System: Wii, PSP, PS2
Dev: IR Gurus
Pub: Codemasters
Release: May 1, 2007
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: Teen
Review by Adam Brown

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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

Heatseeker also contains a good number of levels. Unfortunately, this doesn't translate directly into a large variety. Most levels will have you destroying a plethora of enemy planes, boats, submarines, and ground-based missile turrets. Every so often, you will be asked to scan vehicles to find out if they are enemies, and then destroy them. While defeating a seemingly endless supply of enemy vehicles is initially fun, it does get incredibly repetitive. Occasionally, this will also be made even more annoying by the game forcing you to destroy all of these foes before a random ship or oilrig gets destroyed. But if you like dog fighting and dodging incoming missiles while shooting down tons of air, sea, and ground enemies, this game's formula should definitely appeal to you.

Despite its repetitive gameplay, underwhelming graphics, and questionable motion-sensing controls, the most annoying part of Heatseeker is, by far, its audio. The sound effects are quite good. For example, the explosions and breaking the sound barrier sound great. Unfortunately though, the dialogue is painfully hard to listen to. Since your pilot's nickname is Downtown, virtually every sentence spoken in the game begins and ends with it. "Downtown help destroy those planes Downtown." "Downtown we have submarines surfacing, take them out Downtown." While this may initially be cheesy and humorous, after about an hour of playing I wanted to invest in some earplugs. It was so persistent and obnoxious that I actually started making my own lyrics for a Heatseeker version of the song Downtown to help ease the pain. "When you are flying, close to crashing and dying, you're about to hear…Downtown." It didn't make it hurt any less but at least it helped to distract me long enough to miss a few of them.

Ultimately, I think that Heatseeker could actually be a fairly enjoyable game. Unfortunately, if you are interested in this game, I don't think the Wii version should be the one that you decide to play. The tacked-on motion-sensing controls that are supposed to give you precise control of your plane only result in making playing through the game an exercise in frustration. This is definitely one instance of a game that would have been better off with dual analog stick controls. So if you feel the need to go downtown, do yourself a favor and leave your Wii-mote uptown.

By Adam Brown
CCC Freelance Writer

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