The space simulation genre has looked rather extinct in recent years. One of the best games we've seen in this genre was Freelancer, released back in 2003. Freelancer brought a much needed change to the gameplay offering a nice blend of hardcore action with free-roaming abilities. Aerial Strike tries to follow in Freelancer 's path with a different setting and some different ideas, but ultimately fails to be as enjoyable as the developers intended.
Aerial Strike is actually exactly the same game as Yager, which appeared on the XBOX in 2004. As far as we can tell, Aerial Strike is the same game as Yager when it comes to gameplay and the included missions: the only difference is in the name. Changing the name of a game to be released once again is usually the sign of a game that did poorly but has now been given a second chance under a second title to see if it sells any better. As in the case of Aerial Strike, it does nothing for the game.
In Aerial Strike , you play as Magnus Tide, a cocky young pilot that's obviously the best in the business. As a freelance pilot, you're given the task of working with the Proteus Corporation in a futuristic rendition of Earth. It would seem that this mega corporation is up to no good and is not liked by the locals. Proteus appears to be keeping something secret, and covers up disappearances of their own vessels. Obviously it's up to you to figure out what's going on.
Throughout your travels you'll come across some interesting characters, all of which are represented by some poor cinematic videos and voiceovers. However, don't let the local strangers discourage you, because there's plenty of action-packed gameplay in here thanks to your advanced ship: the Sagittarius. The Sagittarius, the only real ship you fly throughout the game, is loaded with enough hardware to get the job done. Anything from lasers and missiles to a rail gun are all incorporated into your powerhouse ship. Each one of your weapons (besides the laser guns) needs some type of ammo cartridge to work. These can usually be found either scattered on the ground in certain areas or newly fallen from the burning wreck of your enemy's ship. Unfortunately your lasers, which stand as your most used weapon, don't seem to last very long before they need to be recharged. It's at these times that you'll find yourself running away in fear.
In the beginning of each mission, you'll receive your primary orders as well as some secondary objectives. Some more bonus objectives can be picked up later which is where Aerial Strike takes on a limited sense of free-roaming. The mission areas are very large, and you are free to fly about these areas during your mission. The free-roaming aspect is limited to finding small things to do within the missions which normally just reveal themselves as simply providing assistance to someone. After helping them out, you're usually rewarded with some more ammo. You can also encounter some other ships, which Trent will automatically respond to in order to ask for directions if you're looking for something specific. After scoping out the area a little, you'll find that there really isn't anything else to do, so you'd better get right into the main story-based missions.
The key of the gameplay comes from the low-altitude flying. It's definitely a little different from what we're used to in futuristic flight games, but Aerial Strike's missions take place only on the surface of the planet and never in space. The end result is some fast-paced dogfights very close to the ground. So not only are you watching where you enemy is but you're also trying to keep your eye on the ground to make sure that you're not slamming right into it. To aid you in easier flying at such low-altitudes, your ship is capable of also entering a hover mode. Hover mode allows you to simply stay still and strafe left or right while firing at your target. You'll actually find yourself switching between hover and jet modes quite frequently during dogfights. Of course, you're constantly in your ship, but there are some missions where you man gun turrets. The developers probably intended to deliver a change of pace to the game by adding these segments, but they just seem rather weak and really shouldn't have been included at all.
For a game that takes place only on a planet, they have a lot of very large ships that encompass the areas. Unfortunately these huge vessels only really show up early on in the game, but they are a sight to behold. These ships are highly detailed, allowing you to see such intricate details as the cranes moving large containers on top of cargo ships. Furthermore, when attacking these larger ships, you can see every detail on the ship being blown off. Anything from engines and gun turrets to simple side panels on the ship can be destroyed. It's a nice addition to the game that will have you watching in amazement as the large pieces break off of the ship and slowly crash into the ground below.
When it comes to graphics, Aerial Strike looks beautiful. The water effects are gorgeous and you can watch as the water kicks up under the engines of your low-flying ship. Explosions are also great when being created on large ships, and the intricate details of actual little people on the ground in certain missions is great. However, the same can't be said for the cutscenes, which don't look as real as they seem to have been intended to be, and the people just seem to look rather fake and cartoonish.
The sound effects are quite detailed, but we did notice a few bugs in this area. Numerous times after some cutscenes, we noticed that the game automatically turned down some of the sound options resulting in us constantly exiting a mission to turn the sound back up. Also, the voiceovers are pretty weak. Trent is supposed to sound cocky, but his voiceover is just too much.
Conclusion
Overall, Aerial Strike provides for a somewhat decent futuristic combat game. It's 20 or so missions and sub-par storyline didn't exactly captivate us. However, if you're desperate to play a new futuristic space shooter in this lacking genre, and you can look past its bugs and other weaknesses then this title may be for you. On the other hand, it's $20 price tag doesn't really say much as Freelancer can also easily be found for $20 brand new and will surely provide for a much better gameplay experience.
Aerial Strike is actually exactly the same game as Yager, which appeared on the XBOX in 2004. As far as we can tell, Aerial Strike is the same game as Yager when it comes to gameplay and the included missions: the only difference is in the name. Changing the name of a game to be released once again is usually the sign of a game that did poorly but has now been given a second chance under a second title to see if it sells any better. As in the case of Aerial Strike, it does nothing for the game.
In Aerial Strike , you play as Magnus Tide, a cocky young pilot that's obviously the best in the business. As a freelance pilot, you're given the task of working with the Proteus Corporation in a futuristic rendition of Earth. It would seem that this mega corporation is up to no good and is not liked by the locals. Proteus appears to be keeping something secret, and covers up disappearances of their own vessels. Obviously it's up to you to figure out what's going on.
Throughout your travels you'll come across some interesting characters, all of which are represented by some poor cinematic videos and voiceovers. However, don't let the local strangers discourage you, because there's plenty of action-packed gameplay in here thanks to your advanced ship: the Sagittarius. The Sagittarius, the only real ship you fly throughout the game, is loaded with enough hardware to get the job done. Anything from lasers and missiles to a rail gun are all incorporated into your powerhouse ship. Each one of your weapons (besides the laser guns) needs some type of ammo cartridge to work. These can usually be found either scattered on the ground in certain areas or newly fallen from the burning wreck of your enemy's ship. Unfortunately your lasers, which stand as your most used weapon, don't seem to last very long before they need to be recharged. It's at these times that you'll find yourself running away in fear.
In the beginning of each mission, you'll receive your primary orders as well as some secondary objectives. Some more bonus objectives can be picked up later which is where Aerial Strike takes on a limited sense of free-roaming. The mission areas are very large, and you are free to fly about these areas during your mission. The free-roaming aspect is limited to finding small things to do within the missions which normally just reveal themselves as simply providing assistance to someone. After helping them out, you're usually rewarded with some more ammo. You can also encounter some other ships, which Trent will automatically respond to in order to ask for directions if you're looking for something specific. After scoping out the area a little, you'll find that there really isn't anything else to do, so you'd better get right into the main story-based missions.
The key of the gameplay comes from the low-altitude flying. It's definitely a little different from what we're used to in futuristic flight games, but Aerial Strike's missions take place only on the surface of the planet and never in space. The end result is some fast-paced dogfights very close to the ground. So not only are you watching where you enemy is but you're also trying to keep your eye on the ground to make sure that you're not slamming right into it. To aid you in easier flying at such low-altitudes, your ship is capable of also entering a hover mode. Hover mode allows you to simply stay still and strafe left or right while firing at your target. You'll actually find yourself switching between hover and jet modes quite frequently during dogfights. Of course, you're constantly in your ship, but there are some missions where you man gun turrets. The developers probably intended to deliver a change of pace to the game by adding these segments, but they just seem rather weak and really shouldn't have been included at all.
For a game that takes place only on a planet, they have a lot of very large ships that encompass the areas. Unfortunately these huge vessels only really show up early on in the game, but they are a sight to behold. These ships are highly detailed, allowing you to see such intricate details as the cranes moving large containers on top of cargo ships. Furthermore, when attacking these larger ships, you can see every detail on the ship being blown off. Anything from engines and gun turrets to simple side panels on the ship can be destroyed. It's a nice addition to the game that will have you watching in amazement as the large pieces break off of the ship and slowly crash into the ground below.
When it comes to graphics, Aerial Strike looks beautiful. The water effects are gorgeous and you can watch as the water kicks up under the engines of your low-flying ship. Explosions are also great when being created on large ships, and the intricate details of actual little people on the ground in certain missions is great. However, the same can't be said for the cutscenes, which don't look as real as they seem to have been intended to be, and the people just seem to look rather fake and cartoonish.
The sound effects are quite detailed, but we did notice a few bugs in this area. Numerous times after some cutscenes, we noticed that the game automatically turned down some of the sound options resulting in us constantly exiting a mission to turn the sound back up. Also, the voiceovers are pretty weak. Trent is supposed to sound cocky, but his voiceover is just too much.
Conclusion
Overall, Aerial Strike provides for a somewhat decent futuristic combat game. It's 20 or so missions and sub-par storyline didn't exactly captivate us. However, if you're desperate to play a new futuristic space shooter in this lacking genre, and you can look past its bugs and other weaknesses then this title may be for you. On the other hand, it's $20 price tag doesn't really say much as Freelancer can also easily be found for $20 brand new and will surely provide for a much better gameplay experience.
