"Crimson Skies High Road To Revenge" Air Piracy Can Be Fun.
Written: May 18 '09 (Updated May 19 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: Good story, easy to learn controls, graphics, fun characters, and Online.
Cons: Very hard to find a game online, game is just a little to short.
The Bottom Line:
I recommend this game to anyone that just wants something different to put into their Xbox. Dogfighting is fun again and the laughable characters are great.
Pandemonium's Full Review: Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge for Xbox
Good airlplane games have always been hard to find no matter what system you look on. Back in the old PC games all of the irplane simulators were so in-depth you really needed a pilot license to understand what you were doing. Later, more arcade style games of this genre would come out that were just flat out "lame". I think back to games like Top Gun and Independence Day and the games just never had any style to them at all. Flying was easier and not nearly as complex but, there was just nothing in the games to to even make you want to play the games to their ends. Microsoft originally brought Crimson Skies out on the PC before it was transferred over the Xbox in 2003. The question was, would it have the same flair as the PC game which made it a pretty good hit. For the most part I would have to say yes however, there were somethings missing which usually happens when games go from PC to the consoles.
Story: The storyline has a nice little twist to it making it pretty interesting right from the start. The game takes place in an alternate version of America in the 1930's. In this alternate universe America has not rebounded after the great depression. America is now split into factions that fight each other to defend their territories by trying to isolate themselves from one another. They destroy the railroads and bridges making the sky the only way to trade and travel. Large Zeppelins now Carry passengers and cargo and one man plains dot the sky. This of course opens the skies for air pirates and militias that fight each other. Your character is an air pirate by the name of Nathan Zachary who is the leader of a freelance rag tag group called the "Fortune Hunters". Nathan fancies himself as a playboy and gambler and the story lets you know this right off the bat in the opening cut-scene. Nathan wakes up next to a conquest in bed and a man standing over him holding a loaded pistol. In his drunken state the night before he managed to loose his plain and his Zeppelin while gambling but, still managed to find time for the ladies. Being not the most honest man himself he quickly gets the drop on his friend with the gun and steals his plan back and Zeppelin. The beginning story has you getting your gang back together as you run into an old friend Dr. Fassenbiender. He is a scientist working on a machine that can control the weather. He gives you the plans fearing for his life which, of course, he is right and is assassinated quickly after. Your mission now is to find out who killed him and figure out exactly how the plans fit into everything. The overall game will take around 10-12 hours and there are quite a few interesting cut-scenes to keep it interesting and flowing well. The characters also have their own personality that are like-able and not only to the cut-scenes show this but, radio conversations in your cockpit between them also gets you more involved. The story may not be one for the ages but, it is different enough and moves throughout the game fast enough to keep you wanting to learn more.
Gameplay/Controls: The missions you will undertake are broken up into different areas that you will end up visiting. There are also side quests that you can do to earn more money in each of these areas. It is more of a freestyle how you get the missions started. As your just flying around these new areas you will notice blue icons at the top of certain areas. These are either side quests or the main quest to move the story along. You will have no trouble knowing what your next main mission is as the game will explain where to go well. The missions themselves mostly involve air to air combat with other air pirates or militias but, they can also many other things. For example, you might need to protect a Zeppelin or an encampment from enemies, pick up and deliver something, or just a straight forward invading of an enemy camp. The thing that makes most of these missions fun is, the diversity of things you can do. As your flying and doing battle there are times you can get into turrets and battle from the ground, you can go to to a hanger and repair your plane before going back into the battle, or you may find other planes on the ground that you can get into and steal. This is how you can find other planes top use in different missions later if you steal one on the ground you have not used yet. For the most part these missions are pretty quick and entertaining enough. There maybe one here and there you will find boring but, being as quick as most of them are you shouldn't be to bothered.
Flying your plane is not a choir and is just plain fun. The game does not move to fast that you can't see a lot while flying around. You can also get a good depth of your targets and the landscape to know about how far away you are. You will spend some time going back and forth to your Zeppelin to repair your ship, pick another plane, or to carry on to the next mission. These Zeppelins are found throughout the map and you can even attack them as well (and in some cases fight from yours). The different enemies you take down may drop things that you can fly into and pick up. They may drop health for your plane or more ammo for your secondary weapon. Winning a hard fought battle with a Zeppelin will also drop cold hard cash as well. The gameplay and missions are thought out well enough to keep the game flowing at a good pace and never really get confusing as to wondering what your doing next or where you are at. Just pay attention to your mini-map and the different locations it gives you and you should be fine. The only real complaint I have about the gameplay is your wing-man you will get in some missions. They are more like a shield to draw some fire away from you then anything else. They are not to keen on the stick and will very seldom ever take down an enemy for you. And you don't get one very often.
The controls and feel of the game is surprisingly well done. As in any flying game it will take some time to get used to the actual flying and understanding how far to lead your target so you can hit them. However, this shouldn't take a long time as the controls are straight foreword and handle well. Each plane has two weapons, the right trigger fires your primary weapon (mainly machine guns) and the left trigger fires the secondary (mainly missiles and rockets). The planes flight is controlled with the left analog stick and you can slow and speed up your plane at a will with the "B" and "Y" buttons. The one button you will use a lot is the black button as it controls the camera to lock onto a target. The right analog stick is where the real fun is at. By moving the stick in different directions, along with the left stick, you can perform special evasive maneuvers with your plane while dogfighting. These different maneuvers work well and will help you get the drop on your enemies much easier. For every move you perform it will drain your special meter and once depleted you will have to wait for it to fill up again. This does not take long to fill up when not in use though. In all the controls are well put together and easy to get your fingers in the right place at the right time.
Graphics: The game has an excellent overall look and feel to it. One of the hardest things to accomplish in a airplane shooter style game like this is depth. Crimson Skies has done a remarkable job here as the game gives you a great draw distance so you can see planes far away. This stays consistent as you dogfight your way around the sky. The different scenery you will be flying over is equally impressive. Since this game is a low altitude dogfighting game you will see yourself flying around a lot of obstacles from buildings, mountains, and just flying low on the waters surface. The different scenery's are all well textured and smooth and the water looks great as your flying close. Where the game really stands out (and should) is in the planes themselves. Each plane that you will get behind the controls of look great and are very detailed. The best part is watching the planes that your toasting breakup into little pieces before finally being set ablaze as they descend into their destruction. Even the Zeppelins you fly by or fight are very detailed and the size ratio is spot on. As you rip into another plane they will begin to smoke making them much easier to track. The cut-scenes are also very well done and the different characters you meet in the game look very detailed. I would have liked to have seen more of them throughout the story but, there was enough to keep me interested. In all, the graphics are well put together and I personally see no flaw anywhere. Since you will be spending most of your time flying around all of this scenery and dogfighting different planes and Zeppelins they needed to look good, and they do.
Sound/Music: The game has a great music library along with solid sound effects. You won't be flying around while listening to any modern rock music or anything but, the music throughout what it happening on screen. I really never got bored any of the music and it switches at a nice pace. The sound effects from bullets "whizzing" through the air to the individual engine sounds of each airplane all sound very realistic. Even the little things like the air rushing past your plane as you pull off a great mid-air maneuver or the sound of the water being disturbed as you fly just above it really help put this game over the top in this category . The voice acting is also top-notch and really fit the different characters and their domineers. The voice acting itself is what really keeps the story flowing at a nice pace and keeps your interest all the way to the end. I can't find any complaints here as the game really put a lot of effort getting this right which shows right from the start.
Online: The online play is also a great feature to the game. However, since the game is older, finding a game online is extremely hard. Most of the time that I try to find a game I find no one and on the rare occasions I find a few people they are all together and extremely good at the game. Still, getting your friends to pick up a copy of this game along with you so you can battle it out in the air is worth it. The different maps and the smooth frame-rate this game runs online is worth the effort.
Conclusion: If your someone that likes to dogfight and has a tough time finding a good airplane shooter style game or, if you just want something a little different to put into your Xbox and play then this is a very worthy game to give a look at. A lot of airplane dogfighting games are very complex and you end up spending way to much time getting the controls down that you loose sight on the story or anything else. Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge puts dogfighting in a more arcade style of gameplay. Still, it is not to simple nor is it to complex as it is right in the middle and makes for hours of fun. Although the single-player version is cut kind of short that you will probably leave wanting more, you can always get some friends to go out and get this inexpensive game and hit the skies with them online. Microsoft did a good job putting this one together with a good story, likable characters, smooth graphics, excellent sound, and solid air to air battles that I recommend this game to anyone.
Thank you for reading and if you have any questions about this game feel free to just ask.
My Ratings: Story: 4/5 Game play: 4/5 Controls 4/5 Graphics: 4.5/5 Music/Sound: 4.5/5 Learning Curve: 15 to 20 min Replay Value: 3.5/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Publisher: Microsoft Genre: Action/Adventure ESRB: Teen
Game Specs Players: 1 - 4 Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Online: Yes Video: HDTV 480p
If you have any questions please e-mail us before bidding. BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED GAME "CRIMSON SKIES HIGH ROAD TO REVENGE : PLATINUM HITS" FOR MICR...More at eBay
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