So many of you thought that Crimson Skies was a great game cause it was a flying game where you did unbelievable moves with an airplane and the online playing was pretty good in itself. Well, I got news for you.....if you're into World War 2 aircraft and want to feel the experience from the cockpit, you NEED to go out and get Heroes of the Pacific.
By far, Heroes of the Pacific (HOTP from now on) is a great game to play with astounding graphics. From the detail of the plane to the detail of the ground, water and ships are all top notch. Probably the closest thing you can get to really flying a WW2 aircraft in battle anywhere.
Gameplay - Initially, gameplay is quite difficult. Learning to fly the aircraft with an Xbox controller is kind of hard even for an experienced gamer. Once you get the hang of it, it will all feel like second nature to you. Fortunately, there is a training mode which takes you through take offs and landings (fairly simple) to bombing runs, torpedo launches, dogfighting and even stalling the aircraft and recovery. A lot of people laugh at these modes, but in all honesty, you NEED to complete it before you even consider going on your first mission in the campaign. Without it, I would have died more than I did in the games rookie mode.
Missions - The missions from the beginning, where Pearl Harbor gets bombed and your out trying to defend it at Iwo Jima, are incredibly good. When you start a mission, you are told your primary objective and then a secondary objective. Most times when your primary objective is completed, another one pops up and you have to complete that as well. It usually happens at least 3 times during a mission. You are timed in a sense. If you do not complete your mission, say destroying bombers attacking from the north and they bomb their objective, mission failed and you have to start over. Fortunately, the game does save at 'checkpoints', usually when you complete whichever primary objective you're on. You really want to complete each of the secondary objectives as well because you receive upgrade points which are used to upgrade your aircraft you get during the game.
Online Gameplay - I consider this game the Halo2 of flying games. You have different types of modes you can play. A Dogfight mode, your against everyone else. Team Dogfight - Your team against another team. Fox and Hound - Similar to a jugarnaut game in Halo 2. Capture the Flag - Capture the enemies flag and Sink One Carrier - Your teams goal is to sink the enemies carrier before they sink yours. All of these modes are extremely fun. There is hardly any lag at all and AI players actually do fight hard. The best part of all is that there are almost no 'timmys' playing. It's usually a bunch of older guys having a good time.
Downside - Unfortunately, every game has a downside and it mainly refers to the Xbox Live features. There is no team chat. Something extremely annoying when you're trying to get some strategy going in team games. Then you have the fact that you need to recreate and lobby area after that game is over and join up again. Lastly, the flight ceiling is kind of low. Only about 4000 feet. It can get quite annoying in actual mission gameplay but is only really noticeable when you're doing dive bombing missions.
Overall - I have to rate this game a 9 out of 10. I somehow got chosen to be on the beta team for their next game "Heroes Over Europe" so many of the things I wrote about in the downside will be addressed in the next game. If you're even remotely interested in World War 2 flying games, this is the one to get. It is available for PC, Xbox and PS2. I hope to see many of you get in your warbirds and fly with me in the air!
For more info on the game, check out http://www.heroesofthepacific.com
Gameplay - Initially, gameplay is quite difficult. Learning to fly the aircraft with an Xbox controller is kind of hard even for an experienced gamer. Once you get the hang of it, it will all feel like second nature to you. Fortunately, there is a training mode which takes you through take offs and landings (fairly simple) to bombing runs, torpedo launches, dogfighting and even stalling the aircraft and recovery. A lot of people laugh at these modes, but in all honesty, you NEED to complete it before you even consider going on your first mission in the campaign. Without it, I would have died more than I did in the games rookie mode.
Missions - The missions from the beginning, where Pearl Harbor gets bombed and your out trying to defend it at Iwo Jima, are incredibly good. When you start a mission, you are told your primary objective and then a secondary objective. Most times when your primary objective is completed, another one pops up and you have to complete that as well. It usually happens at least 3 times during a mission. You are timed in a sense. If you do not complete your mission, say destroying bombers attacking from the north and they bomb their objective, mission failed and you have to start over. Fortunately, the game does save at 'checkpoints', usually when you complete whichever primary objective you're on. You really want to complete each of the secondary objectives as well because you receive upgrade points which are used to upgrade your aircraft you get during the game.
Online Gameplay - I consider this game the Halo2 of flying games. You have different types of modes you can play. A Dogfight mode, your against everyone else. Team Dogfight - Your team against another team. Fox and Hound - Similar to a jugarnaut game in Halo 2. Capture the Flag - Capture the enemies flag and Sink One Carrier - Your teams goal is to sink the enemies carrier before they sink yours. All of these modes are extremely fun. There is hardly any lag at all and AI players actually do fight hard. The best part of all is that there are almost no 'timmys' playing. It's usually a bunch of older guys having a good time.
Downside - Unfortunately, every game has a downside and it mainly refers to the Xbox Live features. There is no team chat. Something extremely annoying when you're trying to get some strategy going in team games. Then you have the fact that you need to recreate and lobby area after that game is over and join up again. Lastly, the flight ceiling is kind of low. Only about 4000 feet. It can get quite annoying in actual mission gameplay but is only really noticeable when you're doing dive bombing missions.
Overall - I have to rate this game a 9 out of 10. I somehow got chosen to be on the beta team for their next game "Heroes Over Europe" so many of the things I wrote about in the downside will be addressed in the next game. If you're even remotely interested in World War 2 flying games, this is the one to get. It is available for PC, Xbox and PS2. I hope to see many of you get in your warbirds and fly with me in the air!
For more info on the game, check out http://www.heroesofthepacific.com
