aquila, with added depth through clever level designs.
One of the most challenging (and frustrating) takes place entirely on water,
and guess what?  Your ship can’t float!  It can move smoothly on the ground
and swiftly in the air, but only for a limited time.  Then it must land to
regenerate some energy before it can take off again.  The mission is typical:
protect your allies.  But to accomplish that task, you must land frequently or
risk crashing into the water.  Where do you land when there is no land?  On
large pieces of debris, ally ships or, if absolutely necessary, you can always
take a rest on an enemy tanker, blow it up and fly away before it sinks.  Very
exciting, to say the least.

By far the coolest, most
memorable aspect of the game is the ships’ ability to transform on-the-fly.
As mentioned above, they can either move on the ground or in the air.  The
transformation is quite cool, and the transition is very smooth.  The controls
change without any annoying disruptions, and after a few minutes of play,
everything becomes second nature.  This concept is not new; it has been done
in anime and video games for as long as I can remember.  But anime can only be
watched, and most of the games didn’t feel all that interactive.  Aquila,
however, is the complete opposite.

It should be noted that
above all else, Aquila is a good game first.  The developers clearly
concentrated on creating good gameplay while in flight, as well as while on
the ground before worrying too much about how they’d be connected, or how
important the two aspects would be to the final product.  Not only are they
fun, but believe it or not, they’re actually important to the game.  Nearly
every mission in Aquila requires you to transform frequently to get from one
area to another quickly; to attack enemies more efficiently; and as with the
level I described before, to enter an area that was otherwise off limits.  The
game forces you to land and regenerate power, so you can’t just fly through
the game (which would have been cool), but I did enjoy the ground combat
segments a lot.

Battle Engine Aquila
falls somewhere between "must-rent" and "must-buy," making it a must-play game
for all fans of the action genre.  Aquila has a lot in common with the Star
Wars Starfighter series, so if you like those, you’re bound to enjoy this
one.  It is repetitious at times, and certain aspects could have been more
perfect (like the level design — it’s good, but not always balanced).  But it
is still very, very entertaining.

One final note: I must
compliment the developers for making it fairly easy to land the ship after
taking flight.  This removed a lot of the inevitable stress that would have
occurred otherwise. 

Reviewer’s Scoring Details

Gameplay: 7.5
Fast action, lots
of enemies and the unique transforming ships make Aquila one of the season’s
standout games.  The missions could have used a bit more variety, but they’re
a blast to play, so instead of worrying about what the game doesn’t have,
you’ll kick back and enjoy what it does have.

Graphics: 7.5
Most PS2 games
have great animation, and Battle Engine Aquila is no exception.  What Aquila
doesn’t have is the polished look, the gorgeous water effects and the smoother
textures of the Xbox version.

Sound: 6
Laser blasts,
explosions, cheesy voice-acting and average music round out Battle Engine
Aquila’s unimpressive sound.

Difficulty: Medium
Battle Engine
Aquila will challenge you with its hordes of enemies.  In some cases, your
enemies will add a time limit to the mission by invading your territory, and
if you can’t save the day in time, the mission will be over.  Not an extreme
challenge by any means, but it’s definitely a game that’ll knock you down
every now and then.

Concept: 8
Vehicle
transformations have never worked quite right until now.  Battle Engine Aquila
demonstrates gameplay mechanics that developers have been trying to achieve
for years.  Now someone finally has.

Overall: 7.5
Aquila is a
must-rent action game.  It’s worth the purchase price, though I’d rent it
first if you’re money cautious.  If not, buy it — the gameplay is great, the
graphics are pretty cool (especially on the Xbox version) and most of the
missions are worth playing over and over again.