Airforce Delta Review

It's a Bird, no actually it's a plane game by, none other than Konami (hmmm). <br /> <br /> Lets just see how it measures up. Shall We. Have you ever skimmed the surface of the earth at mach 2 or weaved through canyons and taking out enemy targets while carefully flying below the enemy’s radar? If you’ve ever wanted to experience the exhilarating feeling of flying in a high tech military aircraft in the comfort of your own home, Konami and the Sega Dreamcast have made this Flight Sim’s dream possible. <br /> <br /> The gameplay and mechanics of this game were quite impressive, considering that this is a first generation game for a new console. I do admit that while it’s not quite as good as Air Combat 3’s missile volleying action, Konami managed to deliver quite a game for flight simulator freeks. Air Force Delta is basically an arcade type flight simulator that sports all the usuals: amazing graphics, a wide selection of aircraft to choose from, and what every maverick can’t live without, a seemingly endless supply of ammunition. <br /> <br /> Your role in the game is a member of a mercenary military group for hire. The game is split up into twenty missions each with it’s own environment and unique objectives. While the first few missions seems extremely easy to accomplish, the later missions to get quite tedious at times. Mission types range from the usual patrol and shoot down to attacking ground bases and supply lines. The storyline of this game isn’t that great, but that’s not normally what you’d be expecting in a Flight Simulator. Initially you only start off with one plane, but as you complete missions you earn credits, which can be used to buy more planes. Different planes become available as you progress and there are more than 30 different craft in all. <br /> <br /> During flight, the game enables you to fly with a first person view or a third person view of the aircraft. The controls are relatively simple and anyone should be able to pick up a controller and figure them out within a minute. The analog control worked quite well with the game and I found no major problem in controlling my aircraft. The graphics on this game is simply put, spectacular. The amount of detail put into each individual craft is simply amazing and the system manages to push the graphics and still keep the game running at a high frame rate with no slowdown at all. The terrain is quite detailed from a far, but fly close enough to the ground, and you can see some of those pixels flying by. <br /> <br /> Graphically this game was very impressive, perhaps not as breathe taking as Soul Caliber, but the graphics were one of the reasons We purchased this game. The graphic in gameplay are quite good, but after you finish a mission, you are treated to an amazing replay that truly shows off some of the best graphics of the first generation Dreamcast games. The only thing I would have liked to see improved in the graphics is a more detailed terrain texturing and also more impressive explosions that would make appropriate use of the Dreamcast’s capabilities. <br /> <br /> The sound effects and background music was not the best aspect of Air Force Delta. The sound effects were well done, but not overly impressive. I didn’t notice a great variation in sound as you switch from plane to plane and I would have expected to hear a distinct sound rather than the same engine roar from plane to plane. The background music wasn’t the best I’ve heard. There were a few tunes that I liked, but overall, there wasn’t anything special. Personally, I would have liked Konami to add in more alternative/punk rock tracks instead of the regular background music, much like what we heard in Gran Turismo for PSX. The sound department did have it’s high points, like when you’re a few hundred feet from your enemy and you blast him out of the sky just as you fly by at incredible speed, but still lacked a few things that would have greatly added to the flying experience. <br /> <br /> As far as game replay goes, there isn’t much life left in Air Force Delta once you’ve beaten it on all the difficulties. Sure, it may be cool to replay those canyon winding, missile dodging missions, but the lack of the ability to fully customize your craft and go head-to-head with a friend seriously reduces the replay value of the game. Once you beat the game a couple of times, you’ll probably find yourself playing only one or two missions over and over again just for the pleasure to shooting off missiles at your enemies. Air Force Delta is a very impressive first generation title from Konami and deserves it's fair amount of praise, however the amount of superior flight simulators on the PC market keep this title from being a must buy game. <br /> <br />