I may have missed one or two, but the total number of flying games available for the PSP to date is less than ten. That doesn't give Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II much competition. The reason for the lack of PSP flying games may have something to do with the difficulty of rendering vast expanses of sky on the tiny screen of a handheld, or with how hard it is to make targets visible and still have it feel like the player is flying a plane high above the ground.
Title: Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II
Publisher: Graffiti Entertainment
Date: April 2009
Format: UMD
ESRB Rating: T (Teen - Violence)
Everything Looks So Tiny From Up Here
Air Conflicts is a nice addition to the very small collection of flying games for the PSP. Unfortunately, it doesn't stand out about the others. For every good thing I could say about the game--and there are quite a few--there's something frustrating.
The very first thing I noticed was the great sound. Even without headphones, the sound of airplane engines seems authentic and add a great feeling of realism, even though the visuals tend towards the mediocre. The graphics on the planes are about as good as can be expected--they don't stand out as shining examples, but they look well enough. The ground, though, is a little more problematic. Objects on the ground can be really hard to make out--when I first started I had a lot of trouble making out my ground-based targets, even with the targeting reticle to help me out. And ground surfaces simply aren't detailed enough to let you know when you're flying too low. Time after time I thought I was staying sufficiently far above the ground, only to die in a ball of fire as I struck the earth.
I also would have liked a little more assistance with the controls. Though there are a couple of training missions, I still found myself frantically reaching for the manual to figure out what buttons I was supposed to be pressing. That may just be because this was one of the first flying games I've played, but I kind of like it when the game tells you the main controls as you first need them, without holding your hand all the way through. For whatever reason, I found myself wanting just a little more handholding.
It's How You Use It
Air Conflicts lets you play as one of four groups: the US Air Force, the Royal Air Force, the Red Army Air Force, and the German Luftwaffe. The progression of missions is similar for each one, so having four to choose from doesn't necessarily add replay value. One thing that I found really odd about the missions, too, is that you can fail time after time and still progress in the game. It sort of makes sense in that Air Conflicts aims to be a historical tour through WWII. Also, once a mission is finished with, whether you complete it successfully or fail, you can't go back and re-try it. If you want to re-try, you'll have to re-start the entire game with a new pilot.
Another thing I found frustrating was figuring out strategies to actually complete missions successfully. It's really a blast to fly around shooting down enemy planes, but that doesn't work at all as a strategy for winning. Ammunition of all kinds is strictly limited, making it really difficult to finish a mission. In many chapters, it is possible to land at a base to restock your ammo, but it's probably harder to land a plane without crashing than it is to get through a mission without running out of bullets. It's a plus if you're looking for historical accuracy, I suppose, but not if you just want to fly a plane and shoot stuff for fun. It seems a little odd that an auto-landing option wasn't included, when an auto-takeoff was.
Get 'Em All
Looking back on what I've written, I realize that almost all I've done is point out the negatives. The truth is there is just enough good in Air Conflicts that the annoying or frustrating things really stand out.
When I first started the game (and waited and waited and waited while it loaded) and roared up off the airstrip into the sky I felt completely elated. I don't know why I waited so long to try a flying game, because I love to fly in real life. For a few moments, all the thrill of flight was there.
The same thing happened in my first dogfight. It took a little bit to get used to the controls, but not too long. I'm sure I wasted way too many bullets (which would explain why I kept failing missions because I had nothing left to shoot with), and I also shot far too many of the planes on my own team. But shooting down enemy planes was really, really fun.
The bottom line is, there are so few flight games for the PSP that even one that is as frustrating as it is fun is worth a look. On the other hand, if your time is precious and you want to play only the very best, Air Conflicts probably isn't going to be on your list.
