Airforce Delta Strike for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

Dreamcast and Xbox owners have already had their shot at experiencing Konami's brand of flight action with a mixed reception and limited success. Which probably made it an ideal business decision for the company to deem the PlayStation 2 as the AirForce Delta series next stomping ground. After all, the PS2 is the same system that managed to sell a boatload of copies of Namco's stellar Ace Combat 4, while simultaneously pushing similar games like Lethal Skies and Top Gun into reasonable success stories. If you're in the market for an arcade flying experience, it appears that this is the system to go for.

To its credit Delta Strike has taken some respectable strides towards making it stand apart from the rest of the crowd; and offers up a story that focuses heavily on its leading characters which also happen to be illegal female commanding officers in tight outfits. Or at least some of them are: as the rest of the crowd consists of pissed off teenage mavericks, bizarre middle-aged romantics, and generic blockbuster movie pilot-types that just can't wait to "do the right thing." Set in the not-too distant future (but aren't they all?), AirForce Delta Strike begins with the interstellar war between the Earth Defense Alliance Force and the extraterrestrial Orbital Citizens Community. Locked in a battle to stop the O.C.C. from overtaking earth for its own diabolical means, the EDAF's Delta Squadron known as "The Blue Wing Knights" is the only barrier between the enemy and the homeland. And of course, it's this outfit that players will need to command in their path towards victory.

Gameplay

Now if players who enjoyed the first two games were looking for improvements, then AirForce Delta Strike definitely delivers. While the Xbox-exclusive Delta Storm offered in excess of 40 different planes and aircraft, Delta Strike more than triples that number with more than 130 of them. Almost every single prominent aircraft from World War II until now has been included too, and players will be able to experience everything from the reconnaissance-based MiG-23ML to the supersonic Jaguar GR1; you can even pilot the experimental "Aurora" space jet and the Sea King helicopter if you so fancy. Happily, most of them control rather differently from one another and change what kind of approach you'll need to take for each mission.

The hitch is that not every selectable character can pilot every kind of aircraft. Broken into multiple teams with different personalities for each, every squad in the Blue Wing Knights has its own list of pre-determined fighters at their command. And while you can always buy more aircraft (and even modify its color and special weapon payload) to increase the lineup, particular pilots can only pick from predetermined availability pools. This approach is how Konami has ensured that players will utilize all of the game's characters and jets, and it's a clever way to keep people changing their characters as their missions continue to mount.

Unfortunately the missions themselves don't differ from one another very much and are broken up into three basic kinds: anti-air, anti-ground, and reconnaissance. Regardless of which mission you choose, these missions pretty much play out the same way and despite the fact that there's 60 of them (some of which even branch out into new directions), never appear to pick up; though we have to admit that the space-centric missions near the latter half of the game are pretty entertaining.

Between objectives, players will navigate graphic-oriented hub menu where they can travel to different sections of their base to converse with other members of the EDAF. From this screen, you'll be able to learn more about your fellow pilots, buy and sell unlockable aircraft, and watch the progress of the war. Even more importantly, these are the menus you'll need to traverse in order to receive your next list of missions that push the story-related elements forward; and once you hit the overheard map, you can move in segments to different sections of your campaign theater -- its setup kind of like the old Capcom jet title, U.N. Squadron -- only with a lot more loading and plenty of waiting between transitions.

Once players wade through all the foreshadowing and get into the action, however, things do pick up a bit but not by much. Though several of Delta Strike's stages are populated rather heavily with plenty of enemies and moderate A.I. routines, it gets a little repetitive by your seventh or eighth mission; let alone your 30th or 40th. People who enjoy Delta Strike's mechanics will no doubt find it less of a bother than we did, but because of a distinct lack of speed, some extremely vague mission parameters, and an overly simplistic fighting engine, people in search of high-speed jet combat could be in for a disappointment.

We can understand that most of our complaining may paint Delta Strike's profile to be a little less amusing than it really is. As despite all of its shortcomings, it's still an easy game to pick up and play with a solid progression of difficulty and some occasionally challenging objectives. But other than its impressive list of plains and interesting character direction, there isn't anything new or enticing to experience here that you can't find in its competitors (namely, Ace Combat and Lethal Skies.

Graphics

The previous two titles in the AirForce Delta series have always been known for their stellar visuals and dynamite aircraft models; and Strike isn't any different. It's the plane models in particular that are incredibly detailed and realistic with logos, decals, and specialized weapons unique to each one. In all, there are over 130 different planes from several different eras with just about every single craft you can imagine included in the mix. It's the ideal eye candy for fans of airborne vehicles, even if the planes do suffer from some alight aliasing problems and issues.

Environments and ground-based obstacles are definitely less intricate with textured bitmaps making up the majority of the stages with high-altitude battles. When the action moves closer towards sea level, however, structures are actually given more of a shape with simplistic polygonal pipes and decent building models making things more tangible. The color palette is pretty impressive too and there are a decent amount of special effects powering the engine forward. Billowy transparent clouds, machine gun tracers, different kinds of explosions, and hand-drawn character portraits add a lot to the presentation; even if there is a somewhat generic look to the enemies and their designs.

Unfortunately AirForce Delta Strike comes up short in the one key area we mentioned earlier -- it just doesn't have a strong sense of speed. While games like Ace Combat and Lethal Skies have always been known for their fast progression and believable velocities, Delta Strike is nowhere near as impressive. In fact, we were hard-pressed to tell the difference between our slowest speed and our fastest because, other than a little jet engine pyrotechnic, there's little to indicate that you're increasing your haste. It's a pity really, as it would have added a much stronger element to the presentation.

Sound

Easily its strongest feature, AirForce Delta Strike's audio options are pretty solid. Presented in Dolby Pro Logic II with Dolby Digital 5.1 cut scenes, the game immediately addresses one of the main issues that players had with the Xbox version in 2001 -- its sound. Every explosion, bullet whiz, and jet streak are eerily realistic with a wide array of other effects to back them up. On the musical end, Delta Strike boasts an obvious arcade influence and was composed in tandem by Yasuhiro Ichihashi and Masanori Akita (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) with several bouts of the futuristic pop tunes.

Another new addition this year is the inclusion of actual voice-overs before, during, and after each mission. While their quality isn't quite the best we've heard, it gets the job done and adds some realistic integrity to the experience. Especially when flying with your wingmen; as characters will chatter amongst themselves, update you on their progress, and call for help in overlapping conversations. Admittedly it can get confusing when you have two or three pilots speaking all at once, but since when does war make sense?

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