Journal: Crimson Skies

Well, I just got hooked on something new. That being Crimson Skies. I realize it's been out forever, but I've been on the cutting edge of RPG gaming, and such. "Mechassault of the skies" is a bit of a genre twist for me. But there it was, sitting on the shelf, and I could hear this little voice saying "Buy me, BUY ME! Dammit, LISTEN!" so I gave in, I had the cash on hand and no better use for it. And it's a decision I won't soon regret. Okay, singleplayer's fun. Fly around, shoot stuff, the usual. AI planes that aren't half bad, but that means they aren't half good either. Where this game shines is online. Human interaction, voice communication, yeah yeah it's Live! so that's implied. But the arcade feel, the smooth gameplay, the crisp graphics, and the halfway decent water effect lend this game to feeling really clean. The planes are responsive, and each handles differently enough that it doesn't feel like they're stamped from the same mold, though some of the weapons feel misbalanced but I'll get to that. The levels are HUGE (relatively speaking. They're bigger than Campus, and probably my whole little town.) And a 16 player dogfight is something you shouldn't live without. As for that weapon balance issues, it's less than any one plane is overpowered so much as there's two or three that are nearly useless. Not a big deal, especially if they throw more replacements out with Downloadable Content. All in all I'd give it a 6.5/10 for single player (I think the story could've been improved ALOT) And a 9/10 for multiplay (I haven't had this much fun since I got Quakeworld running for the first time and demonstrated to my best friend the business end of a boomstick)