Air Conflicts Secret Wars Review
Developer Bit composer
Publisher Deep Silver
Platform PS3, Xbox360
Release Date Out Now.
Set in the Second World War with a storyline surrounding Dee Dee a French smuggler who gets caught up in the war despite trying to stay partisan. The game also contains some flash backs to the First World War to a world of bi-planes when recounting stories of her father’s heroic battles. The story is limited and told using a 2D comic book style cut scenes.
Secret wars is an arcade flight sim (not a full simulation and not an arcade shooter but somewhere in between). There are a number of controller options, arcade or sim. The only really difference is the controlling of the rudder. On the PS3 you also have the option of using the Move controller.
Pretty much as soon as I started playing Air Conflicts I ditched the control pad in favour of the Move controller, and it really does save the game. The Move controller works as the plane’s flight stick. You simply hold it upright then tilt it forward to dive and back to climb.
In the “arcade mode” tilting the stick left or right turns the plane, in sim mode it is a bit different, as a tilt causes the plane to roll rather than turn. You must move the whole controller left or right to control the rudders. A better option perhaps would be to twist the Move controller as moving it takes away from the feel of flying a plane.
As you would expect the trigger fires the planes machine guns, this can be great fun in a dog fight as you chase down a fighter with the Move controller giving you super precise control over the plane, when you catch him and blow him apart.
Presentation is quite basic, but from a low budget game it’s what I expect, and since you are in the air most of the time what’s on the ground doesn’t need to look great. The planes themselves look good and react gracefully in flight and to be honest any game that lets me glide around in a Spitfire is ok by me.
The game is quite long with nearly fifty missions available on the disk, these missions are made up of a variety of different tasks. The majority of missions are stealth missions where you must try and deliver vital info or vital Whiskey without being spotted. If you are picked up by the enemy fighters a dog fight ensues. Other missions can range from straight up dog fights, ambushes, bombing raids or factories or cargo ships. Other side missions can pop up within the main mission too to offer some longevity. 16 different planes are available too and you have the option to fly enemy planes too to help you out in stealth missions.
One major issue I found with the game is that taking off is quite limited but landing the plane has been taken out of the game completely, which is a huge disappointment. Instead of flying to an landing strip and controlling the landing you simply fly through a number of yellow circles then the cut scene kicks in. This is a shame as taking off and landings are major parts of the world of flying.
Over all the game is pretty basic, and while nothing is broken there are some area’s that could be vastly improved on. I didn’t mind the 2D comic cut scenes or the rambling voice over work, even the low grade presentation was all fine with me. But not being able to land in a flight sim is bizarre. Secret wars does everything adequately and as such ends up being an ok game that is really saved by the introduction of the Move controller. It does offer some value for money with enough missions to keep you playing for a while and a eight player multiplayer mode gives it some extra legs too.
Score 6/10
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