Codemasters turns to the skies for its latest title from Australian based developers IR Gurus, boasting the most incredible airborne battles ever witnessed in Heroes of the Pacific for the Playstation2, Xbox and PC. Pitting players in the cockpit of over 35 different military aircraft, Heroes of the Pacific follows the events from WWII’s Pacific Theatre beginning with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour.

Despite boasting a historically accurate selection of aircraft and campaigns the game is very much an arcade experience, with the emphasis placed on intense action and a simple control setup; although that’s not to say the game lacks depth with a range of Wingmen options and aircraft upgrades on offer to the player throughout the game, whilst flight veterans can opt for a professional setup more attuned to a simulator.

Heroes of the Pacific looks likely to deliver a relentless experience with an advanced game engine that can have up to 150 planes in the sky at any one time, each with full AI and an advanced physics system. This is certainly one of the game’s highlights at this stage with some incredibly frantic battles that lift it above the scant competition currently on the market – flight buffs don’t exactly have the biggest catalogue to choose from it seems, unless mastering a 102-button keyboard is your idea of fun.

The control setup utilises both analogue sticks for throttle and pitch, while a range of targeting and firing commands are mapped to the face buttons. It doesn’t take long before you’re in the skies thanks to the responsive control setup and you’ll quickly be pulling loop the loops, barrel-rolls and other such tricky manoeuvres. Although flight sim purists will likely scoff at such a title, Heroes of the Pacific does suggest a welcoming sense of variety between the various aircraft you’ll have the opportunity to take control of, each offering a mixture of weapon configurations and an assortment of bombs to utilise with devastating effect.

Although its core gameplay provides an enjoyable experience at this stage, particularly in small doses, Heroes of the Pacific does have a few little niggling issues that can hopefully be rectified ahead of its release. The on-screen icon containing important data and the radar is a little too cluttered and of no real assistance to the player; more worrying is the overly patriotic US focussed storyline that will leave most player skipping through scenes and missing out on the overall storyline.

Thankfully the game looks to offer replay value away from the hackneyed campaign mode via a robust multiplayer mode. Boasting online support and a wide variety of different game types, this could be the game’s saving grace although the limit of eight players online does seem a little shallow given the sheer number of aircraft featured in the single-player stakes. Sadly splitscreen options in the current build suffered from issues that made it unplayable, however we have little doubt that the Codies will rectify this and have a solid mode in time for the game’s release.

Visually the game impresses thanks to its scale although a lack of detail in the overall environment and objects is a little disappointing. Up in the clouds dozens of aircraft fill the skies while carriers float in the seas below; destruction of the various crafts results in impressive explosions as debris crashes to the ground below, while volumetric clouds truly create a sensation and serve as a valuable gameplay aspect to take into consideration when planning assaults.

If there were any slight criticisms it can be that the linearity and sheer rigidity of completing mission objectives can lead to frustrations; it’s definitely a case of black and white when it comes to the objectives laid down before you, which can become aggravating once you’ve got to restart the whole of the mission, sometimes you have to wish that missions would just pan out a little more even when you might have missed out on one particular objective.

At this stage Heroes of the Pacific is shaping up to be a worthwhile experience for fans of the genre. Its simplistic arcade style and intense battles combine suitably to create an enjoyable experience; however it’s not the type of game that will consume players and have them glued to the joypad for hours on end.