Good, mindless shooting fun
With that said, I cannot reccomend this game enough to those in a similar position to mine. Heroes of the Pacific is a game with it's roots in one, distinct zone - the one involving fun. And blowing things up in the process.
Flying your chosen plane (of which there are many to choose from - more on that later), is simple. You, the player, are given a choice of two control schemes - arcade and pro. These control systems are simple to get to grips with, with little practice required until you can fly your plane like an ace.
The 'pro' setting makes things a little more realistic, but having said that, the controls are still distinctly arcadey. These controls can take some getting used to, but are an extra challenge for the player.
As I mentioned before, HotP prides iself on being bloody fun to play. The game throws everything you can think of at you - bombers, fighters, even dive bombers. Half way through the game, you can expect to be launching torpedoes at battleships, whilst fighting off huge hordes of enemy fighters, as wingmen shout taunts toward fallen enemies.
To keep you playing, HotP rewards players for completing misions. Every few missions, a plane is unlocked, whilst at the end of a mission, upgrade points are awarded which can be spend on improving a plane of your choice. To keep players improving, upping the difficulty unlocks better and more exciting planes. All missions are replayable via a 'missions' menu, and further 'historical' missions are unlocked based on game progress.
Presentation wise, HoTP is a mixed bag. The menus are presented beautifully, keeping with the WWII propaganda styling throughout the entire system.
Planes are also excellently detailed - clearly, a lot of love has been put into making these planes look real. However, the same can not said of ground targets - landscapes seem a little flat and have a lack of detail.
Heroes is a fun, challenging and long lasting game. You may not like it at first, but soon everything will click, and you won't believe how much you will have.