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XBOX ONLY! POOP!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 37
Date: November 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Another great game stolen away. :( The original was a blast and a PC remake would have been fun. Now if the only thing I have to look forward to is a PC-port then I'll pass. Simple graphics and counsel converted to mouse/joystick controls take all the fun out of it.

Pros
el cheapo XBOX

Cons
Crap graphics (visually stunning, yea right, not at TV resolutions and with old hardware)
No joystick
Live, pay to play? Like selling ice to Eskimoes
No custom anything, if MS didn't make it then you ain't getting it
Split screen mulitplayer is horrid for those that don't go Live. Even low video cards support multi-monitors these days how about some multi-tv/monitor support there MS?
Constant loading, with only 64mb of RAM having it load every five minutes is a pain.

I'll start buying XBOX games when they play as well as they do on a computer and are compatible with a mix of counsel and PC on the same server.

Graphics...That's It

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 18
Date: January 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Crimson Skies is not worth a penny. While the graphics are fairly good, the game itself sucks. You never step out of the airplane and the game is difficult from the beginning. This game is unfairly difficult and will easily make even the most patient gamers frustrated. The game gets old after only a few minutes and nothing new changes in the game except locations. All missions are relatively the same and this game provides no lasting entertainment. I would highly suggest not buying this game. Believe me, this game is NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY.

How long will it take you to break your controller?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's a fun game. Wee, woohoo, yippee! You learn to fly the planes with the greatest of ease, and zip through the storyline. The graphics are great! Sometimes you have to replay a part 2 or 3 times to get past it. It's challenging! But then, you get to a part in the story called Soloho's Challenges (go on, google it). That is where the game ends for most people. Because suddenly, your are required to have a skill level that is totally out of line with the rest of the game - sorta like "catch this peanut, catch this peanut, STOP THESE BULLETS WITH YOUR TEETH!". After 40, 50, 60 tries, you take the disk out of the xbox, and throw it away. It'll make you angry. You will never finish it. Or if you do finish it, you'll never get that 40 hours of your life back... It's explain why such a highly rated game ended up in the $5 and under bin.

I loved it right up to the moment I hated it. And then I hated it enough to pitch out. I'm not sadistic enough to trade this piece of junk in... If you must play it, try to borrow it. Most people who own it will say "keep it".

NOT GREAT

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: November 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

After reading all the reviews, I was really disappointed in this game. The graphics and controls are great, but the game itself is tedious. Pretty much the same thing over and over. As far as a "great" story, I think not. The story is cheesy, the acting fair and cut scene graphics are average. This is definitely a rent before you buy game.

Good game, overall

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is a lot of fun, story is fairly interesting. It tends to get repetitive in places, boss fights especially, but that isn't constant by any means, and the dogfighting is well done. The online is fairly good, not great but it will fill a few days before you set it down. Planes are interesting, characters are relatively engaging, gameplay and graphics are very polished. Overall, fairly good.

A fantastic game ruined by one major con.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 17 / 19
Date: November 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm a huge flight game fan. You name it and I've played it, though my favorites tend to be the first two StarFox games (that were legally released that is) and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. You almost couldn't ask for anything more in Crimson Skies because it has it all. Outstanding graphics, an awesome soundtrack that is worthy of a purchase alone, easy controls, top-notch production values, a fun online mode that has a huge following, and voice acting that's professional. So what's the one whole thing that keeps this game away from being five stars? I'll tell you: it can be completed in about 5 or 6 hours. And that's even on the Hard difficulty. Oh how I wish I could this great game 5 stars overall, but believe me, when you play it and get to the sudden last boss (which doesn't even really seem like one), you'll agree.

There isn't much of a plot to CS. Like it matters. This is a straight up action game, and we don't need some boring story about the characters like so many are trying to do these days. You take the role of Nathan Zackary, a mercenary pilot that kinda wasted a ton of money on gambling. So now it's time to get some money back by taking a few jobs in various towns. The game takes place in an alternate 1930's, where the use of planes has been fully realized and is the main form of transportation. It's pretty cool and they don't over do it with trying to hint that this takes place back then. But at the same time, you get to learn about new things. Well, what was "new" back then. Like titanium and its importance in vehicle design. What's kind of funny is that early into the game, you take on different bosses that are just plain out there. What I'm talking about are huge mech spiders that tear apart blimps, a giant metal snake that takes down other transports and more. You don't have to like flight games to appreciate CS at all. It's easy for anyone to get into and enjoy right at the beginning. Controls are simple enough: A is confirm as usual, B is brake, Y is boost and X is the action command that lets you talk to other pilots when the feature pops up. And of course, the right trigger is fire and the left trigger activates your plane's secondary weapon. A lot of these are pretty cool. Ranging from missiles to rapid-fire machine guns to fireballs to sniper shots. What surprised me was that the right thumbstick is what rolls your plane. Instead of arching to the side with a trigger like StarFox 64 did, if you want to slant your plane at all, just tap the right thumbstick in the direction you want and you're done. And it's very responsive, so don't worry about making a wrong move thanks to the controller settings. Plus you can do a few tricks by clicking in the right thumbstick while moving your plane in another direction with the left one. You can do a u-turn, flip behind an enemy craft, and do barrel rolls. While they were a nice addition, they're pointless, and I guarentee you can go through the game without using any of them even once. I didn't even know you could barrel roll until I screwed around at the beginning of my second play through. And you also get to use different weapons scattered about the game map. Want to get out of the plane and try taking down a few opposing ones with a rocket launcher mounted on your Zepplin? Go for it. Want to use dual cannons to derail a train? Be my guest. It never gets old.

In the graphics department, CS has it all. A smooth framerate, no 'jaggies', and crisp lighting effects. There's hardly any slowdown which is a major plus, as that always bugged me about previous flying games. Here you are in the middle of a dog fight in the skies, only to have tons of slowdown taking the suspense to a lower level. All of the (completely original) planes look great and are easily distinguishable from the others. And you gotta love that blast of electricity as a secondary weapon in a later vehicle. The environments in which you visit are beautiful. I'd spend minutes just traveling along the vast mountains here and there, ignoring that I had a couple of Gyro-Copters on my tail. It's not like they stood a chance anyway. Oh, and the FMVs are sweet as well. You're not getting pathetic FMVs like those found in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. No, you're getting ones where the designers actually tried. No grainy-ness, no slow movement, no pitifully deformed looking characters. In fact, a lot of the characters in the FMVs look very realistic. I just wish there was an option to watch the FMVs whenever you want from the main menu like in KotOR. That would've been nice, as some of these are worthy of showing off what your console can do. Yep, this is a pretty game, plain and simple.

Like I said, the music is perfect, and easily worth buying the soundtrack for. If you've ever seen a movie from the early 1900's, then that's what you can expect here. Valiant tracks accompany daring efforts to protect your home Zepp when the time comes. And mysterious scores make for that sense of wonder that helps move along scenes in the lost city later on. Sometimes the score will tune out and go to more ambient sounds, which is a nice change of pace. It does get old eventually, hearing the same track replay over and over. There's not a lot more to say for the music. I've yet to hear a complaint about it. The sound effects left me speechless. Hearing that rapid fire machine gun on the Dust Devil left me wanting more just o hear its clear ratta-tat-tat, followed up by a beautiful explosion and a scream on the radio from the victim. That doesn't happen too much though, which is a shame. They could've done a lot more with the plane radios. Hopefully, if a sequel is in the works, that'll be something keyed in on. And there's no bad voice acting here. Nathan sounds like your usual confident hero from that time period with no out-of-place lines. Indians sound like Indians and not Americans trying to sound like the stereotypical kind. As you can tell, a lot of effort was put into the sound department as well. If you have a huge Dolby surround setup for your TV, brace yourself.

Again, like I said, Crimson Skies' major con is that it's way too short. Sure, a key feature in the game is the online play, and that's good for people that are able to use it. I can't, so I'm stuck with regular multiplayer and the main game. But I've heard nothing but good things about the Xbox Live gameplay. I'm sure you'll like it if you like the game even the slightest bit. When playing the main game though, just keep expecting the ending to be after the next mission. That way, you won't be too disappointed. When I took out that last boss and the ending FMV appeared in its 18 second glory, I was crushed. It just ends so suddenly that you almost want to not go back and play it again. But I did, trying out the hardest difficulty setting and not upgrading any planes. Sadly, some of the plane upgrades don't even seem that different. Sure the secondary weapons are noticable in their changes, but the speed boosts and everything aren't too noticable. In the end though, Crimson Skies is a good game and worthy of all the good reviews it gets. It could just haev more replay. Like even a score mode. Here's hoping for more in the future.

Good game, but not great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Crimson Sky is another good game for the X-box that keeps the consoles owners busy as they await a slew of new and innovative games including Fable and Halo 2. Crimson Sky is what we would expect from a recent X-box game. The graphics are amazing, none of the environments leaves any detail untouched. The games graphics, however, are it's best feature. The game play suffers slightly due to two major factors, weak flight characteristics, and a lack of compelling need to use the variety of planes offered to you. The levels and missions are great though, and most are pretty varied, although some require you to engage in trial and error to figure out which parts of a zeppelin to shoot at.

The flight characteristics are fun in that they are intuitive and not over complicated. However the game's dog fighting becomes a simple game of constantly turn until you have the enemy in your sights. You can use your airbrake constantly in level flight with no consequences of slowing down too much and plummeting to the earth. Occasionally I found you could enter what I can only describe as a flat spin, but I was never sure if this came totally from use of your airbrake and turning too tightly, or impacting an enemy. It also only seemed to occur in certain planes.

The variety of aircraft given to you is a nice change from other games, and each does have it's own special characteristics. Unfortunately, the game only respects firepower and armor leaving speed and maneuverability on a much lower level. There was never any reason to take out the lighter armed aircraft since most levels forced you to face numerous enemies armed with heavy guns except to complete the race courses. The game offers you three light, fast aircraft, but if you only need them to complete the races, why bother offering three? It was also difficult to use speed to your advantage since the game only let you gain maneuverability through lowering your speed. Maneuverability and speed are not always mutually exclusive in aircraft and perhaps in a sequel, maneuverability needs its own stat line in the plane selection screen. In addition, the nature of most missions let you get away with hoping into an AA gun. There were few times when you couldn't simply jump into a gun, take minimal enemy fire as you vanquish them from the skies. On the other hand, it is great fun to try and hit an enemy plane from an AA gun that lets you control the flight of a missile.

The final drawback to the game is the story line. It's a mixture of playboy pilot meets sci-fi western movie. The main character is always smooth, but the game doesn't provide a good setup for these moments, they just sort of happen and like a train wreck, you just can't look away even though you almost want to. Also, a zeppelin that turns into a spider like device makes you reminiscent of Kevin Kline and his mechanical spider from Wild Wild West. The story is not sold well by the voice actors who keep their acting to the level of caricature and come across as stiff and a little unbelievable. I'd swear George Lucas directed the cut scenes.

The level design is superb although there are a few sticky points such as having to shoot certain zeppelins at certain spots and the recurring theme of having to sneak into an open door gets a little worn. Despite that, the levels are beautifully done and well balanced. The game seems non-linear even though it is, and perhaps a more open feel to the game could be provided in a sequel. A missing weapon from the game was some sort of flak type weapon. Also, the ability to target the nearest enemy or the enemy right in front of you would be nice, and the ability to due specific damage to the aircraft such as destroying it's weapons would be a nice touch. The various special maneuvers are fun and more useful than in other games as are the special weapons on the various aircraft. The scenery seemed static though and it would be nice to see more effects of the weapons on the land or buildings such as glass breaking or damage that gets repaired as you play the level. Adding a bomber plane would be nice too to take out targets on the ground without having to dive in with guns or rockets.

Overall, this is a good game that needs just a little something more to make it great. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for an action game with a RPG component to it or anyone who enjoys air-to-air combat.

Crimson Skies

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Xbox owners, allow me to introduce you to the game that will make you forget all about MechAssault. Mech-what? MechAssault. You know, the first-party game that kicked Xbox Live multiplayer onto your radar. Yeah, that one. Well, now you have Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, the next Microsoft title that will turn your console online and your smack-talking into high gear.

For those of you unfamiliar with the franchise, Crimson Skies is essentially "Indiana Jones" meets aerial combat, only the alternate universe isn't overrun with Nazis but with power-hungry gangs who fly tricked-out planes and are so trigger-happy that Al Capone would blush. With creative scenarios, a focus on action and engaging characters, you'll be sure this game is headed for the silver screen. But Indiana Jones this is not, neither in medium nor in pacing, and as a result, Crimson Skies at times can feel a bit slow and imbalanced.

Part adventure and part dogfighter, Crimson Skies places you in the anti-heroic cockpit of Nathan Zachary, an air pirate who's out for revenge and, if it happens to come his way, a little fortune and glory too. Along the way, hell meet a lady (or two), discover a nature-be-damned plot against the civilized world (a la "Wild Wild West") and embark upon an intricately weaved tale of his own.

Unlike "Indiana Jones," though, Nathan takes to the skies rather than a mine cart and relies on his trusty plane-mounted artillery rather than a bullwhip. And that, my friends, is where Crimson Skies grabs you by the joystick and gets your arcade-loving heart a-fluttering. Forget about flight sims, because Crimson Skies is arcade flying at its finest. From barrel rolls and Split S's to air braking and upside-down 180s, this game would make any pilot rethink the laws of gravity. The controls are easy to both learn and master, too, which means novices and pros are separated only by their ability to plan ahead and remain dedicated to the game, not by their familiarity with the instruction manual.

The arcade goodness doesn't stop there. Unlimited primary ammo? Check. Heat-seeking and cluster-bomb secondary weapons? Check. Dozens of airborne enemies swarming at once while terrestrial turrets fire on you with unfathomable power? Check. Yes, Crimson Skies seems to have it all. But not quite.

Each "level" is a virtual landscape that encompasses some serious real estate. The first, for example, is a small but tall island where you get comfortable with looking up, down and around for enemies. The second level is a wide-open desert so expansive you'll be thankful the Xbox has a built-in hard drive. Subsequent levels include an interpretation of a 1930s tech-savvy Chicago and other era-appropriate settings, and each presents some unique expansions of the basic gameplay.

The objective in each level changes depending upon your progress in the story, but invariably each level involves completing four to six "subgoals," most of which amount to mini-games that break up the dogfighting. Several levels ask you to get out of your plane and man a turret, for example, be it to protect an illegal stash of taxis or to defend your Zeppelin "base" from incoming fighters. Other subgoals involve switching planes to complete an objective or winning a race to win cash, which, once you fly another plane and thereby "unlock" it, can be used for upgrades or to repair your current craft in mid-mission.

Yet while each of these levels has slightly different subgoals, the actual gameplay behind those subgoals remains static from level to level. A turret battle is a turret battle is a turret battle, no matter how different the aircraft you're trying to shoot down. Yes, the scenarios will literally leave you sweaty with their frantic pace, but after three or four turrets you'll play through them just to get it over with and move on to the next dogfight rather than play them for enjoyment.

In the long run, of course, that ultimately speaks to the quality of the dogfights. And there's really no other way to say it: you've never played a dogfighting game this good. There's just something about the combination of tight controls, intense speed and a fully 3D environment. Air Force Delta Storm had the speed and dimensions, but its handling was too sim-like to let you stay in "hot pursuit" for very long. Lethal Skies II had the speed and environments, too, but the AI was so challenging that the only thing in hot pursuit was your PS2 controller headed for the TV screen. Crimson Skies, though, strikes such a perfect balance of speed, control, level design and challenging-but-not-impossible AI that you truly feel like you're an alternate-1930s-universe pilot.

Still, there's nothing like knowing you're hunting (or being hunted by) a human opponent, and Crimson Skies comes complete with some outstanding split-screen, system-link and Xbox Live multiplayer options. What's interesting about the split-screen with three players, though, is that it divides the screen in thirds horizontally, which makes for great lateral visibility but horrible up-down visibility. It's a unique treatment, but I've got to question the use of this technique in a game that relies so heavily on both horizontal and vertical sighting. But naturally, if you don't play with three players total, this is a moot point entirely.

Crimson Skies has the standard Dogfight, Flag Heist (Capture the Flag) and team-based modes, but our personal favorite here at DailyGame is the hilarious and addictive "Wild Chicken." This mode is sort of like Stayaway in Midtown Madness 3 with a bit of capture-the-flag base-defending flair. None of the game modes is a stinker, and every one runs smoothly online. Even with 16 people playing at once.

One of the most comical details of "Wild Chicken" is watching the feathers fall from your newfound "wingman" and act like a contrail, and it's details like this that make Crimson Skies feel as believable as an alternate-universe-with-tricked-out-planes videogame can. From blinking landing lights and animated flaps to deformable trucks on the streets of Chicago, Crimson Skies delivers Big Time in the graphics department. For Pete's sake, how many times is an Xbox editor going to say "Best. Water. Ever."? Well, apparently one more, because this game's got it. It's also got damage-sensitive "animations" and a framerate that never wavers.

Then why, oh why, must the non-dogfighting waver as it does? This game is fun. It's a blast. I'd even say it's the most enjoyable non-FPS on Xbox Live. But its development team was apparently so focused on making an outstanding dogfighting game that the "other" gameplay elements in Crimson Skies are a step or two behind. On their own, the turret scenarios and races are just fine, but taken with the rest of the outstanding gameplay mechanics, the game can feel a bit unbalanced and slow.

But pop in another controller or log on to Xbox Live, and all those issues fade into the horizon. If you have an Xbox Live account and/or at least one friend in the world, Crimson Skies is the next great multiplayer experience on Xbox. If you're a hermit or otherwise socially challenged, the game still has something for you, with an adventuresome story and entertaining dogfights that are the stuff of arcade dreams. Just don't go into the game expecting the End All, Be All of gaming. Crimson Skies is fantastic, but it's a little gameplay balance short of legendary.

A Swashbuckling Good Time!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: October 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First of all, let me debunk a couple of rumors here, perpetrated by people who, in all probability, haven't played the game yet. No, Crimson Skies is not MechAssault in a plane. It's not Halo in a plane, either (except for the whole flying part of Halo, which is really a rather insignificant part of a game that is really an FPS). It's not even a flight sim. It is, however, an entertaining, action packed game that is a tremendous departure from the FPS/TPS shooter-heavy line up of available X-Box games.

I'll save the debates of the plausibility of the premise of the game for others; because there is certainly some suspension of disbelief necessary to buy into the game fully...but that's 1/2 the fun, isn't it? Basically, you and your buddies run around a fragmented, post-Depression North America in your sooped-up fighter-planes and your Zeppelin-type air ship; going on missions against rival gangs, avenging a death here and there, and trying to make money. Essentially, you wind up blowing the hell out of pretty much everything that isn't part of the natural environment.

Speaking of the natural environment...this is one place where this game shines. The water, sky, and earth effects jammed into Crimson Skies are nothing short of breathtaking. The water shimmers as the setting sun reflects off in pools of gold, the clouds form and dissipate with eerie realism, and the magnificently detailed spires and pillars of rock scattered throughout the landscape look as if they were designed by an especially vengeful god. All in all, it's a tremendously satisfying environment in which to fly around and blow stuff up. The rest of the graphics mesh (reasonably) seamlessly with the natural environment to make this one of the best looking console games available. The detail of the 11 planes is agonizing in its complexity. The ailerons, rudders, and elevators actually move with each control input and, as your plane gets damaged, it burns and smokes just like you'd expect it to. Explosions are satisfyingly violent, with pieces scattered to the wind and hapless pilots parachuting into the sea/desert/city. The action in the game moves pretty quickly and there are often lots of fast-moving polygons of varying sizes on the screen at once. This makes for a bit of "clipping" and frame-rate glitches that can be annoying, but not entirely unexpected, given the game speed and the level of detail that the developers stuck into the game. All in all, graphically-speaking, it's a beautifully done game.

An especially nice thing about this game is the fact that the developers actually took the time to get the sound right...which is saying something, considering the fact that everything is moving around so rapidly. Hopefully the designers of Project Gotham 2 will take some cues from these guys and not repeat the dismal sound of PG1. Anyhow, some of the dialogue is a bit campy and the fake "tough girl" accent of your flying partner gets annoying, but that's not the point. The point is, the gunfire, explosions, and engine noises are all very well done and sound great in 5.1 surround sound.

Oh, that's right...it's a flying game. That whole flying part is definitely hard to master. If you're used to playing flight sims, you already know the basic premise; but that doesn't make it much easier. In fact, it makes it harder, because you're coming at the game from a "simulation" perspective, as opposed to an "arcade" perspective. You're also locked into a third-person, "above and behind" view of your plane, which is frustrating if you're used to playing sim-type games from the first-person perspective. Anyway, the left analog stick controls the direction your nose is pointed in (you can flip the Y axis if you want), while the right stick controls your roll. The triggers fire your weapons while the "Y" button gives you a speed boost and the "B" button acts as a brake. Click the right stick and pull it and the left stick in various directions to execute "special moves", like Immelmans, snap rolls, and Split "S"s. Strangely, there is no "throttle" per-se. Just point the nose of your plane where you want to go and you'll go there. Speeding up with the boost will get you there faster and using the brake will slow you down, but the designers have conveniently ignored the phenomenon of stalls. Thus, crashing is nearly impossible, as long as you don't smash into something. All in all, putting this stuff together takes you through a somewhat steep learning curve; but it's worth it when you're faced with the prospect of dogfighting enemy fighters.

Dogfighting is what this game is really about; and is also one of the more frustrating aspects of it the first few times you play. It is maddeningly difficult to actually blow up an enemy fighter until you get the hang of it...which may take a while. Thank the gods of video game design that you've got a seemingly unlimited supply of ammunition...at least primary machine gun ammunition. Secondary missiles...you're not so lucky. The dogfighting is somewhat realistic in one critical respect, though...the faster you go, the less likely you are to get shot; but speed increases your turn radius, so the faster you go, the more difficult it is for you to draw a bead on whatever it is you're trying to shoot at. So, just like in a true-to-life air combat sim, you're stuck balancing your speed with your desire to fill the air with burning airplane wreckage that doesn't belong to your plane. The firepower available to you is satisfyingly devastating and you will definitely grin when that plane you're shooting at finally blows up in a shower of twisted steel and fire.

Anyway, Crimson Skies is most definitely a great game. But, it's not perfect. The minor "clipping" and the somewhat spotty application of gravity to the physics make the game stop short of truly excellent...but not too far short.

AWESOME BUT REPETITIOUS

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

As this is my first experience with a flying game I found the graphics and control to be awesome. Never have I had so much in the way of all control. Usually you are confined to making someone run, jump, turn right, turn left and climb. This game allows you to fly over and around and all about.

That said I agree with other reviews. You get to feeling like you're doing the same thing over and over. You get a mission, choose a plane, shoot down some bogies while fulfilling an objective, killing this that and the other thing. Over and over without much change of pace or significant change in scenery.

Good for a first timer, but repetitious.

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