Aero Elite: Combat Academy (PS2 Review)

Throughout all of history, man has quested after the power of flight. Life is truly ironic. Great minds like Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton and Daniel Bernoulli were unable to get their feet off of the ground and two simple bicycle repairmen were the ones to make powered flight a reality. Since that windy day in 1903, man has progressed through many stages of flight design and has even landed upon the soil of another heavenly body. 

 

The video game industry has moved forward with the same leaps and bounds. What began as a simple distraction of a few white dots moving on a black background has evolved into photorealistic graphics and movie quality production values. Where games used to be completely designed by a single person over a four day weekend, they now have a staff of a hundred or more people working for two or three years. How fitting that these two elements have finally come together to create a wondrous marriage where everyday people can enjoy the best of both worlds, without all the risks involved with leaving the security of the solid earth.

Each genre of gaming has their elite. Saying the names of Halo, Gran Turismo or Zelda will either cause a player to get that dreamy-eyed look or their face to explode in a crimson fury. There just is no in-between. On another page of the same book, most PS2 flight fans have come to consider the Ace Combat series the weight upon which all other flying games are to be measured. Some feel this is true because of the lack of competition, while others believe that it is one of the best arcade flyers because it is done so professionally. No matter what side of the coin you prefer, the why really isn’t important, since the end justifies the means. Ace Combat is the reigning ace of aces when it comes to PS2 flight games and there are very few game developers willing to take the series on. 

Then out of nowhere, Sega suddenly emerges onto the scene with Aero Elite: Combat Academy (AE: CA). With their great reputation for quality gameplay coupled along with hard-core action, this looks like there may be a new heavyweight contender to take away Namco’s crown. The game options are long and deep and the list of playable aircraft is huge. It’s everything that flying fanatics everywhere desire. However, let us examine if the cake is moist in the center or if it’s nothing more than creamy icing over cardboard.

To start off with, there really isn’t a heart to the game. In flight games, there usually is a Story Mode with a bunch of side modes tossed in for good measure. AE breaks with tradition and recreates the wheel. Everything is evenly spread across five separate sections: Arcade Mode, Training Mode, Aero-meet 2002, Free Flight and the 2 player Vs. Battle. No one section is dominant over another.

The Arcade Mode is a way for players to get a quick fix. You have only four available aircraft to choose from and the missions are all the same no matter what plane you pick. This option has its good and bad points. On the bright side, ammo is unlimited and you have the freedom to use as much as you would like to complete this section. The bad is that you cannot save your progress in-between the missions, so it’s either finish what you’ve begun or give up and come back to start over when you have more time. Missions are all timed, but don’t learn to rely on that counter to tell the truth about how much time is actually remaining. An example would be the final contest, where you are tasked to take out a bomber before it can obliterate your base. I have personally experienced losing this section with ten minutes left, out of the original fourteen, on the timer. The lesson learned from this was to finish each segment as quickly as possible.

The training section is very detailed and well presented for flight rookies. You have nine separate stages, that are broken down even more internally, that go through every aspect of flying from takeoffs to complex flight maneuvers. All of the lessons have a visual tutorial explain what is to be done and you are given tips while going through the motions as if the instructor was sitting next to you in the plane. These instructions are of high enough quality that they could easily be used for persons interested in learning how to fly a plane in real life.

Areo-meet 2002 is presented like a simulation competition, but comes off more like an edited story mode. You have four main categories (Air, Ground, Maneuver and Recon) from which you can take part in and the later stages are much more challenging than the arcade mode. Ammunition is in short supply and your fuel is limited. Add to this a clicking timer and the stress levels go up even higher. Successfully completing missions in this section unlocks more available aircraft to be used in the game. Although the air and ground sections are self-explanatory, the maneuver and recon sections are unique and add more flavor to the flight tastebuds. Performing the recon missions simply require you to stay below a certain flight level and take a picture of a target when you get close.

This may sound like a cakewalk, but it’s more challenging than first perceived, especially since you only have one chance to take a picture. Most terrain vary greatly with obstructions, like mountain ranges or towers, that force you to keep low and dive through valleys to keep from being detected. The maneuver part of the game matches you up on target fields with balloons and other non-lethal objects where time is your biggest adversary. Once again, your ammunition is limited and you have bunches of targets that you need to obliterate before the countdown reaches zero. Having a heavy trigger finger will not get the job done and only by releasing short, well-aimed bursts of firepower will let you have enough weaponry to finish what you started.

Free flight mode lets the player experience twelve different environments in three different options. Solo flight lets a player enjoy the wild blue yonder without the burden of enemy fighters buzzing about. You also have the choice of either an air-to-air or air-to-surface attack. There also is the ability to have all of your mission options chosen randomly. Wingmen become available in the later stages, once they are opened, and can be directed by a push of a button to watch your back, take on enemies head-on or simply to stay out of the way.

The final playable selection is the two-player vs. battle. You can either choose whatever option that please your soul, or have them all randomly generated. All of the planes that you have unlocked are available in this one-on-one confrontation where it can finally be decided who is the true king of the skies.

Game options are plentiful. The DualShock 2 can be completely customized to however the player prefers to have it coordinated. Sound selections allow the choice of the standard mono or stereo speaker output, along with individual settings for the background music sound effects or voice dialog. There also is a music player which will let you listen to all of the Top Gun styled in-game music.

Some of the smaller extras that AE has to offer help to round out a nicely put together product. The Replay room will allow the player to watch saved missions or your most recent flying endeavor if there hasn’t been one personally saved by the player. One can also watch training missions to get a closer inspection on what is needed to be done to complete them properly. The data bank keeps track of all of your flying statistics, the multiple unlockable squadron emblems and an aircraft glossary and encyclopedia. One exceptional finishing touch is the ability to have red or black outs when you are pulling excessive G’s in your craft of choice. AM2 really tried to assemble the complete package. Unfortunately, they missed one specific element; the control factor.

Only one factor was neglected in the making of Aero Elite, and that was having the planes actually react like their real-life counterparts. No matter which fixed wing craft you choose to pilot they all handle the same; like a dump truck with a full load of gravel. Turning, climbing or diving makes no difference. The only factor I found to make maneuvering partially tolerable was to power down the forward thrust of the plane to turn the ship, and that still didn’t give me the reaction that I was looking for. The helicopters are on the complete opposite side of the fence. Fast and exceptionally loose, these craft are so twitchy that it makes locking onto targets well beyond difficult. After everything that Sega had to offer, they forgot the most important thing and it totally destroys the entire experience. 

Although it may not be the first, AE is the oldest game that I have found, so far, to actually support the newly released PS2 Hard Disk Drive (HDD). The game disk is still required to play the game, but I have noticed shortened loading times with it being installed. Aero Elite also has a wide-screen option which, when used on a big-screen TV, gives you a better surrounding view for your flight operations.

Aero Elite: Combat Academy has so much going for it that it was very difficult for me to give it its final grade. What should be a flyboy’s erotic dream, turns into their worst nightmare because of the horrible control. Sega had themselves a surefire winner and they let it slip through their fingers. Even with this massive obstacle, I still found myself attempting to continue to work my way though the game, repeating the same mission or test over and over again. Nevertheless, I can in no way give this game a quality score by overlooking such an important factor. This game can only be recommended to flight fanatics or those into self-abuse. All others should just taxi themselves over to Ace Combat 4′s runway or just wait until Ace Combat 5 is launched off the carrier this fall.

Difficulty: 6

Control: 4

Audio: 7

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 4

Overall: 6.0