Attack on Pearl Harbor - Review
High: Very approachable and simple to play
Low: Repetitive, To Simplistic for the '"Hard Core Gamer'ÂÂ, and an over all lack of depth.
To Americans Pearl Harbor symbolizes the one place and event that throw us into World War II granted in truth there was much more at play then that, but that is neither here nor there. Pearl Harbor was also a very sad day for Americans with the loss of life & limb. Attack on Pearl Harbor developed by & published by CDV does a nice job of being respectful to our past yet still be fun.
Attack on Pearl Harbor is an arcade flight simulation with extra focus on Arcade style game play. For a PC Flight Simulation the Learning curve is fairly simple, unfortunately for some, it won't really hold their attention for much longer.
Both the United States of America and Japan are represented in a fair and balanced manner throughout Attack on Pearl Harbor. Each side is playable with a two part campaign, the second unlocks after the first is completed. These campaigns deal with the first ten months following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the final ten months of the war.
After selecting a campaign and typing in your name, things get started with interesting comic-book style introduction, that is very true to the period, of the pilot you're controlling. The narrative isn't continued throughout the campaign though as each subsequent mission is broken up with score and menu screens.
The missions are broken up into one month events, usually you get the option of choosing from a couple of battles of differing types. This gives you the option of leaning towards the pure dog-fighting missions, or mixtures of air-to-air combat and bombing missions.
There's no tutorial as such, but a few hints are conveyed to you via radio messages during the first mission. That's all that's needed really, as the control system is ultra-simple. Regardless of whether you opt to plug in a controller such as a joystick or just stick with the mouse, the mechanics of the game are very easy to grasp. Taking off could not be simpler it's just a matter of tapping the space bar. After that it's a simple matter of using the mouse and keyboard to move the plan around and/bomb the enemies. You are always flying in a 3rd person view which makes it very easy to fight the enemies. The simplicity of the game makes it very suitable to the '"casual' gamer.
How many lives you have is represented by the number of planes sitting in your hangar. There are three main types '" a dogfighter, which is highly maneuverable and ideal for pure air-to-air combat; a torpedo bomber, which is customized for attacks on enemy shipping convoys; and a dive bomber, which can drop its payload over land or sea. If you run out of planes it's game over, although you do earn more reinforcements as you play through based on how many kills you accrue.
The graphics stay true to classic Arcade combat games, yes the game is in 3D and looks pretty good for its low end requirements, but its primary focus is on its gameplay. That said there could have been more variety and interest in the landscapes of the different playing fields.
The game's biggest problem is the lack of variety. The feeling of repetition kicks in fairly fast though that's unexpected in this type of game. The biggest letdown in the game for us was the Battle of Midway we were expecting a battle of epic proportions, since it was one of the war's most decisive conflicts. Sadly what takes place is lacking any depth of the real conflict, little more to it than a few minutes of dog fighting, followed by a quick bombing run on some landing craft.
Once you beat campaigns, or before if you're so inclined there is an option to jump into a customizable battle in the Dogfights gameplay mode. There's also a multiplayer mode which with the right people can be very entertaining.
If the lack of variety won't bother you then this game can be fun, if anything at least it's a change of scenery. If you have a state of the art gaming rid and want to push it to the limits this game will not be for you, if you are a casual gaming looking to have some fun with plans even without a joystick this game may be for you.
High: Very approachable and simple to play
Low: Repetitive, To Simplistic for the '"Hard Core Gamer'ÂÂ, and an over all lack of depth.
To Americans Pearl Harbor symbolizes the one place and event that throw us into World War II granted in truth there was much more at play then that, but that is neither here nor there. Pearl Harbor was also a very sad day for Americans with the loss of life & limb. Attack on Pearl Harbor developed by & published by CDV does a nice job of being respectful to our past yet still be fun.
Attack on Pearl Harbor is an arcade flight simulation with extra focus on Arcade style game play. For a PC Flight Simulation the Learning curve is fairly simple, unfortunately for some, it won't really hold their attention for much longer.
Both the United States of America and Japan are represented in a fair and balanced manner throughout Attack on Pearl Harbor. Each side is playable with a two part campaign, the second unlocks after the first is completed. These campaigns deal with the first ten months following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the final ten months of the war.
After selecting a campaign and typing in your name, things get started with interesting comic-book style introduction, that is very true to the period, of the pilot you're controlling. The narrative isn't continued throughout the campaign though as each subsequent mission is broken up with score and menu screens.
The missions are broken up into one month events, usually you get the option of choosing from a couple of battles of differing types. This gives you the option of leaning towards the pure dog-fighting missions, or mixtures of air-to-air combat and bombing missions.
There's no tutorial as such, but a few hints are conveyed to you via radio messages during the first mission. That's all that's needed really, as the control system is ultra-simple. Regardless of whether you opt to plug in a controller such as a joystick or just stick with the mouse, the mechanics of the game are very easy to grasp. Taking off could not be simpler it's just a matter of tapping the space bar. After that it's a simple matter of using the mouse and keyboard to move the plan around and/bomb the enemies. You are always flying in a 3rd person view which makes it very easy to fight the enemies. The simplicity of the game makes it very suitable to the '"casual' gamer.
How many lives you have is represented by the number of planes sitting in your hangar. There are three main types '" a dogfighter, which is highly maneuverable and ideal for pure air-to-air combat; a torpedo bomber, which is customized for attacks on enemy shipping convoys; and a dive bomber, which can drop its payload over land or sea. If you run out of planes it's game over, although you do earn more reinforcements as you play through based on how many kills you accrue.
The graphics stay true to classic Arcade combat games, yes the game is in 3D and looks pretty good for its low end requirements, but its primary focus is on its gameplay. That said there could have been more variety and interest in the landscapes of the different playing fields.
The game's biggest problem is the lack of variety. The feeling of repetition kicks in fairly fast though that's unexpected in this type of game. The biggest letdown in the game for us was the Battle of Midway we were expecting a battle of epic proportions, since it was one of the war's most decisive conflicts. Sadly what takes place is lacking any depth of the real conflict, little more to it than a few minutes of dog fighting, followed by a quick bombing run on some landing craft.
Once you beat campaigns, or before if you're so inclined there is an option to jump into a customizable battle in the Dogfights gameplay mode. There's also a multiplayer mode which with the right people can be very entertaining.
If the lack of variety won't bother you then this game can be fun, if anything at least it's a change of scenery. If you have a state of the art gaming rid and want to push it to the limits this game will not be for you, if you are a casual gaming looking to have some fun with plans even without a joystick this game may be for you.
Scores:
Graphics: 75
Audio: 80
Gameplay: 85
Replay: 80
Overall: 80
Graphics: 75
Audio: 80
Gameplay: 85
Replay: 80
Overall: 80
