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Buy Crimson Skies instead.....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: December 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game does not meet usual Lucasarts standards. This game would have been great about 10 years ago, but with todays technology it is way below standard. You fly these WWII planes, but the planes do not move around, it seems as if the screen is rotating around and the planes are stationary. The graphics are sub-par, and the controls are not that great. If you want a flying game buy Crimson Skies instead. The difference between those two are like night and day.

Is it as good as SWOTL?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 13
Date: November 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am a little wary that this new game is not up to standard obtained by the old DOS based SWOTL game. After devouring all the information the SWON website had ... I am left wondering if SWON has nearly the depth as SWOTL. Will I get to: Determine what technologies are researched, which engines are built, which air frames are manufactured? If this new game is just about flying and graphics...then we might be better off keeping our 486's alive and grabbing our SWOTL floppy disks.

A Good Trainer, Not Great as a Game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Secret Weapons Over Normandy is a combination of flight simulator and historical recreation of WW2. I had high hopes for this game, but it seems a bit outdated.

You start out with some simple target practice - balloons, bombers and barrels. Soon you're moving against a variety of targets in the air, land and sea. There are 30 missions in all, plus the option for multiplayer combat.

I've always been a huge fan of flight simulators and space combat simulators. So I was all ready for this fresh release to have great graphics and gameplay. I just wasn't impressed at all in either case. Yes, I suppose if you compare the graphics against the early flight simulators, it's amazing how far we've come. The plane has the details of the flaps and wing segments, the landscape has trees and roads. The radar display sweeps around. But nothing is up to the standards of current day productions.

The same is true for the planes themselves, how they fly and how the AI flies against you. Your plane's controls are extremely simplistic. Yes, you stall if you fly straight up, as you would expect to! And yes if you plow head-first into a structure you crash. But there are many other cases where the game plays more like an arcade version set on "very easy" than a modern day WW2 combat game.

This might be a good game for someone who has never played flight simulators before and who wants a very simple entry into that area before dealing with something more complex. But any advanced gamer, or a gamer who has played any style of airplane / spacecraft flying game, will want to rent this one first to see how they personally enjoy what it offers.

a ship without a rudder is like a ship without a rudder.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: June 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game could be a whole lot better with rudder controls. If this game wishes to capture WWII combat it needs the barrel rolls and arial stunts, as it is the planes all the planes fly like rockets, not like hawks. Despite this major flaw, I like the target system, and the lanscapes are not bad. However for all around game play SWON should seek some advice from her bueatiful cousin Crimson Skies. Better dogfighting next time, secret weopons of the cold war? I'd love to fly a spyplane.

Just OK could have been so much better

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: November 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Rent this game first before you buy. I purchased and played all the way through and was greatly dissapointed. Nothing like the original Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe not even close. If you play Crimson Skies then try this game you will know that this game is subpar by todays standards. I finished the game and sold as quickly as possible. The reason is i knew after playing this game it has terrible graphics and the missions are rediculously easy. This game price will drop when most find out how bad it really is, just wait and get your copy cheap but do yourself a huge favor and rent it first and only buy if you can get it cheaper than renting.

Average at Best

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: December 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

My buddy bought this when it came out and we were both disappointed when we played it because it had such great promise.

Pros: Graphics are good but not spectacular. Controls and learning curve are easy. I appreciate plane engine stall outs as this seems realistic on some of the more acrobatic moves.

Cons: Poor reality. There is not elevation indicator (not sure if the old WWII planes had those or not) which made it hard to know how high or low you wanted to be. The accelerator and deceleration doesn't appear to truly change enough while playing. I was flying low between palm trees and the wings would go right through the wing without any damage - very unreal!

It's an okay game but if you want to get it, you'd be better served to wait until it comes down in price or you'll likely be as disappointed as we were.

Not even close to a sim!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you're hoping for a combat sim along the lines of the original "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe" (as I was), forget it. I could write a book about how amazingly unrealistic this game is. It's even fair to say that it's been seriously dumbed down. Consider it a 3D arcade shooter. Lawrence Holland should be embarrassed to have his name connected to it.

Even with that caveat in mind, it isn't a great game. Characters and storyline are forgettable. Graphics and sound are not up to the capability of the Xbox. "Crimson Skies" is much better.

All that said, SWON can still be entertaining. The levels are varied and well designed, and there's an amazingly wide variety of land, sea, and air targets to blow up using an amazingly varied arsenal of planes and weapons.

If you're looking for arcade flying fun on your Xbox and can afford two games, you should start with SWON and then have even more fun with Crimson Skies. If you do the reverse, you'll regret spending $50 for SWON.

Rent it, dont buy it.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Its about time that xbox released a decent flight simulator for the xbox, with Ace Combat for the playstation series it was proven that excellent combat flight simulators can be made for consoles and unfortunatly Secret Weapons just doesnt hack it.
This game however fun is just no flight sim, all aerodynamic are shot and the control of the plane is very limited. Flying becomes very two dimensional as the banking of the plane stops at 45 degrees, not allowing you to pull off barrel rolls or sharp turns.
If you treat it as a shooting game, and not a flight sim it may be more enjoyable. The aircraft are all fun, ranging from jet fighters to fighter bombers. And the weapon upgrades make it more fun.
Graphics wise the game is fairly lacking for the year it was released, and it is clear that the game designers were trying to keep it as plain as possible as to make it easier to put on multiple consoles.
The game play ranges from very easy to moderatly hard, but remains fun the whole time. And it can be beaten in a couple of days leaving it not too long and not very short.
I do not recommend buying it, but rent it since it is a fun game knowing you didnt spend 30+bucks on it.

not as good as i could have been

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: November 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I got this game on friday and i beat it int 4 days. The missions in this game are nothing out of the normal. Destroy this, protect that. They had a wide variety of airplanes but in the end they all seemed the same. There wasn't any great difference between most of them. I bought this game looking for a game like Ace Combat 4 and it was nothing like it. It's sort of your twisted metal type of game but with airplanes. The graphcs aren't too shabby, but there not that great either. There was a couple of times where my airplane got stuck in the ground or it didn't respond at all. The most frustating thing is when you try to land your aircraft and it won't let you even thought your on the landing strip and you then crash. That really upset me. That happen quite often actually. As for the end of the game? it's like one of those movies that just end so they can create a sequel. But overall i would recommend playing it. It was fun all thing's considered

Neat idea

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a decent game with decent graphics and sound etc. Flying games that I've played all seem to lack that certain thing. This one isn't much different. It makes a nice try and is a fair game. I would reccomend renting for now and pick it up when its under $20.

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