Before Tom Cruise,
Kelly McGillis, and that guy from Revenge of the Nerds made Top Gun a household
name, the US Navy initiated the air combat program of the same name during the
Vietnam War. Top Gun’s purpose? To maintain American dominance in the sky and
teach young flyboys Air Combat Maneuvering. In Top Gun Combat Zones, your
mission is simple. Find your enemy, blow them to smithereens, then blow them up
some more.
Top Gun is a
mission based air combat sim game. Pilots begin the game flying an F-14 Tomcat
through a series of training missions to get you a little more comfortable in
the cockpit before you patriotically unleash fury on third world countries.
The training
missions all take place at Miramar base, the Naval training facility for future
Top Guns. There are five or six training missions to complete before moving on
to each campaign, and they entail either blowing ground targets, such as tanks
or anti-aircraft guns, or blowing up air targets, such as helicopters or
fighters. Each mission is timed to prevent lollygagging around the skies and
admiring the view, and time comes into play quite often.
After completing
the training missions, it’s on to live combat, which is eerily similar to the
training missions that were just finished. Pack your bags and don’t forget
insect repellent, because your first destination is the non-specific region of
Southeast Asia. Here you’ll see lush forests crawling with POW camps, tanks,
gunboats and more that are all at the mercy of your superior arsenal. Most
missions involve taking out the immediate threats, then leveling the enemy’s
base. Don’t forget some sunscreen for the next campaign which takes gamers to
the lovely region of the Gulf State. Here, the lush forests are replaced with
deserts and gunboats are replaced by scud missile launchers, but the missions
are generally the same. Find the enemy, and wipe ‘em out. Bring some lip balm
for the last destination on your world tour of destruction because you’re going
to the Arctic Circle. Missions in the Arctic Circle include protecting allied
tankers, liberating oil rigs, and vaporizing the enemy. The places may change,
but the idea remains the same, obliterate the bad guys and get back in one piece
in time to play some beach volleyball.
Showing the enemy
what you’re made of involves several types of missiles, bombs, and a lot of
machine gun fire. Air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles have a lock-on feature
that is initiated by positioning the targeting reticule over the intended
target. Once the locked-on sound beeps, let ‘em have it with the B button.
Pesky anti-aircraft guns are a waste of missiles, so fill them full of machine
gun lead with the A button. There’s not much more to it with the weaponry, its
straight-forward mass destruction.
Flying your metal
bird of destruction is easy and one of the strong points of the game. Thrusting
and braking is done with the L and R buttons. More advanced maneuvers, such as
barrel rolls or jinks are only a Z button away. The controls are simple enough
for anyone to pick up, and flying across the landscapes is incredibly fun.
Of course flying
across the landscapes wouldn’t be any fun if they didn’t look good, and the good
people of Titus did a fabulous job with the graphics. The game runs smoothly
and the terrain looks great (before you blow it up), which is pretty much all
you need for a good-looking combat flight-sim. The game can be played from a
third-person perspective or right from the cockpit, depending on your
preference.
Perhaps it’s all
the sonic booms over the years or just the need for a good hour with Q-tips, but
it didn’t really seem like sound was a top priority in Top Gun. There’s really
not much to say about the sound except that it’s all below average.
There are a few
other minor gripes pilots will have with the game. When one objective of a
mission is complete, the game will launch into a short cutscene and introduce
new enemies that just happen to pop up in an area that you just leveled. Not
only does it disrupt the flow of the game, but it makes the game very
incongruous and leaves supposedly important missions feeling more like errands.
Add to that the complete absence of plot or story, and the game never really
jumps out and grabs you and becomes repetitive. The last and ultimate gripe
with Top Gun deals with the entire lack of taking off and landing your
aircraft. How can anyone think they are a highly trained combat pilot without
any landing skills?
Top Gun excels
with its solid gameplay and great graphics but lacks enough variety to make the
game replay-able. The game is about on par with the Air Combat series, and is
worth a rent for flight fanatics.
Top Gun Combat
Zones is rated E for everyone.
Gameplay: 8
Top Gun is air
combat simplified. Flying through the missions isn’t terribly difficult, and
the changes in scenery are welcomed with open arms.
Graphics: 8.5
Aside from the
poor looks in the presentation, the game is visually adept. Flying near
buildings, under bridges, and over water is a sightseer’s paradise.
Sound: 4
The sound effects
of Top Gun aren’t a strong point of the game. Some of the music sounds similar
to the traditional Top Gun theme from the movie, but there’s no Kenny Loggins’
“Danger Zone” here.
Difficulty: Medium
– Hard
Some missions are
tough, but the game can probably be finished during a rainy day.
Concept: 5
Top Gun is a basic
mission-based air combat game. There aren’t any frills and not too much variety
in the gameplay.
Overall: 7
Entertaining at
times, frustrating at others, Top Gun never really picks gamers up and takes
them away. There isn’t much value in the game after it’s beaten once, so
potential purchasers should take the next flight to the rental store before
buying a copy.
