Gamabunga

Dead to Rights

5 / 10

Celebrity Deathmatch

Secret Weapons over Normandy

8 / 10

PS2
XBOX
PC
8 / 10
États-Unis

The failure of flight sims has become something of a joke in our industry. As gaming has gone more mainstream, there's less patience on the part of gamers to wade through a 200-page manual just to find out how to feather their props. Even putting a plane on the front of your box can dissuade many gamers who might appreciate the more action-oriented approach found therein. Crimson Skies for the PC is a great example. And while Totally Games has done a pretty good job of preserving some sense of realism in what is basically a fantasy flying game, I think the concessions have been weighted more on the side of convenience than realism. I can appreciate it as a fun action game but it holds little of the weight you'd expect from a World War II dogfight game. The lack of a compelling narrative enhances this pick-up-and-play mentality and detracts from my own involvement in what's going on. Secret Weapons Over Normandy makes a much bigger splash on the PS2 than it does on the PC and Xbox. Admittedly there haven't been many action dogfighters on the PC lately, but the system does have a considerable backlog of titles that offer better experiences than the one we have here. Likewise, the recent release of Crimson Skies for the Xbox, similarly hampers Secret Weapons' success on that platform. In the end, it seems as if Totally Games was holding back, hoping like hell not to overly smartify the title for a console audience. Before you start flaming, that's not a rip on the ability or attitude of console gamers at all; I just think console gamers are perfectly capable of rising beyond the challenges presented here. But the developers seem to have hedged their bets on this one, opting instead for greater accessibility at the cost of increased immersion.