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Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Crashed upon Takeoff

Air Conflict: Aces of World War II is an aerial fighting simulator that allows players to battle their way through perilous skies as a pilot for the Luftwaffe, RAF, USAAF, or USSR in WWII-era planes. While the game tries to provide players with a deep combat flight-sim on the go, it is so poorly put together it is nearly unplayable. From simple blunders such as illegible menu text to game-breaking loading times, the game exudes an unpolished aura that smacks of Alpha build. As much as I’ve enjoyed offerings from Graffiti Entertainment in the past, this is a true stinker of a title.

Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II screenshot

Upon firing up the UMD, players will be immediately taken aback by the teeny-tiny menu text that confronts them. I’m fortunate enough to have perfect vision, but anyone that has allowed their lens prescriptions to slide a bit won’t be able to run through menu selections. This may sound like an exaggeration; I assure you it’s not.

Once you successfully name your pilot (i.e. identify your save slot), you’ll embark on the game’s main mode: Campaign. Players can choose to tackle missions as a member of the German, British, American, or Russian air forces. This adds some replayability, as missions and planes are nation-specific. As such, whichever flag you choose to represent will come with its own hangar of aircraft that become available to you. In all, there are 17 accurately modeled planes with which you can play – this is perhaps the single-most compelling bit of the game.

In the campaign mode, players are tasked with flying missions in fairly open levels. Main missions must be accomplished to successfully pass the level. However, secondary optional missions are also available, which will net you commendations and medals and even improve your service record which can be accessed via the Pilot Info option on the main menu. As players progress, new country-specific planes become available for use during multiplayer sessions.

Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II screenshot

While flying through the skies with the different aircraft and letting loose your guns, rockets, and bombs is fun due to the reasonable controls, coming up against the enemy is anything but. That’s because Air Conflicts is a challenging game made nearly impossible by poor hit detection. Despite the ability to curb the difficulty during the pilot creation phase, the enemy will constantly get the better of you even on the novice setting. As a result, players will constantly fail missions. While a gaming challenge is something I typically relish, starting this game’s missions over is wholly prohibitive due to its shameful loading times.

Loading times in Air Conflicts are the worst I have ever seen. They are truly shambolic and utterly game-breaking. Upon entering a mission, players will have to wait through about a 30 second loading screen. Once the game finally loads, players can embark on their mission. Unfortunately, especially the first ten times or so a mission is attempted, you will find yourself crashing or getting shot down in the first 15 seconds. Inexcusably, rather than having the mission loop the player back to the start, you’ll get kicked back to a mission results menu. Not only does it take 20 seconds to load this screen, but if you want to retry the mission, you’ll have to wait another 30 seconds for it to load again; rinse and repeat several dozen times per level. In other words, the vast majority of time spent with Air Conflicts is done staring at loading screens – and you thought dial-up Internet was bad!

Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II screenshot

All of this loading is exacerbated by the constant whir of the PSP’s UMD drive. This is probably the most hardware-taxing, battery-devouring title I’ve ever had the displeasure of playing through. One would think that all this loading and battery consumption would at least lead to a beautiful presentation. Unfortunately, Air Conflicts is visually mediocre. Sure, sunsets and cloud effects are nice, but ground emplacements and cities are a pixelated jumble, and enemy fighter wings are indistinguishable from the background – only successfully demarcated by red enemy indicators.

Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II screenshot

What’s more, battles chug along, causing the framerate to sputter and shake. On the bright side, the sounds and music fare much better. The derivative, classical power anthems suit the aerial fighting theme well, and the rapport of your guns, loosing of your rockets, and the churn of your props also sets the tone nicely.

As hinted previously, Air Conflicts does include multiplayer action. Playing via ad-hoc allows players to join with up to seven other friends in deathmatch dogfights. This free-for-all mode is the only option available for competitive play. However, it’s unlikely you’ll have seven other friends with a copy of the game. With this in mind, the developers did include a game sharing option. This allows you to host a demo version of the multiplayer component. Needless to say, competitive play in Air Conflicts feels like a real afterthought.

I’m sorry to say that Air Conflicts: Aces of World War II is one of the worst games I’ve ever played. This is largely due to poor technical implementation and utterly unpolished code. Top that off with ho-hum yet very challenging gameplay with no pay off, and you’re in for an extremely meager experience. Do yourself and your PSP hardware a favor: let this one crash and burn!

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 2.0 Graphics
The sunsets and lighting effects are nice, but the backgrounds are a blurry, jumbled mess. 3.5 Control
The controls are reasonably implemented. 3.9 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The musical themes and sound effects fit the game nicely and are of high quality. 0.5 Play Value
Waiting interminably through loading screens and never getting a payoff makes the game virtually unplayable. 1.0 Overall Rating – Avoid
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • 13 non-linear campaigns with more than 240 action-packed missions (patrols, manoeuvres, strategic bombing, air support, air superiority, interdiction, paratroops and supply deployment, prevent bombing missions).
  • Advanced ranking system, with authentic medals and ranks.
  • Play multiplayer with up to 8 players.
  • Authentic historical timeline and missions with focus on the gameplay.
  • Easy control over aircraft and fun air battles.
  • Fly for the US Air Force, Royal Air Force, Luftwaffe or Red Army Air Force.
  • Fly with 17 authentic planes (Spitfire, Mosquito, Avro Lancaster, He-111, Ju-87 Stuka, Bf-109, Gloster Meteor, Gotha 229, DB3, IL2, Lavochkin 5, Bisnovat 5, P-38, P-51, P-47 Thunderbolt, and B-17 Flying Fortress).

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