Lethal Skies Elite Pilot: Team SW

Pros • Unique battle replay option lets you analyze vectors of friends, enemies and missiles • Scalable tactical map/data allows players to pre-plan aerial assaults • Utterly dramatic and convincing graphics, especially in the shake-cam replay mode • Great mix of Physics and Fun--not too “simmy,” not too silly	Cons • Audio input from wingmen muddy…and not terribly important in any case • No multiplayer • No direct command interaction with wingmen
Bottom Line A beautiful, solid, streamlined air combat game that lets you focus more on Action than on Ailerons. SAMMY AND THE JETS When a newcomer publisher like Sammy Entertainment launches its first public offering, it's in their best interest to give gamers something they're going to remember for a while--even if it's a little traumatic. For sheer trauma-value, there's nothing quite like flipping to your rear-view game camera just in time to witness a heat-seeking missile closing the last few meters to your tailpipe. But then, I suppose that's my fault. Just something I needed to get off my chest. Don't let the dreaded Long Game-Name (with five words, an acronym and a colon) fool you: Lethal Skies Elite Pilot: Team SW is a top-notch single-player game of fast-paced modern air combat set against a near-future backdrop of global struggle against the World Order Reorganization Front (a rogue coalition that "exploits natural disasters for its own benefit"--eco-terrorists turned inside out, you might say). Seems the whole global warming thing has become serious indeed, and now the frozen regions of Siberia have melted. New York City, for example, is an archipelago of concrete and steel islands, and Los Angeles' sea borne hexagonal platforms look like portions of a gigantic board war-game…which they are, in a way. Indeed, large portions of the world's population have found themselves adrift in a world where only the relatively fortunate have floating mega cities. Ultimately, the terrorist WORF's floating command post Leviathan must be dealt with. It's fairly heady (and yet endearingly goofy) stuff for an air-combat game, but fear not--you still get to kick butt.

Sorry to throw geek jargon at you, but the term production values rears its regal, snooty head here--Lethal Skies is, to lift an apt turn of phrase, "dripping with looks." All kinds of little touches--heat-shimmer and motion-blur effects, the visual details of swing-wing mechanics and retracting landing gear, particular contrails and the incredibly convincing shake-cam stylings of gameplay and battle replays that add a stunningly "realistic" feel are piled atop a game engine that's already sleek and gorgeous.

Lethal Skies takes a few minor liberties with aerial physics, but you won't notice them unless you simply have way too much time on your hands; throughout 18 to 20 globe-spanning missions (not all of them immediately obvious), the cap-melting premise of the proposed world makes for some vicious scenarios. Right off the bat, the flooded concrete forest of (what's left of) New York allows the enemy's warships to hide in a thirty-story-high defensive maze...requiring you to bust some impressive dive-bombing moves, screaming straight down at the "ground" (read: water) as you line up on your target, wait for lock-on tone, launch your ordinance and begin to plan your pull-out even as your eyes and ears strain for incoming threats. Even on the "normal" difficulty setting, the opposing AI is relentless, and the best place to look for any remaining enemy aircraft is right on your tail; you'll spend a lot of time listening to the shrill incoming-missile warning. The odds aren't all stacked against you, however--missile-distracting countermeasure like chaff and flares are automatically released as needed, and your wing-men and women are surprisingly smart and good at their jobs. Unfortunately, they're also autonomous, so there's no sense of having to lead your troops into battle. They also talk an awful lot. The bad news is that much of their chatter ranges from just cheesy to outright, B-movie gouge-your-ears-out corny/bad, which takes ever so little away from the otherwise engaging experience. The "good" news, such as it is, is that much of their inane audio is so badly muffled that, without subtitles, you wouldn't have a clue what they were talking about anyway. The universe is a good, balanced and basically-okay place after all.

Lethal Skies employs a subsystem damage scheme, wherein hits to weapons, wings, engines, etc., result in degraded performance in each area. It seems arbitrary, but it's not meaningless: On the one hand, there's next to nothing you can do to stave off damage to whatever particular subsystem gets whacked, but on the other hand, the resulting damage can and will radically change your own personal tactics. Another aspect of the game that will gradually get in your face is the dependence on fuel, which of course means--you guessed it--the tricky circus-act of midair refueling becomes an issue. It adds a demanding strategic element that only makes this already-impressive game cooler. And, as I discovered to my detriment on many an occasion, landing can be a real bitch, too. It's not that it's so hard, particularly, but rather that so much is riding on it: Did I say earlier there was nothing quite like watching a heat seeker close the last few meters to your tailpipe? Well, ain't nuthin even remotely like losing five years off your life from the stress of a particularly hairy mixed air-to-air/air-to-ground furball (sweating up your controller until it's nice and warm and sticky) only to start your victorious landing approach...and ultimately face-plant into the cumulogranite clouds below at 200 mph. Now you get to do the whole mission over again! Whoo-hoo! Consider it replay value!

Happily, Lethal Skies also offers mission training and dogfight practice modes for those times when the official missions just require a little too much commitment. With the exception of the droning, repetitive rock-guitar soundtrack, which gets old fast, the only real letdown here is that--amazingly, staggeringly--there's no multiplayer. With an engine this exceptionally pretty, smooth and fun, it's a minor tragedy that you can't share it with another live player. No matter, though--this out-of-nowhere upstart instantly ranks right up there with the best air combat action games, and its offbeat storyline only throws its realistic feel into sharp relief.

Careful on those landings, though. Seriously.

Info & Screenshots