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Whatever happened to flight sims? A few years ago there
wasnt enough time to play them all, but in 2000 theyve become (along with war
and adventure titles) one of the endangered genres of computer gaming. With many titles cancelled and few new games
forthcoming (excepting Microsofts Flight Simulator 2 and Hasbros B-17), it
appears that flight sims are in danger of becoming yet another of those dreaded
niche markets. Its
difficult to fathom how one of the once most-popular game genres could descend to such a
state so quickly, but Im inclined to blame it on the fact that most recent flight
sims have chosen to pursue realism over playability.
In other words, while they focused on detailing impeccable flight models and exact
cockpits, they forgot that the vast majority of people buy these things because they want
to play a game. And games are supposed to be fun. While hardcore flight
simmersalong with wargame grognards, the most demanding and socially retarded of
computer gamerssurely reveled in Falcon 4.0s tome of a manual, theyre in
a distinct minority. Frankly, your garden variety gamers lean toward flight sims like the
old chestnuts Battlehawks 1942 or Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe or the original Red
Baron. The hardcore can condescend as much as they want (and they will, oh yes, they
will), but for most the measure of a computer flight sim isnt how well it models
spins; its how much fun they have playing it. And thats why Crimson Skies is such a hoot--it models
flight about as accurately as Quake III models combat, and it makes no apologies about it.
The focus here is entirely on a good time, and realism be damned. Crimson Skies is wacky, its imaginative,
its way more fun than any flight sim released in the last five years. And with any
luck itll give the stagnant sim market the kick in the ass its needed for
about that long. Crimson Skies is modeled on FASAs board game of the same
name, and takes place in an alternative 1930s where the Great Depression, the Great
War, and Prohibition have caused the USA to fragment into a collection of independent
regional governmentswith names like the Confederation of Dixie and Appalachia and
the Nation of Hollywood. Since none of these states gets along with the others, the
ex-nations railways are no longer tenable modes of transportation. Undaunted,
Americas teamsters turn to an alternate mode of transportthe Zeppelin, of
course. And air traffic begets air piracy. To its credit, Crimson Skies does a great job
of capturing the atmosphere of this improbable alternative 30s. Partly this is done through allusions to icons of
30s pop culture like swing music, hep cat slang, Howard Hughes and the Hollywood
studio system. There are plenty of references to world politics, tooyoull run
into haughty Brits trying to colonize Hawaii in anticipation of the Japanese threat,
Red Russian zeppelins, and of course Nazis. On top of this, the games
designers have gone out of the way to give the game the feel of a thirties radio
serialthe dialogue and situations are hilariously spot-on, right out of Tom Mix and
the Air Pirates. Online multiplayer play is excellent
and includes the usual assortment of connection options. Games include deathmatch,
zeppelin vs. zeppelin (you defend your zep while trying to take out the other teams)
and capture the flag. There were plenty of willing opponents on the Zone, and Crimson
Skies played very smoothly. I suppose, after all this raving about Crimson Skies,
youre wondering why I gave it four stars. Well, the fact is that I almost gave it
three. Thats because Crimson Skies as it now stands is one of the most frustrating
games Ive ever played, and desperately in need of a patch. Here are some of the
problems I ran into: sudden crashes to desktop, wingmen who habitually flew into my plane,
extremely slow load times, andeven on my 733 with a GeForce 2 and 128 megs of
RAMvery annoying frame rate slowdowns. Most of the slowdowns can be worked through
in combat-oriented missions, but some of the missions require you to fly through obstacle
courses, and the split-second maneuvers required just cant be executed through the
chop. Worst of all, Crimson Skies will
sometimes eat your saves. In the campaign, the program automatically saves after
youve completed a mission. When you start the game back up, youll begin with
the next mission. Thats the theory, at least. Twice already Ive booted up my
game, only to find that all my hard-fought missions have been erasedI had to start
over from the beginning. This is inexcusable. The campaign game is pretty linear, so
theres not a ton of replay value. Being required to play through the first several
missions three times now has not made me happy. |