Plane Jane- Heroes Over Europe Review

Console flight simulations typically come in two distinct types. The first, as exemplified by H.A.W.X. and the Ace Combat franchise, feature contemporary fighter planes armed with an ample supply of missiles. Bleeding-edge weapon systems allow these jets to lock onto distant blips on the horizon; as dogfights take place over vast distances. The second type of game generally centers on the prop-driven aircraft of World War II; its aerial battles are more intimate, as players shower enemies with machine guns and the sporadic barrage of crude, unguided rockets.

Transmission Game’s recent release, Heroes Over Europe, carefully attempts to straddle these two eras of aviation history. The title’s selection of aircraft is accurate to the period; Spitfires, Hurricanes and Junkers are all rendered convincingly, and can only strike at foes in the neighboring airspace. Yet, the game employs its own version of the lock-on, called the Ace Kill. By hovering a target reticule over enemies, players will charge an action meter. Once the gauge is half full, gamers can press the LB (L1 on the Playstation 3) button to engage, which both radically slows down time, and also zooms in on opponents, allowing for a quick snipe of an enemy pilot or fuel tank. While wholly unrealistic, the mechanic adds an interesting wrinkle to Heroes Over Europe.

The game’s other liberties with realism revolve around the mission structure. Some stages require players to pepper pieces of rubble in an effort to clear roads, while another has gamers flying beneath German flak cannons by gliding clandestinely through the streets of Berlin. While creative liberties in gaming are excusable, inferior mission design isn’t- steering through German avenues recalled the clumsy canyon navigation sequences of the first Ace Combat.

Heroes’ deviation from historical accuracy doesn’t extend to the game’s cinematics which skillfully utilize snippets of archival war footage. Between these segments, and the game’s adept incorporation of a pin-up girl art aesthetic in the game menus, the title has a wonderful visual design. In-flight graphics are consistently respectable, as is Heroes’ framerate, although cut scene close-ups can appear pixilated. Still, many of the game’s environmental details are especially well drawn- from the game’s voluminous clouds, to the recreation of the eminent cliffs of Dover. Most missions are bookended by chatter between the game’s protagonists, which is well-voiced, but remains static through repeat playthroughs.

Heroes Over Europe’s multiplayer variations range from simple deathmatches to Survivor matches, where victory is rewarded to the last player to remain airborne. Competitions were surprisingly fierce, and admirably addictive, recalling the pleasures once found in Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. Games were relatively lag-free, although that may have been because the games servers were glumly under-populated.