One more good reason to get an Xbox, discovers Ben Mansill.
This isn't the Crimson Skies which was released for PC a couple of years ago, but it's the same 'universe' (alternative post-WW2) and developer (Microsoft).
What it is, is a mindlessly perfect arcade flight game which does a most excellent job of sucking you into its cleverly designed world. When we played the PC Crimson Skies, it was clear that this was a game far better suited to the console. For whatever reason, this isn't a port, but a completely new game. We're seeing that, unlike originally anticipated, PC games are not being ported to Xbox. Perhaps Microsoft want to keep the two gaming platforms as distinct as possible. Sounds fair and reasonable.
Xbox Crimson Skies looks better and plays better than the PC version. It's also one of the best looking Xbox games yet released. Not only do the worlds in which you fly look great - they're huge too. A good deal of work has clearly gone into creating terrain which suits the air combat. There's nothing more satisfying in a flight game or sim than sweeping low and fast through canyons, and this game features nothing but that. Whether the canyons are city skyscrapers, volcanic islands or Grand Canyon canyons, all the worlds are loaded with character and a joy to explore. These huge worlds are clearly not the work of a random 'bumpy hill' terrain generator, each and every crevice has been carefully hand sculptured.
The air combat is fixed in the third-person, and is 100% arcade in feel, as is the combat. But it's not all dogfighting. Part of the charm of this wonderful game is that it immerses you in the game solidly as a character, not merely a pilot. Varied missions involve manning anti-aircraft guns - sometimes mounted on Zeppelins. They're fun, and thankfully come in just the right dose before becoming repetitive. Another extremely tasty mission has you manning a variety of mounted guns on a train, as it travels through hostile territory being attacked by aircraft, rocket trucks, Zeppelins and even another armed train!
The Crimson Skies world has a piratey, buccaneer feel to it. With a giant Zeppelin being your main ship/home base. It's a dashing and romantic place to be. At one point, you hook up with a tribe of dogfighting Navajo Indians, at another, you're attacking a giant robot spider; very much like the thing in Wild Wild West. It's all fast paced action with a ton of clever variety and oodles of character. It's all very camp and most certainly should not be taken too seriously.
Notably cool is the design of the planes. They're sort of pre-WWII in design, but from a universe where industrial art meets just plain cool. Even the weapons follow this school of design, like the near-useless magnetic missile and the slightly less useless, but cooler Tesla Cannon.
The cutscenes add the final flavour which tops this game off as a very slick and polished pro job. Really, had this launched with the Xbox it would have been a far better reason to buy one than Halo. It's not perfect, there are some annoying 'Tests of Skill' midway which interrupt the flow of the story and aren't fun, but plain finicky. That's the only bad part though, everything else is pure quality.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012