Air Conflicts: Secret Wars – Review (PC)
| Game Name: | Air Conflict: Secret Wars |
| Platforms: | PC, Xbox 360, PS3 |
| Publisher(s): | bitComposer Games. Kalypso Media |
| Developer(s): | Games Farm |
| Genre(s): | Flight Sim |
| Release Date: | Available Now |
| ESRB Rating: | Teen |
Ever since I played Top Gun for the NES, I have been enamored by combat flight sims, which seems crazy for someone who has both a fear of heights and an irrational fear of flying. For whatever reason, this genre is one that scratches some weird itch in my brain and developer Games Farm delivers a solid entry with Air Conflicts: Secret Wars. Set during World War 2, you partake in the resistance against Nazi Germany over the course of 7 campaigns and 48 missions.
The meat of this game is in the lengthy campaign. You play as Dee Dee Derbec, daughter of a famous WW1 fighter pilot who gave his life for the war effort. Raised by her father’s friend and squad mate, Tommy Carter, Dee Dee is inherently gifted as a pilot. Her mentor even mentions early in the game, that “She is much more comfortable in the sky, than she is on the ground”. As the story opens, the pair are living a low profile existence in Libya, flying contraband and doing other assorted odd jobs that require a bit of discretion. As the invading Germans put a tighter and tighter squeeze on the country and their operation, they are forced to do side work for the Allied Forces in order to make enough money to leave for greener pastures. Without giving too much away, things don’t always go as planned and there are expected plot twists and double crosses that push Dee Dee deeper into the organized resistance, flying for freedom instead of profit.
The plot unfolds during vignettes between missions and campaigns, utilizing graphic novel story boards to replace actual cut scenes. All of the interludes are fully voiced, along with the in mission chatter between the protagonists. The voice acting is solid and the story is engrossing enough to propel you along. On a medium to medium high end PC, the game runs smoothly and looks great. By now we have all seen the rolling European countryside and the vast deserts of North Africa in other games, but there is a nice fidelity here that makes you stop and take notice of the scenery from time to time. The best part of the graphics are the planes themselves, that deform as they are riddled with bullet holes and anti aircraft flak. At the end of some missions, you look at your smoking shot up plane and ask yourself, how am I even still flying this thing?
There are several difficulty levels, each with 2 control schemes. You can choose arcade or simulation controls, depending on your comfort and skill level. Both are competent and equally entertaining. The planes handle well, and over the course of the game you will pilot fighters, bombers and cargo planes. During some flashback missions, you even get behind the stick of WW1 era vehicles such as the Sopwith Camel, made famous by Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoons. Mission types vary as the developers try to mix it up, bouncing between dogfights, bombing runs and smuggling. The most interesting element, new to flight sims, are the stealth missions. You may be tasked to pick up someone or retrieve parts or documents and return them to base undetected. To accomplish this you must fly low, avoid search lights and not be seen by enemy combat patrols. Using the cone of vision circles seen in other game, it’s a welcome twist to the genre.
Most stealth missions do not have a critical fail state to them, if your detected you have to fight your way through the enemy fighters and the dog fights have a good feel to them. I played the game with a wired Xbox 360 gamepad, and the turning was responsive and the shooting had a nice tactile feel to it. Bombing proved a bit more touchy, which is a fault of the under the plane reticule not being as accurate as it appeared, but after you get the timing down, it became much easier to pull off quickly. In addition to the campaign mode, you can jump into instant action dog fights against the A.I. or go into the multiplayer lobby and take on real opponents.
Multiplayer is your standard 8 player death match or team death match, and it was easy enough to jump into some games in progress. Unfortunately, there just weren’t many people playing online. Hopefully the servers will become more populated, and I am considering checking out the Xbox 360 version to see if there is more competition to be had there. As someone who has done pretty well in recent years playing Ace Combat and H.A.W.X. online, I was in for a shock playing multiplayer Air Conflicts, because I could no longer rely on waiting for tone, then firing and forgetting for my kills. It takes much more skill to get kills dog fighting with machine guns than it does using heat seeking missiles. The one funny thing I found online, is that most matches evolved into some sort of jousting with planes. Players would take runs at each other like an airborne game of chicken, then firing their inaccurate air to ground missiles at each other at close range. It was fun albeit a little silly.
The biggest stand out of the entire experience was the remarkable soundtrack. It has a very Indiana Jones feel to it, and was a treat to listen to while playing. Kudos to Dynamedion, who provided the music. In addition to PC, the game is also available on the Xbox 360 and Ps3. If your someone who likes their flight combat on the more arcade side of things, you will enjoy Air Conflicts: Secret Wars. I really enjoyed my time with this game and it earns a solid 4 out of 5 stars.
