Going through Crimson Skies online withdrawal? Well, this is your new, simpler substance.
When news of the Crimson Skies withdrawal reached the ears of Smart Bomb, they thought to themselves, "Well, Microsoft is being very mean to their consumers by not letting them play their favorite dog-fighting game online. We'll help them by developing our own, simpler dog-fighting game. But who should we use for a mascot?"
"I know," says a lowly intern, "Let's use that one dog who dreams of flying a Sopwith Camel to defeat his enemy...The Red Baron. We shall use Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanut Gang!"
"Brilliant!" Says the guy who owns the company, "Make the call to the people who have the rights to the Peanuts license. We have a game to make."
And thus, Snoopy Flying Ace was born.
Now, people will immediately notice the similarities to this game and Crimson Skies. However, there are a few differences.
- Peanuts characters instead of regular human-like characters
- Health and Ammo regeneration
- Shorter campaign
- Finally, a ranking system
This game is great. The campaign, though short at 2 1/2 hours in length, has plenty of mission types to keep you occupied. Not only that, but the missions are 2-player split-screen and online co-op, so you can enjoy these missions with a friend. But the real meat here is the multiplayer. Whether you are playing against the AI or Human players, these battles will be very hectic and fast-paced. Online play is smooth for the most part, though there are some minor lag issues if there's a bad internet connection.
There are many different modes for multiplayer.
Dogfight and Team Dogfight are your standard deathmatch games.
Capture the Flag is also standard(It's also just as annoying as it is in any other multiplayer game)
Dog-Pile and Team Dog-Pile play like Hold the Ball, but with a bone instead.
Pigskin is a unique-ish mode where you play football with airplanes. (I find this to be similar to Fat Princess' use for soccer.)
No matter what your multiplayer mode preference is, you'll have a blast.
The music is an interesting blend of war-movie music (For assault missions) and classic piano melodies (For racing missions). One jarring thing is that in multiplayer, the music is absent. Such a shame.
This game is a must-buy for those going through Crimson Skies Online Withdrawal syndrome, but it is still a recommended purchase for those who like airplane fighting games, or Peanuts characters (Though their appearance in this game is rather limited). Whether you play online or with bots, you will not go wrong with this purchase. If you are buying it solely for the single-player campaign, though, look elsewhere, as the campaign is too short for $10.00. This is a multiplayer shooter at heart, so keep that in mind when choosing.