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A somewhat decent dog fighting game, yet the slow pace, dull story, and awkward controls bring it down.

Aerial Strike, a new dog fighting game from developer Yager, is a PC port of the Xbox game Yager, released late last year. The two games, though differently named, are nearly identical and focus on a freelance fighter pilot of the future who goes by the name Magnus Tide.

This rogue figure is the center of a story revolving around a future Earth where separate, feuding states controlled by various factions all war against one another for supremacy. Tide, at the start of the game, has just recently managed to gain employment as a freelance fighter pilot for one of these states, called Proteus.

Through a series of early cutscenes, we learn that Magnus is no stranger to Proteus. He has worked for them before, though the outcome of his previous employment resulted in the destruction of his ship and reputation. This reconciliation with Proteus, grudging as it is, results from an ever-growing threat from pirates, as well as competing factions who are looking to crowd out Proteus. Tide’s reputation as the toughest fighter pilot in the land means the task of defeating these bad guys and saving his bosses from certain defeat invariably falls on him.

Proteus’ territory resembles a kind of south pacific paradise, consisting of multiple lush and hilly islands filled with several different settlements and industrial complexes devoted to Proteus’ proliferation. Amidst this lush paradise are numerous waterways over which exotic transports and fighter craft patrol constantly, giving the islands a sense of constant activity. Other locales include snow-capped peaks, barren wastelands, and intricate enemy installations filled with danger.

Aerial Strike divides its mission-based game play into 22 levels, all centering around Tide and those enemies who are seeking to destroy him and the organization he belongs to. Each mission has a main objective one must complete before continuing to the next level. There are also secondary objectives that unlock various bonus materials if completed.

Though Aerial Strike’s missions seldom deviate from a handful of different locales, a varied terrain allows one to duck in and out of canyons or glide over hills while blasting enemies out of the sky with Tide’s ship, the Sagittarius.

This heavily armed, curiously constructed vessel is the means by which Tide lays down the smack on any baddies that dare show themselves. There is a wide array of available weapons for the Sagittarius, besides the standard energy weapon you start out with. Many of these weapons are unlocked as you progress through the game, with ammo replenishments available through power ups sprinkled across most maps. These power ups can also give things like jet boosts for when you need to make a quick exit.

Unfortunately, jet boosts are the only time in Aerial Strike that your movement matches the action-oriented nature of the game. While there are “brakes” that will slow you down, what this game really needs is a means of speeding up. Your top speed feels more like a leisurely cruising speed. There is no real feeling of acceleration or momentum at all to your ship’s jet mode. This slow speed means that getting from point A to B takes way too long, especially when most levels limit how far or high you can go (wander too far away from where you need to go and you are automatically turned back).

You have two options of movement within Aerial Strike. The first is the afore mentioned jet mode. The other is a hover mode, used for getting power ups, landing on repair bays, stealthy entries, and sniping distant targets. This mode is really only useful for landing or for delicate acquisition of power ups. It is a pain when used for anything else, since floating motionless tends to make you more of a target than a threat.

The Sagittarius’ array of weaponry is formidable, for the most part. A lot of it is quite capable of bringing down the enemies you will run into. The problem is how quickly you can run out of ammo, or alternately how often your main energy weapon needs to recharge. The majority of your weapons can bring down lighter enemy craft easily with less than one charge or power up. However, with larger ships, you will need numerous power ups and recharges. This can be annoying amidst a flurried fight.

Thankfully, most maps have repair platforms where the Sagittarius can land and get a quick patch up. These platforms are a welcome feature, yet can evoke some silliness when you find one in the middle of a fierce battle, where endless barrages of fire rain down upon you while you repair. You still leave with 100% life after the repairs are finished, though.

One issue that really drags down Aerial Strike is the controls. They, for lack of a better word, suck. You have the option of using a keyboard and mouse or a joystick/gamepad. Which one you choose does not really matter, since both of these options are terrible.

A keyboard has enough buttons to map out the numerous commands, but the mouse is dreadful at controlling the ship, even at the highest mouse sensitivity settings. A gamepad works somewhat better, though the numbers of different functions that need keys tend to overwhelm the average gamepad, forcing you to go back to the keyboard. There also seems to be no comfortable way to configure a gamepad, despite repeated attempts at finding one. You invariably have to sacrifice easy use of one control aspect to facilitate ease with another.

There are also some issues with the game’s auto-level feature, which attempts to keep the ship even with the horizon. This feature makes attacking ground targets a real pain, especially in hover mode. You constantly have to fight the game as it attempts to level you out, making it near impossible to keep aim on your target. You seemingly have the option to shut off this feature in the options menu, yet doing so does not seem to change anything.

The graphics in Aerial Strike are adequate. The water looks good, which is important for a game taking place on islands in the middle of an ocean. There are some decent explosions and particle effects for exploding ships. Most ships and structures have a rather complicated look to them, giving them depth and a realistic feel. Capital ships can have pieces of their structure blown off under repeated fire, and descend quite realistically when fatally hit. Character models, while rarely seen outside of the cutscenes, are decent enough, if not a little goofy-looking. The game runs well on a modest rig.

Sound is a disappointment, however. Weapon sounds are barely audible and sound like they came from a bad ‘70s sci-fi flick. Explosions and other environmental sounds are similarly subdued. Character voices are limited, ranging from cockney voiced pilots spewing insults, to German voiced pilots spewing similar insults. All these voices are over overdone and cheesy. Tide’s voicing is okay. His cocky attitude is represented well by his dialogue, although his laid-back nature continues somewhat unrealistically into heavy combat.

The one thing that differentiates Aerial Strike from its Xbox counterpart is multiplayer, which was not included on the Xbox release. Do not get too excited, however, as there is nothing really great to speak of in multiplayer mode. There are 10 maps and 6 ships to play, all based on locations and ships seen in the game. There are also two modes of play, deathmatch and TDM.

The big problem here is the unforgivable lack of an in-game server browser. This means that unless you have the IP of a server running one of these maps, you are out of luck as far as multiplayer goes.

Aerial Strike, taken as a whole, is a disappointment. It seemed like it had a lot of potential when the demo for it was released back in 2003, right before it dropped off the radar for 2 years. Now, with this unceremonious release, we find that the game is ultimately more of a letdown than a surprise. It has its positives, but the poor controls, lackluster story, and a “not quite right” feel to its game play do much to bring it down.


Review by Kevin Blanchard.