The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces
Score: 84% ESRB: Teen Publisher: XSEED Games Developer: Project Aces Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Flight/ Action/ Arcade
Graphics & Sound: I'll come right out and say it plain: The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces is not the greatest Project Aces flight combat game ever made. In fact, it might even be the least impressive of the ones I've played. However, it is a very sound effort that is easily the best of its kind on the Wii. If you only own a Wii and enjoy dogfighting games, this is your best option. I'm confident that I can speak for several other critics when I say that reviewing games for the Wii often poses a unique challenge. It is difficult to critique the visual quality of a Wii game without holding it to lower standards. The Sky Crawlers doesn't give me much to work with when it comes to this problem. It's a competent-looking game, but it's never more than that. The animated clips are beautiful to look at, but they don't last long enough. The in-game visuals range from passable to overly simplistic, but a few stages are impressive... again, only by the Wii's standards. Oddly enough, my favorite part of the sound design is the soothing menu screen music. The rest of it loops a bit too often. Other Project Aces games are guilty of this, as well, but not quite to this extent. The voice acting is pretty awful. Halfway through the game, I wanted to shoot my entire Kildren squad down. Some of them aren't annoying at all, but Ukumori (callsign Sprite) and Orishina (callsign Kylie) really got on my nerves.
Gameplay: When I first booted up The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces, I was expecting a random Project Aces combat flight game. I was proven wrong. This aims to be a much more cinematic experience than is Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. Since it is based on an actual film, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The Sky Crawlers takes place in an alternate reality where wars are waged only for personal profit. You are an ace who seems to be known only by his callsign: Lynx. That callsign graduates to Cheetah when you get far enough into the story, and your enemies eventually start referring to you as the "Black Cat," but the story isn't really about your character. It's about the Kildren: a group of genetically-engineered age-proof superpilots who cannot die outside of battle. I've never seen The Sky Crawlers, but I've heard it is a beautiful and often depressing film. The storytelling in this game is thoroughly mediocre. The script is rife with cheesy lines and the plot is riddled with clichés. You'll be ten steps ahead of each and every plot development, and the characters aren't fleshed out enough to make you give a damn about any of them. It's disappointing, because the framework is very solid. The Sky Crawlers is a flight combat game that bears similarities to games in the Ace Combat franchise. The campaign is split into seventeen sorties with different objectives. By destroying targets and shooting down enemy planes, you earn points. There are conditions for both success and failure, but if you succeed, you'll be rewarded with new planes, colors and weapons. The game is very simple at its core; if I explained any more, I'd be stealing content from the final segment of this review.
Difficulty: The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces isn't the best Project Aces game ever made, but it is the easiest. There are a number of reasons for this, the most influential one being the Tactical Maneuver Command mechanic. On the default setting, most enemy planes practically beg to be shot down. Ace encounters are also extremely easy to get past. The only differences between aces and regular enemy combatants is that aces will use Manual Maneuver Commands and absorb way too much damage. It doesn't make much sense, and it feels contrived. If you play with the Wii-mote/Nunchuk setup, it might take a while to get used to the controls. They feel funny at first, but eventually you'll settle into the mechanics. I don't recommend switching the control settings to Expert. Regardless of how you play, the planes simply don't feel as natural as they do in Ace Combat games. Rolling feels stiff and unresponsive, and it can get you into trouble as a result.
Game Mechanics: Wii/DS developers, pay attention. The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces gives players choices when it comes to controls, and it is a much better game as a result. It doesn't force a particular control scheme on its players (like the DS Legend of Zelda games). By allowing the use of a Classic Controller or GameCube Controller and not stubbornly clinging to gimmicky motion controls, The Sky Crawlers makes itself accessible to players of all types. I prefer using the WaveBird by a huge margin, but the motion controls work well enough. Like I said, at least they give you a choice. Sorry, I'll get off the soapbox and get right to the mechanics. Provided you're playing with the standard Wii-mote/Nunchuk setup, the two controllers act as throttle and flight stick. If you play through the tutorials, it becomes evident that the developers intend for players to play like left-handed gamers. Holding both controllers parallel to the ground maintains a steady cruising speed and attitude. Pulling the Wii-mote perpendicular to the ground will max out the throttle, while tilting the Nunchuk allows you to pitch and yaw. If you turn the control settings to Expert, you can roll your plane. Regardless of how you play, pulling off complex maneuvers on your own is almost impossible. Luckily, the developers compensated for some of the inaccuracies of Wii motion controls. Maneuver Commands are preset actions that allow you to move your aircraft in ways that the motion controls couldn't possibly handle. Manual Maneuver Commands allow you to evade enemy fire by executing one of several scripted techniques. Tactical Maneuver Commands are a bit different. As you approach an enemy, it's wise to keep your eyes glued to the radar. A circle surrounding your prey indicates the maximum range you must maintain if you want to execute a TMC. Staying in the circle's diameter will fill the bar. The bar has three levels; the fuller the bar is, the better the result of the TMC. When you press the TMC button, you will pull off a ridiculous maneuver that will land you exactly at your target's six. There are a couple of problems with this system. First off, when you execute a level 3 TMC, your enemies will almost never even try to avoid your gunfire. Secondly, TMCs make some animations look extremely unnatural. However, TMCs give The Sky Crawlers more of an arcade feel, and I think that's worth it. If you don't have an Xbox 360 (Ace Combat 6) or a PlayStation 3 (Warhawk) and are yearning for a reason to take to the skies, The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces is your best bet.
-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications AKA Jon Carlos
Related Links: Official Website of The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces The Sky Crawlers at Wikipedia Game Vortex's Review of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation PlayStation Illustrated's Review of Warhawk
Divinity II: Ego Draconis Greed: Black Border