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Crimson Skies | ||||||||||||
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| Does it fly high or is it another one for the trash? Read on to find out in my first review. | |||||||||||||
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| October 19th, 2000 | |||||||||||||
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| Don't let the picture of the plane fool you... this game is not your typical flight simulator clone. Pure action is what this game is all about. You can spin and loop this plane until you go dizzy and it still won't stall on you. The Story... The year is 1937... The United States has shattered under the combined weight of the Great Depression, regional Prohibition and mounting isolationism. The transcontinental railroad and the budding highway system have become useless as they now cross hostile borders. Commerce and trade leave the ground as air travel now becomes a vital lifeline connecting allied countries -- and a national obsession -- while daring air pirates and valiant air militias battle for control of the skies. That's where you, Nathan Zachary, come into the picture with your unique band of air pirates. ... The game isn't winning any awards for it's story that's for sure, there's nothing new here. For the purpose of this game however, it works just fine. There are enough subtle twists and turns to keep the interest level high while you're blasting planes out of the sky, Combat Simulator style. Controls for this one are perfect. Zipper Interactive has done a great job with the control setup... virtually every key can be programmed into your flightstick so you can throw your keyboard aside when you start up the game. Lack of wingmen controls is disappointing, it would've been nice to command your wingmen to attack other fighters or even mission objectives such as a boat, or zepplin. The overall enjoyment you'll have playing the game doesn't drop because of this, but again it would've been nice to see. Visually, the game is quite well done, the amount of detail in the game is noticable right from the start. The aircraft in the game are different to say the least, they have a futuristic type of look and feel, definitely not something you'd fly in 1937. Now we get to the audio of the game... in my opinion this is one of the things that really pull you in. The voice-overs are some of the best I've heard in a game recently. There are lots of missions where Nathan Zachary will get into conversations with the pilots he is attempting to shoot down, this is both very well done and comical at times. In-game flight audio is just what you'd expect in any flight game. For the most part, missions are laid out fairly good. There aren't a lot of surprises during the missions though which can make them seem a little boring at times, but with so many different missions in the game you won't be bored for too long. This game is not without it's flaws however. It has one of the most unforgiving menu systems I've ever seen in any game. It's so slow and choppy that you'll swear that game isn't even taking advantage of your video card. Load times are really slow as well, not to mention that Windows will totally bog down after playing a few missions. It gets so bad that you'll most likely reboot your system after a short play session. There is also the save game bug where your compaign save will be corrupted if you play multiplayer or instant action. This bug was fixed in the latest patch. You can download it >>HERE Well after that last paragraph you may be considering not bothering with this game. Despite the problems, it's still one of the best action games I've played this year. Most games with performance issues I will just give up on, but I can't get enough of Crimson Skies. It truly is a great game worthy of any game collection. The good points: excellent graphics, extremely fun and addictive gameplay, exceptional voice-overs The bad points: choppy and unforgiving menu system, slow load times, game takes a big performance hit after long play sessions  Mark Dillon, Video Gamer Guy |
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