Heatseeker is finally with us, and I must say it doesn't disappoint. Here is my review on this game.
I'll take you through an initial start up intro here:
Firstly, you can't fly any missions on their own as they aren't unlocked. You therefore have to start in Campaign mode. A little trick to remember is to first use the card supplied with the game to register it with codemasters...who then give you 3 free unlocks. You can access the unlocks by going into option-->bonus and typing in the codes. The ones I got were "no gun overheat", IC pack 1 and Enemy pack 1. I haven't used the gun overheat code as I prefer to keep that normal (seems a bit to "cheaty" if I do
). The pack 1's are just extra aircraft and weapons to go with them.
There are three levels to choose from:
Rookie,
Normal, and
Ace. In each setting, there are apparently different bonuses to unlock. I dove straight in at the Ace setting
You start with a very quick intro which involves flying over to the base....it's really there to accustomise you to the control system you've chosen (more of that later).
I'm not ashamed to admit I crashed 5 times simply trying to fly straight so don't worry if the same happens to you at first. If you look at the top left of the screen, the numbers there are your altitude....just make sure you're not too low.
On to the display itself, you're given the basics that you need, and nothing else to confuse you. It's all laid out in a clear way too.
Top left = Health bar and altimeter
Top center = Heading
Top right = throttle setting with speed below it
Bottom left = weapon indicator
Bottom right = radar
Bottom center = occasionally a health bar for targeted units (friendly/enemy) pops up here (eg if you're protecting a convoy, their health appears so you can tell when they're critical)
Dead ahead = Gunsight & targeting reticule
EDIT: I forgot to add, if you don't like the 3rd Person plane view, you can switch into cockpit/HUD view by pressing '-' on the wiimote. I prefer this way (now that I've got used to it anyway).
After you've flown to the base, you start mission one. After this, any mission you start will have a nice simple debriefing to tell you what your objectives are:
Everything is presented in a clean, efficient manner.
Controls: There are two control systems here. The default took me 1 mission to get used to. You use the nunchuck and wiimote in tandem here:
Nunchuck: fire guns (z button), afterburner (analogue forward), throttle down (analogue back), and shake the whole 'chuck to release flares/chaff.
Wiimote: tilt and point here; rotate your wrist clockwise or anticlockwise to bank the aircraft, point up and down to pitch up and down.
Down on D-Pad selects secondary weapon (bomb or missile for instance).
Left on the D-Pad gives your wingman orders/targets.
Up twice zooms in on a target
'B' fires secondary weapon
'A' cycles targets
1 & 2 are map toggle / map zoom
It was difficult to get used to initially, as I am used to using the analogue stick for movement in most games. In this case, the analogue is your throttle. However, it only took me 1 mission to get used to it and it becomes very natural after a while.
One useful trick is to imagine the wiimote is a model of the plane you're flying, and whatever you do to it will happen to the plane on screen.....which works very well in actuality.
Note, the "Arcade" flight mode turns the aircraft differently (instead you point toward the left or right - the controls simply combine roll and pitch into one here)....I am using "Professional" flight mode as it seems more intuitive (control and pitch are controlled separately).
Dogfighting: This, of course, is the bread and butter of this game. The most simple manoeuvre is called the Break. Rather than simply turn left or right, you roll the aircraft clockwise or anti-clockwise, and then pitch up fully. This way, you're flying sharply to the left or right (i.e.
breaking left or
breaking right).
Now, if you're on someone's 6 (behind them) and they, for example, break left hard, there is a trick you can do to stay behind them called the "Low Speed Yo Yo". What you do is follow them left, but continue to roll the aircraft until you're point down, then as you plunge lower, pull up hard. If done right, you're enemy will still be breaking and will zoom across your HUD from right to left....long enough for you to get a shot in (you can tell I like flight sims can't you
).
In practice, this is hard to do in this game so here is an easier method.....
slow right down. As this is an arcade game rather than a true flight sim, you're unlikely to stall the aircraft. What this means is that the enemy will continually overshoot you as you're consistently slower than them, so you can stay on their 6.
The disadvantage? Well, if you're pottering around at low speed like you're "flying Miss Daisy", you're also a sitting duck for other bogeys who enter the fray. To avoid this, only do it in short burst and alternate between this and a bit of afterburner to re-position your aircraft for another attack.
In practice it works very well, and is easier than having to learn lots of complicated manoeuvres such as the
High-G Barrel Roll etc etc amongst others.
As you notch up kills (whether on land, sea or air), you're informed of your kill tally via large, hard to miss numbers on the screen.
When targeting an enemy, a red triangle also appears, directing you to where they are (useful
) and if they're in your field of view, they appear as clearly circled in red:
Overall, tangling with the enemy is enormous fun in this game and really wants you to come back for more.
Bombing: You may be used to never using bombs in other games (like the ace combat series), but you can't be that lazy here. The bombs have a much higher power than a missile, with a larger blast radius. So a ship that may take 4 missiles to sink, will only take 1 bomb. So you have to get practiced at using them efficiently:
The bomb reticule is big to take account of the larger blast radius and is useful for taking out 3-4 ships at a time using one bomb.
If you opt for an easier difficulty setting for your game then it may well be possible to survive on missiles alone, but with harder difficulties you need to use all the weapons you can carry rather than just the few easy "fire & forget" ones.
Landing: So far I've only had to land once...onto an aircraft carrier, but it was rock hard on the highest difficulty setting. The sensitivity of the wiimote is brilliant and the slightest movement of your hand translates as the correct degree of pitch and yaw on screen. I am very impressed with how accurately it works here.
Graphics: Excellent...from the contrail vortices from the wingtips to the fluffy clouds, there's a real sense of care and attention to detail here.
If you fly above the clouds, you get a real sense of height, unusual for an otherwise "arcade-style" flyer (usually it's the preserve of realistic flightsims).
This looks to be quite simply the BEST use of graphics on the Wii so far. Even little details such as showing your airbrake deploy when you slow down, or having the flight surfaces move correctly in response to what you're doing.....it's all present and correct.
The models of aircraft are VERY detailed and look lovely.
The explosions are
so good, they're slow-mo'd down in a matrix-stylee a la Impact Cam, when they're very large. I was initially a bit dubious about this feature, hoping that it wasn't a simple gimmick. It isn't. It works really really well, and doesn't seem to break up the flow of the game at all. Very Impressive.
Now, bearing in mind that I've only completed 3 missions so far, I must say I think this is one of the best arcade flight games I've
ever played. Whilst it isn't as detailed or physically modelled as a proper flight sim, it nonetheless gives you enough of the realism, but with a whole load of FUN thrown in, that a good 'arcader' should.
The planes are also a lot tougher than tanks...you can take a whole lot of punishment and continue flying, but this doesn't really detract from this particular game at all (and that's not to say it's easy). If you do flake out, you start from your last checkpoint...and there are plenty of these in game (which is great). So, did you die in the final part of the mission?, restart from the last checkpoint then
. This means that you don't have to fly a mission all over again if you die at the very end, which makes it a lot more enjoyable.
Talking of missions, I forgot to mention that at the mission start, you choose your plane and it's weapon load....but don't ever assume that your simple objectives are all you'll do. The missions usually evolve into new objectives as the mission unfolds (just like the Rogue Leader ones did on the gamecube) and this adds to the variety of the game. It's done very very well and really immerses you into it. {cont...}
My Heatseeker Review
was in game today and was wondering to buy or not so may make a trip tomorrow to get
Linear Mode
