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Top Gun Review
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
Is this the best of the best or did it crash and burn???
Another movie tie-in (albeit extremely late), another drab gameā¦ Top Gun: Combat Zones is based on the popular Tom Cruise movie of the same name, however due to licensing issues features no reference to Tom Cruise, his character Maverick or very little else from the film!
Top Gun: Combat Zones is an arcade styled flight sim, which is surprising considering the developers, Digital Integration have a history of authentic PC flight sims to their credit.
Top Gun offers two basic modes, Story and Quick Start, whilst the latter is self explanatory, the main bulk of the game is found in the story mode which is based upon three āerasā ranging from the 70ās to the present day. Beginning at Era 1, the training era, youāll have to fly through five training missions before you can engage in any real combat. As you complete a mission the next is opened, whilst successfully completing an Era will result in the next being available. There are over 30 missions in all that take place over a variety of locations such as Southeast Asia, Northern Russian and even the Miramar base that was made famous in the movie.
The mission objectives are fairly varied, ranging from destroying all targets to escorting craft, unfortunately the games action never gets to the level that it should being based upon this license.
The games controls are aimed at the console market, youāll have access to thrust, brakes, rudders and weapons, so you donāt have to be a Top Gun to get anywhere in this title. Because of this the game does have some āpickup-and-playā value, which is reflected in the score based system, a novel addition to a flight sim, your points will add accumulate as long as youāre in the sky, whilst destroying objects and meeting objectives will add to this. This approach adds some value to the game, as youāll try to beat friendās scores and see who really is the Top Gun amongst you. However the main problem is this game never gets into top gear, youāre constantly left thinking if only and what a waste of the license. Thereās nothing particularly wrong with Top Gun, but thereās nothing particularly good about it either, especially with Namcoās superior Ace Combat 4 about.
The games 2D radar also causes problems, as there is no way of knowing whether the enemy is above or below you. Surely arrow indicators would have been a good idea, itās not like the game praises itself on its realism after all.
This level of mediocrity is carried across in most of the games aspects. Visuals are occasionally really good, occasionally really poor but generally competent featuring some nicely modelled fighter jets with detailed textures but often against uninspired environments with poor textures, whilst a fair amount of fogging is employed to hide the games clipping problem. Sound effects are generally good whilst the music is bland and disappointing, especially when you consider the music featured in the movie, of which none feature in the game. Whilst the games pre/post menus screens and general presentation are just bland, lacking any real narrative to captivate the players interest.
