Compared to the games I’ve been playing lately, Spitfire Heroes: Tales of the Royal Air Force is easy – too easy.
Destineer delivers a game that could be picked up easily, but putting it down is another story. It’s about time. It’s 1940 and the RAF is in the early stages of World War II. You have volunteered your life to the Royal Air Force, and now it’s time to put yourself against the Germans in an all-out dogfight. Several missions give you (the recruit) a chance to shine. Will your rickety plane survive the mess to come? Or will you outsmart your well-trained adversaries?
Here’s a description of the game from Destineer:
Spring 1940. German forces occupy Europe and prepare to invade England. Britain’s survival depends on the courage of a handful of men: the pilots of the Royal Air Force. Join the squadron and scramble your Spitfire on thrilling missions to shift the balance of power in World War II in Spitfire Heroes: Tales of the RAF from Destineer and developer Big John Games. This exciting air combat shooter brings the heroic actions of the RAF to the Nintendo DS™ with intuitive flight mechanics, devious enemy pilots, and wireless support for up to four players. Players fly for the Royal Air Force through missions based on real events that shaped the outcome of the war. Exciting features include:
Fast-Paced Air Combat: Roll, shoot, bomb, and maneuver your way through some of the toughest opponents ever to take to the skies. Earn medals and ranks as you progress through the course of World War II – if you survive!
Exciting Mission-Based Gameplay: Enter into frenzied dogfights with German fighters, strafe columns of enemy tanks, cover the evacuation of Allied troops, knock buzz bombs out of the sky with a tip of your wing and more in an expansive campaign that recreates some of the most famous battles of the war.
Robust Multiplayer: Survive the Air Campaign and select your favorite fighter to combat your friends. Up to four players can go head-to-head via Nintendo DS Wireless Communications.
Spitfire Heroes is sadly addicting. The game’s controls are easy to master and commands are swiftly executed.
Unfortunately, the game makes up for its forgiving controls with ridiculously difficult missions. Even on “recruit mode” (supposedly the easiest), I still failed the first mission several times. And no, it is not due to me being a flight-noob. Even after failing, some part of me was compelled to pick the game up again, and again.
The missions are easy to understand, with each providing a story at the beginning and pop-up messages during the gameplay to keep you on course. The stories are well-written and help get the player understand the situation and its importance in history. Not to mention, most are played in a 1940’s grainy brown movie-style along with the bombastic music familiar to war movies of the era.
The graphics are okay for a DS game, but there are many pop-ups and much of the environment is heavily pixilated. If Destineer had tried to lay off the realism a little, the graphics may have come out better.
The controls on the bottom screen of the DS are easy to read though. The plane looks okay, but there is an issue with the size of certain objects relative to other objects in the environment. In the first mission for example, the player needs to blow up a total of twelve tanks. The tanks are represented well on the radar, but you have to search among the sparse trees to see the tank, and even at ground-zero the tank looks like an ant. Imagine trying to aim your crosshairs at a speck on the ground with no auto-aim?
The sound is good on the title and introduction pages, but there is really no sound during the missions. You can hear the whine of your plane’s engine and the guns firing, but otherwise there is no music. I like the amount of realism they tried to put into this game.
Damage is realistic; if you get hit many times, you’re not going to survive. Also, if you turn up to the sky at too sharp of an angle, your engine will stall and your plane will most likely crash unless you pull a quick save maneuver. In addition, if you execute a turn without enough speed, your engine can stall. Cool little additions to the game.
There is a multiplayer available through DS Wireless, with up to 3 additional players. Essentially, all players dogfight to see who has the best aim of them all. The multiplayer is very similar to the dogfights experienced in single player.
Spitfire Heroes: Tales of the Royal Air Force is a great game if you’re looking for a quick gaming fix. It’s easy to learn and the missions are short enough to keep players coming back for a higher score or higher ranking medal. For the price, this game is a great addition.
Title: Spitfire Heroes: Tales of the Royal Air Force
Developer: Big John Games
Publisher: Destineer Studios
Release Date: February 25th, 2008
Genre: Arcade Style Shooter
Console: Nintendo DS
Rating: E 10+ (Violence)
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