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Great Live Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 31 / 36
Date: November 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Even though most other reviews have already said it, it bears repeating: this game is great online! The game types are: dogfight, team dogfight, capture the flag, keep away (a sort of tag-like game), team keep away, and wild chicken (a game similar to capture the flag, but with only one flag).

The downside to live is that you're dependent on the number of other people online. You can always find a dogfight game going on, but it's harder to find a keep away or wild chicken game going on at 7 on Sunday morning.

The single player mode is good, but repetitive. There's only so much flying and shooting you can do before you get tired of seemingly doing the same thing over and over again. You can get into AA guns and fire from the ground or from vehicles, but overall this doesn't add too much in the way of variety. The storyline is pretty ridiculous (not in the good way like odd world), and it lacks any sort of complexity.

Overall, I really wouldn't recommend buying this game unless you have x-box live. It's got the great microsoft-title graphics (ala brute force or halo), so it's definately worth renting for that by itself. But if you don't have the challenge of playing other people online, this game's playability is pretty thin.

Great game, and a few corrections

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 26
Date: March 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Crimson Skies is a superb blend of action, comedy, camp, and noir. Do you like Indiana Jones? Do you like James Bond? How about Casablanca? How about the classic Private Eye stories full of mobsters and dames? Crimson skies is a flying game backed by a superb action-adventure story line, and yes it's worthy of comparison to the above. Note: I don't have XBox Live, so this review is entirely based on the singleplayer. That said, I love this game enough to give it 5 stars for singleplayer alone. Live is the super atomic icing on the cake. And I'll try to keep this pretty much spoiler free.

The story(10/10): You are Nathan Zachary, a former playboy who met unfortunate circumstances (along with the rest of the nation) and is fighting his way back to the top. Along the way, you form a rag-tag band of air pirates as you explore this strange quasi-America and unravel a mysterious plot.

The immersion factor(10/10): Amazing. From the moment the intro cutscene pops up, you're going to be completely immersed. Segments like this do tons to push the story, and you're going to love savoring every moment of them. You're quickly thrown into the fray as you hop into the pilot seat. This game makes you remember why you always wanted to be a plane/ bird/ pilot/ superhero/ mobster/ pirate/ (you get the idea) as a kid.

Controls(9/10): The first "level" is a mini-tutorial that's quick and fun. Controls are super natural and goals are (almost) always extremely clear, so you have tons of time to enjoy flying and rarely have to spend time wondering about objectives.

Value(9/10): The singleplayer is long enough to please and worth every moment. I'm not even finished yet, and I would be 100% content if the game was only as long as I've played to. Very nice. There's not much replayability aside from collecting more tokens or exploring more areas, but for some (like me) it'll be more than enough to warrant a few more games.

Overall: This game is FUN. The story needs to be a movie yesterday. The controls can be picked up instantly, but there's plenty of room to grow in skill. The gameplay ranges from frantic dogfights to free-form exploration. Yes, you will find yourself just skimming a lake to see the water splash on the camera, or buzzing through a canyon to test your skills. The combination of graphics, control, and gameplay combine for what may be the best flying experience ever. Sure, die-hard sim fans will gripe about the realism. But do you ever really want too much realism in an action-adventure? I think not.

Bottom line (9.5/10): I think this game is going to start showing up on a couple "Top games of all time" lists. Not THE top game, but definately not far.

refreshing to say the least

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: December 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I originally bought this game because it offers two free months of xbox live with it. This alone is a great bargain if you really want to try out xbox live without purchasing the $70 kit. I began playing it, and it was a whole lotta fun. I've become extraordinarily bored by first person shooters, because it is what the Xbox library is dominated by. Everyone's making first person shooters because they saw how successful halo was...Well, here enters Crimson Skies.

It's a third person shooter in a sense. It is more a dogfighting game than a flight simulator (it hardly simulates anything close to reality, which is a good thing!). Single player consists of an almost GTA-like storyline...There's a main plot, but you can go off and do your own thing (to an extent), too. As you go along, you earn tokens, and money, which are what you need to upgrade your planes. The single player experience makes this game rent-worthy, while the multiplayer (like so many other games) is what makes this a keeper.

If you don't have xbox live yet, that's fine. The game comes with an activation code that gives you two free months. You take 5 minutes to sign up, then you're off! You pick quickmatch, which automatically searches for an open game of the type you desire. You get in, and you pick your plane. Everyone checks in, and you're now beginning your first xbox live experience. You may be playing dogfight or team dogfight (equivalent to deathmatch or team deathmatch), flag heist (capture the flag), keep away or team keep away (you grab "the booty," and everyone else tries to kill you- basically kill the carrier). Or you might be playing the best of them all...Wild Chicken. This is a game much like football, but with a chicken. You start out on your team's side, and everyone rushes to the middle of the map where there's a chicken falling from the sky. The goal is to take the chicken to the enemy's base, through a set of four goal posts. You earn seven points for every chicken-score, and 1 point for every kill. Sound fun? You have no idea.

Instead of looking just in front of, to the sides, and behind you, you have to be aware of above and below as well. While this may seem obvious, you cannot truly understand its significance until you play. Because it has a light learning curve, the game is easy to pick up. This allows it to be a great party game, or just something you play by yourself. The single player is fun, but nothing compared to multiplayer.

*For those without xbox live: the game is a lot more fun in multiplayer if you have the headset (you can purchase it alone for about $30). the headset made all the difference for me, and got me hooked on xbox live.

ENJOY!

The Best New XBOX Live Game Around

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I preordered this game and received it the day it was released. Let me say this - WOW. I have been playing flight games since the days of the old Apple II, and I am a former Navy Pilot myself. This game far exceeded my expectations and the live play is astounding. If there is a clipping problem, you won't notice it whatsoever. The live play is seamless and faster-paced than MechAssault. The flight controls do not have as steep a learning curve as some have previously said. My 8 year old daughter was up and running in minutes.
The game's true appeal is variety. Even if you don't have Xbox Live, this game still holds virtually infinite replayability. The premise is simple: you're an air pirate in a post-depression world. (use your imagination) The controls are very responsive and the flight-dynamics are extremely well done. While it is true that the programmers have eliminated low-velocity stall, any pilot can tell you that stall is nothing you want in an entertaining game anyway. Stall sucks, simply put.
If you have Xbox live, this is the game to have. More players are allowed to enter each game than you were allowed in MechAssault, and this makes for a more chaotic battle. I have to give this game 5 stars for its overall graphic detail and as I mentioned earlier, the infinite replayability.

Awesome!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is ok single player but really shines on multiplayer with XBOX live. The maps are big and graphics are great. I've never once noticed any framerate problems which is unbelievable for such large maps and fast speeds. The new downloads take this game to a solid 5 star. I don't care much for the indoor maps like caverns and lost city. From the different maps to different planes stationary guns and secondary weapons this game rocks. For the price this game is must own.

The next best game for LIVE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: October 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game has been in the making for Xbox for a considerable period of time now, especially after being delayed. However, that does not detract from the fact that this is not a good game, because it will be. Game analysts are predicting this game to be one of Microsofts premier titles this year for the Xbox, and if you don't believe me, go look up some reviews.

The plot is somewhat unrealistic but it works. It takes place after the Great Depression, only after the Depression, America splits up into seperate countries almost, and engage in battle frequently. This leads to the fall of the railroad system, so now traders and other people begin to depend upon aircraft for transportation and commerce. Soon, the skies are so clustered and congested with air traffic that pirates soon begin to surface.

That was the setting for the game, however I do not know what the characters primary conflict will be in the game, but thats the setting and make up of the game. Anyway, the multiplayer is what will really give this game and extra boost. 4 player split screen, system link(up to 16 players), or Xbox Live(16 players). Game modes include Dogfight, Team Dogfight, Flage Heist(cap the flag), and Runaway Chicken. There are also a couple more but I forgot their names.

This game is also made by the same company that produced MechAssault, so you can imagine how unbelievable the graphics, gameplay, and online play will turn out.

Crimson Skies - Death from Above

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you are looking for a must buy title for the Xbox this holiday season, then look no further. Crimson Skies is one of the most entertaining titles to come out for any of the consoles this year and one of the best multi-player dogfight air-combat games of all time. (Say that three times fast and I'll give you a cookie.)

If you don't know the history of Crimson Skies, it's based on the FASA board game with an alternate history storyline in which the nation's railroads are destroyed by wars during the Great Depression in which the US broke up into separate factions (think Syndicate but in the 1930's instead of the future.) With the railways are no longer available, transporting cargo took to the skies, and so did pirating, and thus, Crimson Skies is born.

What about the game itself? Crimson Skies has some of the most visually gratifying graphics I have ever seen in a game, from the city of Chicago to the valleys and streams; the game is an incredible feat when you look at the drawing distances, as the amount of objects on the screen. To make a long story short, the graphics will be mesmerize you, not just at first, but from beginning to end (and then some.) The scenery, models, cut-scenes, and level design are well thought out, and make the game as fun to watch as it is to play.

If you think flight combat games are tough, you haven't played this one, although you can get flipped around at times, it has a fairly easy learning curve. Five or six people have come over and played the game since I've had the chance to review it, and every one of them have been able to catch on to the basic controls within 5 minutes, and catch on to the more advanced controls within 15-20 minutes. They were all able to hold their own, and enjoy the game immediately, including one that hadn't touched a video game since the days of the original NES, a complete non-gamer.

I've hyped the game to hell and back, but I do have a couple of small knocks on it before I bring up~ its biggest feature. When you're playing single player, and you have the big cut-scene came about. It really isn't that huge of an issue, it's nice to have the animation there, but how it disrupted the game-play so drastically at times frustrated me to no end.

The one other thing that has been mentioned to me by other dog-fight combat fans is the lack of a screen targeting system. You cannot target your nearest enemy by seeing an arrow on the screen as with most other combat system. I personally don't see a problem with this, as it keeps you much more aware of what's going on around you, and you do have the black button to help target the closest enemy and see where he is in relation to you.

So Crimson Skies by itself as a Single Player game is a lot of fun, and you could easily lose 10-15 hours on it, and even think about playing it all the way through twice (not like I know anything about that.) However, this title is Xbox Live compatible, and damn what a Live title it is. Playing with/against 15 other players can, and will extend the life of this title for a LONG TIME. There are Dogfights, Team Dogfights (Up to 8 vs. 8), Capture the flag, and another one that's similar to Keep Away. All of these make the game even more entertaining and enjoyable. Also with Xbox Live they will be adding new downloads for the game, I'm sure they'll have new maps, but the idea of new ships as well could extend the game even further. The game also comes with a two month free subscription to the Xbox Live service to get players hooked which is a great idea, get them hooked, if they want the headset, they can buy it separately.

If you're looking for a game that you can blast the baddies, fly around, explore, and enjoy yourself immensely, as well as have a game that you can jump in and blow up your friends, or nemeses, this game will give you that in spades. I give Crimson Skies a gun-blazing 5 out of 5 Throbbing Joysticks. Kudos to Microsoft and FASA for making me forget all about the PC game!

(note: Crimson Skies has already released an auto-update, check it out!)

Better Than Halo

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I originally bought my Xbox to play Halo.... now I can honestly say that I have found an Xbox game that blows Halo away. Crimson Skies has a great story, great multiplayer and just perhaps the best overall gameplay since Myth: The Fallen Lords.

If you buy any one video game this holiday season - make it this one.

The new reason to buy an x-box

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Crimson skies is an EXCELLENT game. I bought an x-box to play halo and mechassault (both of which were great) If you liked those and like arcade style flying (you use combo moves to perform actual manuevers like barrell rolls etc) or just like zepplins and Pulp age planes then this is a great game for you.

Just so cool!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: February 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

this game is what Xbox is about shooting in airplanes and asskicking fun.I just can't stop playing it .

As the game begins you statr out with a Devistater plane in training but not really though so Betty tells you to follow her.So she tells you to test you guns then I think some Cajuns come after you then you go to Sea Hanen and then help doc then go to betty kill some fuels then bad guys come then bettys plane starts on fire and now you by yourself with so much to do help someone,kill someone,race your plane.You'll never be bored I mean one time you hane to save Doc from a hoge spider thing,
kill a huge cetipied,a zep bigger than a tower.the levels are in Chicago, Sea Haven.lost city,windy city.I'll give you a head start.

God mode-------Y,A,X,B BLACK BUTTON
ALL planes------Y,X,B,Y BLACK BUTTON
ONE HIT KILLS-----B,X,A,B, BLACK BUTTON
$5,000-----A,Y,A,Y BLACK BUTTON
10 TOKENS----B,X,B,X BLACK BUTTON
(HINT) if you see some zeps just flying around kill it and it dops money

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