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Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge Review
Chris Leyton
28/10/2003
FASA Studios deliver the unique prospect of an Xbox Live! title that's also enjoyable for single-players...
Whilst Xbox Live! has yet to reach its full potential and deliver the killer app that every Xbox owner needs, merely offering slightly more then glorified network gaming at present, to their credit Microsoft have been working hard to ensure thereâs a wide selection of games to entice people online.
The latest âCrimson Skies: High Road to Revengeâ stands out as not only offering a fun and enjoyable multiplayer experience but also a compelling single player mode that should appeal to a large number of action fans.
Along with the âMidtown Madnessâ franchise, this series originally debuted on the PC platform where it built up a strong fanbase for its combination of thrilling aerial combat and the swashbuckling style of a Hollywood action/adventure movie. Set in an alternative 1930âs, where planes appear to have become more prominent then the motorcar, players pilot a range of different aircraft as they wage war on the nefarious pirates and colossus war zeppelins.
As the daring air pirate Nathan Zachary, leader of the infamous Fortune Hunters, itâs up to you to take-off on high-flying adventures filled with daring escapes and damsels in distress â“ think Disneyâs âTailSpinâ crossed with Indiana Jones.
The single-player mode features the typical arcade mission-based structure thatâs been seen in numerous titles from Star Wars to Ace Combat; however the game features a number of noticeable enhancements on a design level compared to such titles. Whilst missions do follow a linear progression and certainly failure in one will see you having to restart it from the beginning, the game presents you with a variety of other challenges to compete in to earn cash and various other rewards, ranging from races to helping out the locals. Youâre free to embark on whatever challenge you choose, or just take time to fly around the stunningly beautiful and well-designed environments.
Arguably the most enjoyable aspect of the game is controlling your craft, FASA Studios have worked hard to ensure it remains as easy as possible to fly your craft, so youâre just worried about speed and firing your weapons. The game includes some nice evasive manoeuvres, carried out by clicking the second analogue stick and holding in a different direction to which youâre heading.
The game offers 10 different planes to fly in, each of which are opened up as you progress through the single-player mode; these range from typical twin-engine by-planes to a gyro-copter that can hover in mid-air. In addition each of the games levels offer Anti-Aircraft weapons, whereby you can land your plane and take position on the powerful weapons. In keeping with the arcade orientation of the game, landing is simply a case of flying close enough to the location and pressing the X button; itâs also possible to âborrowâ planes that you can see in suitable locations on the ground, particularly handy if thereâs only one scorched rivet holding your plane together.
The level designs are one of the games most notable aspects featuring canyons and high-top mountains to navigate around and ensure that dogfights stay memorable throughout the entire game. Itâs highly likely youâll spend a lot of time just flying around these, trying to find the hidden tokens that can be used to upgrade your craftâs abilities.
The game has certainly undergone some significant changes since we first laid eyes upon a near finished copy at E3â02. Back then the game had more of a cinematic feel and was designed to be an interactive-movie, however the developers wisely realised that such linearity doesnât go down to well with gamers â“ hence the rather lengthy delay and the arcade fused action extravaganza that weâre presented with now. One noticeable omission that weâve not found in all our time with the game is destructible environments; certainly back in 2002 the developers were keen to showcase this as a dogfight within a canyon, led to an impressive barrel-loop and bringing a rock overhang down on top of the unsuspecting victim.
Perhaps the biggest change is the inclusion of Xbox Live! support and boy does it help. Taking this online results in one of ther most fun and enjoyable experiences weâve had on Live! to date, itâs pick-up-and-play style perfectly suits the experience whilst the range of modes and options is mightily impressive.
Up to 16 players can embark in the multiplayer modes via Xbox Live! or System-Link. The game offers five different multiplayer maps to challenge other people (with more to come we suspect), across six different game modes.
Dogfight and Team Dogfight are self-explanatory shoot everything that you can see, whilst Keep Away plays similarly to âKing of the Hillâ matches where one player or a team must hold onto an item for as long as possible. Flag Heist is a standard yet enjoyable âCapture the Flagâ clone, whilst the bizarrely named Wild Chicken has players rescuing chickens and returning them to the enemy base to gain bonus points, whilst trying to shoot down your opponents.
Weâve noticed an occasional amount of lag with our time online, however it rarely gets in the way of the action and doesnât upset the experience. The game contains the standard Xbox Live! match-making facilities, making it easy to challenge your friends as quickly as possible.
Whilst itâs not the finest looking title weâve seen running on the Xbox, the game is certainly a pretty looking title at times. The vast environments are meticulously detailed and have so much going on, from helicopters nipping around close to the ground to behemoth zeppelins lurking in the clouds above. The various types of weather effects have been brilliantly created; particularly dogfights in the dark of night against a lightning storm are extremely memorable. Unfortunately we were a little disappointed by the lack of special effects to top of the visual aspect, explosions in particular look nice but are nothing exceptional whilst it would have been nice to see some bump mapping on the ground below.
Our only concern with the game is that we can see it beginning to grate after only a few weeks; sure the Xbox Live! functions add some replay value, however given the very nature of the title and its pick-up dynamics we canât see ourselves playing this for months to come let alone even till Christmas.
