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Intro It's time to take to the skies. Nazi Germany and Japan are attacking our allies in Europe and the Pacific, so grab your gear and go from flying in volunteer groups to participating in the Allied war effort in Totally Games' Secret Weapons Over Normandy. Gameplay: 6.5/10 Ah, Totally Games. They've been so kind to me over the years. I can't count how many great gaming moments I've had because of their titles. Whether I was piloting a Tie Fighter, an X-Wing, the Enterprise, an X-Wing, or a Tie Fighter, I'd say it's almost countless. Being a huge fan of their past releases, the idea of they making a World War II-based - light - combat sim was almost too much for me to bear. It's with that in mind that I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed with the results. The player starts out volunteering in England and for other volunteer groups, like China's air defenders, The Flying Tigers. With incredible presentation, it's easy to get sucked into the game world. From 1941 on, there will be planes to escort escaping scientists, spies to protect, prisoners to pick up, and ships to sink. Watching the slick intros, with photographs mixed with smooth animations, combined with strong narrations, it's hard not to get excited about the upcoming adventure. Unfortunately, that sense of magic and excitement isn't sustained throughout many of the missions. I don't think that's from a lack of trying, though. Considering the vast amount of weapons, planes, and missions available, it's like a smorgasbord of flight combat. In one of the game's strongest suits, the missions are really different from other the other WW2 fighter titles on the market. From destroying Nazi 'hard water' plants to taking out V-2 rocket platforms, the factual grounds will also surprise history buffs as so much of the game is actually authentic, despite being presented in a very fanciful way. Completing a mission will unlock videos, brief clips of professionals discussing the different planes; asses how many upgrade points are to be given for success in the mission; unlock planes for use in multiplayer and other modes; and medals, are awarded to those who complete all secondary objectives. The incentives to do well are there, and there's plenty of features - instant action missions, multiplayer mode (no Live multiplayer, sorry folks), and various challenges per mission - to earn those incentives in, but towards the end of the campaign's 15 missions, I really lost most of the interest I originally had. The main problem I had was that the game never seemed to fit in either genre it seemed to be shooting for - it's an uneven mix of sim and arcade, with options that don't really do anything but dilute either element. The options available are to either make the controls realistic or to change how the game itself plays. The latter is done by offering three options: realistic, arcade, and balance. The controller option helps some, but it isn't able to do all that much since the options to change the core of the game isn't very useful. It was really disappointing how little the 'Realistic' actually did; I did notice that the planes felt like they had more weight to them and they also felt more prone to stalling, but I was still able to hit another plane head-on and suffer minimal damage, if any at all. I don't mind a game going easy on some things to make it more accessible and to suite the style it's going for, but things like head-on collisions not doing much damage to the player - I did, however, end quite a few lives by using my plane as a giant ram and busting through enemy planes - is a bit too much. The A.I. is also troublesome. At times, it feels just too easy with 10-15 enemy planes will being taken out in no time; even the player's arch-rivals, the infamous Nemesis squad, will pose little threat. That is, until about mission 7 or 8, when their skills increase substantially. While that isn't a problem in itself - although I do think a slightly more gradual increase would've been better - it becomes a problem because objectives are constantly being piled onto the player, with little to no assistance for the player. I know this is standard fair for games of this genre, but whenever the player is piloting a Spitfire and the enemy is piloting a new jet fighter, the feeling of futility really brings the mood down. Targeting also made completing missions a pain, at times. Many times an objective will be told, but the 'display all' targeting option won't show the enemies that are suppose to be being attacked, and sometimes they won't appear until it's too late. Although I think it's intuitive how the player simply lines up with the text of the object they want to target and release the display button to lock on, and it's a really great system when it works, it has a big downside in that, objects in close proximity to one another can make it difficult to choose one of them. There is the ability to scroll through ground and air targets separately, but I found that doesn't always encompass certain things (namely structures). With all of the objectives being time-sensitive, and an incredibly annoying cast of NPC who do nothing but complain until everything is done; it gets to the point of being ridiculous whenever an unforgiving checkpoint save system forces a repeat of a difficult part with the same complaining and same lack of support. There were also some scripting problems. One example was when a NPC ally said all enemies were destroyed and continue along with the next step of the mission, but there was actually one left, and by the time it had been destroyed, another wave was about to attack. Because of such, the scheduled breather, which also serves as re-arming times quite often, wasn't available for me to take advantage of. However, I should point out that these problems weren't common. A handy feature for that I did like was the ability to slow down and speed up time. The idea of this ability is that the adrenaline of the fighter slows time down during combat situations, while the speeding is just there to help cover long distances quickly. Also helpful where airfields within the missions, both allied and commando-commandeered fields, that allowed for re-arming and repairs. Breaking things up a bit, players will also be able to man AA guns and gunner positions on bombers. These aren't particularly difficult, but are pretty cool. Being able to take the spot of a bubble gunner at the bottom of a B52 was a small thrill, so I welcomed these portions. Secret
Weapons Over Normandy isn't a bad game, at times it's pretty good, but it's
lacking that certain something that really makes a game special. Factoring in
the problems that seem to pile on top of each other and the experience just isn't
nearly as exciting or engaging as they initially seem. The presentation is outstanding,
the variety of craft is impressive (everything from Swordfish to Sturmoviks),
there are oodles of weapons (cannons of various calibers, guided torpedoes, rockets,
etc.), interesting missions (Midway, flying as part of the Flying Tigers, etc.),
and there's plenty of additional levels for those who didn't get enough of the
single player campaign. In the end, though, I came out with the feeling of "ehh"
and not much else.
Graphics: 7/10 Sound:
7/10 If
there is one thing that I cannot stand in a game, it is when characters get sarcastic
and bossy with me. There is one particular female character that grated my nerves
so bad that I wanted to shoot her out of the sky, just so I could catch her in
my propeller as she was parachuting down. Whenever it's just me protecting 7 bombers
against 15-20 German fighters, the last thing I want to hear is "get your
ass over here!" and "we're taking damage!" over and over. I just
wish I could've grabbed the mic and said, "Look, I know you're taking damage,
but if you haven't noticed, there's one of me and 20 of them. Die." Since
I couldn't, I was left just muttering cuss words under my breath - mean cuss words,
mind you. Control:
7.5/10 Overall:
6.5/10 [ top ] | |||
