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Crimson Skies is the most original story since Freespace

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: August 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

In a post-WWI world where the flu epidemic has not stopped, abolition has been enforced with deadly precision and old wounds from the Civil war re-opened, in swoops this fantastic title.

Based on the board game of the same name by Fasa, Crimson Skies places the player in a world where the United States has broken into factions such as the Nation of Hollywood with it's high flying squadron the Hollywood Knights or the country of Dixie, formerly the southern United States. The highway system has never been implemented and the railroads are beseiged by bandits and state militias so commerce, travel and privateers take to the only place left, the skies.

Air Pirates, flashy aces, bounty hunters and government fliers, all of this, along with a distinct 1930's setting with it's big band swing music and jazzy rythym combine to form a truly unique world.

Players take the part of Air Pirate Nathan Zachery as he barnstorms and dogfights across the skies. From raiding a rivals fortress like zeppelin to stealing the infamous Spruce Goose from a Hollywood backlot as well as saving a comely damsel in distress from the top of a speeding train, Crimson Skies brings a player fast action and easy controls.

Filled with arcade type action and a user friendly interface, Crimson Skies concentrates more on dogfighting action than on learning the intricacies needed for more advanced flight simulators. Make no mistake, while not as complex as Microsoft Flight, Crimson Skies delivers with easy controls that get you right into the action instead of setting for hours reading the manual.

Crimson Skies is very likely to become Game of the Year for many players and innumerable magazines have already declared it a Must Have, and they are more than accurate.

If the Beta version is any indication.....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: August 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Playing the Beta version of Crimson Skies from Microsoft has been an adventure. While the game is still not quite finished, it is already a blast, as long as you don't mind the lack of physics when flying. The graphics, sound, and characters/images are amazing, and the music is right on. Will the real version of the game be better? Absolutely, and I can't wait!

Wow!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are incredible and the action is superb. Dogfighting in the clouds or over Manhattan at night is awesome

This is a quantum leap in flight sims.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The only thing better then the graphics, are the incredibly creative missions and amazing voice acting. Even if you don't like blowing up zepplins, pick this one up!

Who wants to be an air pirate?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: September 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Flight sims? Fun? Action oriented? Campy? Wait a minute, you said "fun"!?

Talk about being on target, Zipper Interactive has really nailed the fun quotient with Crimson Skies. Forget your preconceptions about flight sims being boring and tedious, overwhelming you with controls, air intake valves and flap setting. There's no fussing with landing gears here... just guns, rockets, and babes!

Think of your images of old radio shows and dramas, a crackling radio, an over-the-top heroic voice that's borderline comical as he proclaims the villain a "dastardly fellow". Add in the energy of a 21st century action game, filled with heroic dogfighting and incredible barrel rolls (no need for the laws of physics here when it might compromise fun), huge explosions, rippling landscapes, and incredible planes... and you've got a fantastic game.

The graphics here really are incredible, after I finish I'm going through all the missions in a bomber just so I can get up close to the ground and fly very slowly, to savor every bit of detail, just superb coloring and lush landscapes. The cutscenes are tastefully done with a feel for old news reels you'd see at the movie theaters in the '30s and '40s, artfully building the plot as it goes.

Gameplay is smooth and easy to quickly pickup. Controls are at a minimum, and though I have a new joystick coming in today, it's perfectly fine to even use the keyboard to fly. Maneuvering is very smooth and the keys are well laid out.

So far (I'm about half way through) the missions are pretty easy, which was apparently intentional as Zipper wanted to make sure everyone completed the game. Despite the ease, the missions are still a lot of fun with plenty of action. There's also a multiplayer option, and a skirmish mode, so you can design your own missions.

My only complaint is the menu interface... it's DARNED clunky and the hard drive chugs away for up to thirty seconds, just when trying to view a minor option on the plane construction screen. I don't know what the problem is here, but Zipper really could have done a better job on this, it detracts from what could otherwise be a very nice feature. Instead, building your own air wing turns into a tedious and mind numbing process. You can't even save your designs for quick reference in the future, just start from scratch.

But the slow menu interface is my only real complaint. This is a fantastic game, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys action games... It's kind of an aerial FPS. ;-)

(I'm running on a Pent III 800 Coppermine with 128M Ram at 100Mhz, Viper V770 32M and a SoundBlaster Live! Value.)

awesome game thats tons of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

this game is So much fun!! this is the first airplane game Ive played and I think ive found a game that can distract me from Unreal and Quake now!! playing on Zone.com is GREAT!! lots and lots of fun It runs great on my system (athlon thunderbird 800, 256 pc133 ram, geforce2 mx) too! all i need is a joystick now.. ive been playing with the keyboard and its not quite as accurate

If just a few things were better...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for this game for what seems like years and I can't help but register some disappointment now that I finally have a copy. The concept is outstandingly original and fascinating, if superficially reminiscent of the old DOS game Air Power. The in-game graphics are great and the flight physics are a pleasant mix of sim-like and arcade. The box-art, in-game movies, voice acting, zeppelins, background story, and outlandish aircraft designs are juicy. The (skimpy) manual is also a hoot. Just about everything is great. If only the game worked like it should! On my machine (400mhz PII with a Diamond Monster II) the color and graphics gradually degrade until after about 30-40 minutes the screen becomes little more than a collection of bright green and yellow rectangles. The game is then completely unplayable without rebooting. There's clearly a problem with the graphics drivers but I've got the latest DX 7 Voodoo 2 reference drivers and the problem still occurs. Also, the in-game menus are grindingly slow, which seems really bizarre, given the fact that they do not seem to be particularly complex or graphics-heavy. This makes any attempt at designing my own aircraft and modifying mission loadouts an agonizing exercise. Twiddling one's thumbs for 5 minutes waiting for a pull-down menu to materialize is not my idea of fun. In some respects the game seems to play as if it was too hastily brought to market and not subjected to adequate beta testing. Maybe Microsoft will issue a patch that fixes the graphics incompatibilies and menu speed. I hope so, because there is no way I can currently justify giving this title the excellent score it would otherwise appear to deserve.

Wonderful game but awful interface behavior

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: September 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The game is really great. I love it and the on-line game is even better.

That said, I am very VERY frustated by the menus behavior: It takes forever just to open a drop down list. There are constant accesses to the hard drive. That's unbearable! (Plus the music looping while you wait...) I tried to customize my plane once I had money but I gave up. 1 minute + just to switch to a different tab... This is a major glich. I really hope Microsoft/Zipper will release a patch soon.

I have a PII 333mhz, 64mb RAM, ATI Rage Pro. (equals the minimum requirements stated on the box) I probably need to add memory but still, there is a problem when it's only menus (unless they created 3D accelerated menus w/ tons of textures...)

Hard on system resources, but still a blast to play

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: October 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Once I got this installed and started a mission I thought the game had crashed. For some reason, this game has pathetically LONG load times. It seems to freeze your system, but its just going through its routine. Very frustrating at times when you are in a hurry to shut the game down, or to get into a mission. Once you get through all of that pain in the arse stuff you will find the game to be a blast. The storylines are terrifically entertaining, very original. The flight itself is excellent to. There are numerous odd aircraft to fly, all with WWI style guns which I just love. Besides the usual dogfighting, there are some "barn storming" missions where you get to see who's the best hot dogging pilot. Most of the times I crash, but its cool when you can fly right through a train tunnel with barley a foot on either side of the wing. The downside to this game, might be that you need a bit of "umph" in your computer to run and load this. For all its faults though, its really fun to play.

NOT A FLIGHT SIM...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: October 04, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Everyone is mentioning it, but no one seems to be bothered by it. The lack of physics while flying is VERY noticeable. Fly sideways, you should pull to that side and fall. Not here. While this makes it more "Fantasy like", if you're used to true flight sims, it'll take you a while to get used to flying here. I was disappointed by this more than anyone else though, it seems. Oh, and flying faster seems to improve maneuverability, rather than the typical slowing down for tighter turns.

The planes look great. The graphics are good. I loved getting to blast at a zepplin. My feeling is, someone needs to make a true flight sim like this, and have the top speeds, physics, and flight more realistic. Keep the zepplin aircraft carriers, and the awsome plane designs, and the graphics though.

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