Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

Nick joins those magnificent men in their flying machines.

Now, I think everyone will agree that being a fighter pilot is a man's job. In today's politically correct and sanitised world, mothers everywhere are encouraging their sons to don dresses, play with dolls and generally be in touch with their 'feelings', whatever they are. Thankfully, there are bastions against this rising tide of oestrogen, places and professions where men are still men, and so are the women. Firemen, truck drivers and lumberjacks aside, being a fighter pilot is still one of the most masculine jobs around. But it might surprise you, dear readers, to learn that even within this manly profession, there are distinct levels of manliness, a hierarchy of testosterone so to speak. At the bottom of this pile are helicopter pilots, then come the stealth bomber and fighter folks. But the pinnacle of aviation masculinity is plainly the pilots of aeroplanes of the early era, the bi-planes and tri-planes. Now these pilots were real men. No ejector seats, no pressure suits, just a rickety wooden airframe and a bit of canvas between them and certain death. In fact, I think it was the pilots of these planes that invented 'pluck', that most admirable of characteristics. The boys and girls at FASA studios clearly feel the same way as me about these matters, and decided to bring Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge to the Xbox, probably feeling that they had to do their bit in halting the erosion of the male sex. Well, congratulations FASA, you may well have helped to stop the rot.

Crimson Skies takes place in an alternate 1930's world, in which the US has split into a number of warring mini-states. In this chaotic place, air travel has become predominant, with zeppelins taking the place of railroad network. Air piracy is rife, with a corresponding rise in mercenary protection - which is where the player comes in. Taking the role of Nathan Zachary, one of a band of freelance pilots, the player must complete a number of missions in defence of whatever employer is currently paying the bills. The game is separated into hub areas, where the majority of the missions take place, and which in between offer some free-flying site seeing, races and other distractions. Each area is dotted with icons that demonstrate the presence of a mission, a race or some other significant area like a repair shop. The game structure is semi-open, with each area sporting a number of missions that can be accepted by flying to the appropriate floating token. Most of these missions can be done in any order, with the odd exception, and once all the missions in a particular hub have been accomplished, it's off to the next area.

The mercenary group the protagonist belongs to, The Fortune Hunters, are the usual bunch of misfits and clichés, but they do in their defence sport a large and impressive zeppelin that acts as a mother ship. It can be returned to for repairs or to change planes, and can be used as a gun platform in certain missions. In these cases the view moves inside the gun emplacement, and can be alternated between any of the zeppelins turrets. Other missions offer gun emplacements dotted strategically around the island, and these can be accessed at any time for a bit of ground based shooting. The offside is, of course, that the stationary nature of these turrets makes them inherently vulnerable.

The mainstay of the game is, thankfully, the aerial combat, and it is of the highest quality. All the planes in the game are expertly modelled, and strike an excellent balance between actual 1930's era planes and a more unusual alternate-reality look. Each plane (and there are several to unlock) has a primary weapon and a secondary. The primary is usually a machine gun of some description, and offers reasonable firepower and unlimited ammo, with the secondary weapon, usually a missile, being limited in ammo. The dogfights in Crimson Skies are immense fun, with the player often hopelessly outnumbered and swarmed by enemy fighters; yet somehow always managing to survive. Unlike many flight games, dogfights in Crimson Skies are often up-close affairs. Machine gun fire causes visible damage to enemy planes, with bits of canvas peeling off and spectacular explosions after an enemy kill. There are a number of manoeuvres to perform and learn, allowing greater agility in combat. Dogfights soon become twisting, chaotic affairs as the player attempts to out-manoeuvre the enemy and keep the hordes off his tail. Attacking a zeppelin is also immensely satisfying, with the airships acting like slow moving but heavily armed aerial battleships, with the smaller fighters engaging in strafing runs attempting to take them down. The zeppelins have excellent location-specific damage, and fire begins to peel away the outer canvas from the wooden frame when on the brink of being destroyed, before an enormous explosion breaks the hull and sends it crashing to the waves below.

Praise is not reserved, however, for merely the aeroplane models. FASA have produced one of the best looking games on the Xbox to date, with mountainous lush island environments, the usual beautiful pixel-shaded water and an attention to detail and polish that puts most developers to shame. The weather effects are also noteworthy, the explosion and other particle effects are extremely polished and yet all this comes to the platform with almost no frame-rate loss, except in the largest battles. The sound is of similar high quality, with an adventurous and atmospheric score that is reminiscent of the era. Crimson Skies also offers multiplayer for those seeking to take on human opponents, with system link, split screen and Xbox Live components. There are four modes - a traditional deathmatch, a king of the hill style affair, capture the flag as well as the more atypical 'Wild Chicken' mode that sees each player trying to collect chickens while downing the enemy. FASA are clearly fans of the bizarre, then.

Crimson Skies does have some problems, but they are forgivable. Fans of the PC precursors may accuse FASA of dumbing down the series, and there is no denying that this is the most arcadish instalment of the Crimson Skies franchise yet. There is also a definite sense that the polish and refinement FASA have injected into this title covers some extremely simple gameplay mechanics that, when it comes down to it, lack depth. This is really a question of personal taste and preference. The game plays much like futuristic shooter Yager, so fans of one should really appreciate the other. There will undoubtedly be those who become bored of playing a different permutation of 'Protect X' or 'Destroy Y' for the fifteenth time. Some, however, will accept it for being a simple but stylish shooter that has truly solid core gameplay.

85%

By Nick McCrea