System: PSP, Wii, PS2
Dev: IR Gurus
Pub: CodeMasters
Release: May 10, 2007
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: Teen
Review by Cole Smith

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

Starting the game off with a thinly veiled tutorial, you begin defending your territory. The game gives you some pointers and lets you practice some maneuvers. It's not a very difficult game to learn to play, but it's not very easy to control. As I mentioned, the more sophisticated planes may be able to speed past dangers and perform some nicely executed loops, but getting them into position to shoot your various targets can be an exercise in frustration. Thankfully, the missions are shorter than they are on the console versions, should you have to redo them. The badly-voiced mission briefings are also mercifully shorter as a result. Checkpoints are liberally sprinkled throughout the missions, but even with the unlimited ammo there's no guarantee that you'll complete the missions without having to start over. That's due to the escort missions in which the protected vehicles are unable to sustain any enemy fire. If they get hit, the mission is over. Yes, it's annoying.

Missions takes place over half of the planet, from the south pole to north of the equator. The graphics do little to remind you of where you are, opting to show as much blue as possible. The ground textures are a mess. It's difficult to make things out. Graphically, the planes look good as do the clouds. It's also nice to see the planes explode, but there's an annoying instant replay that lets you live through it again, even though you're still flying around in real time. There is no cockpit perspective. The HUD is great, when it's not obscured by text. The music is Top Gun crap. It won't inspire anyone except perhaps Bon Jovi fans.

Up to four players, each with a copy of the game, can have more fun with the five multiplayer modes. These modes are variations of Deathmatch and CTF. There are dogfights which are every-man-for-himself, and modes which involve two-person teams whose duties include defending their base while attacking the opponent's base. All of the games suffer from the same control problems and inadequate graphics, but these are fun modes to play as they don't degenerate into redundancy. You won't get endless hours of fun out of these modes, but at least you'll get some satisfaction - which is more than I can say for the single-player mode.

By Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer