New Review Posted: Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

[Daniel Weissenberger]

Our Crimson sequel week continues with Mike Doolittle's review of Crimson Skies:

"Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge arrived with so much hype and fanfare that it's easy to forget that, at one time, it was nearly vaporware. After a dismal E3 showing a couple of years ago and tepid feedback from testers, Microsoft made the decision to halt the title in mid-development and start from scratch with a new team of artists, writers and programmers. Purportedly, the story fell flat and the action lacked any sort of panache that may have elevated it above standard arcade-shooter fare. Retooled with a completely new story and overhauled gameplay, Crimson Skies was set to be a premier Xbox showcase title and a boon for Xbox Live subscribers. Did Microsoft pull it off?"

You can find the answer to this question and many others right here: http://www.gamecritics.com/review/crimsonskies/main.php

[Low Emissions]

Say what?!

IMO, this game was great, and well deserving of a higher score than a 6.5. I do think the review was good and well written, and I realize that it's your opinion, but I definitely am going to have to write my own review and cut it down to fit the word limit.

[jdingo]

Originally Posted by Littledoc

... one way or another you are just going to be flying around trying to shoot stuff while trying not to get shot yourself

Yeah, I hate that about Crimson Skies. Same thing with fighters: one way or another you are just trying to knock out your opponent while trying not to get knocked out yourself.

And those tedious strategy games: one way or another you are just trying to beat your opponent while trying not to get beaten yourself.

Same goes for sports titles.

In fact, you have to wonder why we play games at all. one way or another you are just moving your fingers to manipulate an image.

Crimson Skies is a lot of fun. It does not merely succeed at propelling itself above mediocrity. Although, Mike, I must say I enjoyed the allusion to "propellers". And the game was "retooled" while the gameplay was "overhauled". Were these serendipitous references?

I am not sure I agree that "The flying/shooting genre is inherently a limited one". Take a look at IGN's gushing review of Colony Wars: "best PlayStation action game yet" and "Trouser-creamingly good".

All in all, Mike's review is well-written. I say that despite the completely awkward sentence

A well told story that brings to mind the larger-than-life heroism and whimsical otherworldliness of Disney's The Rocketeer encapsulates the game.

I find myself wishing that Mike had dived into a comparison with The Rocketeer. We don't know whether he thinks the movie failed or succeeded. There might have been some lessons learned from that.

Crimson Skies is flawlessly executed. The two-player game - played on System Link - is a blast.

It deserves 7.5.

[Mike Doolittle]

Originally Posted by jdingo

Yeah, I hate that about Crimson Skies. Same thing with fighters: one way or another you are just trying to knock out your opponent while trying not to get knocked out yourself.

And those tedious strategy games: one way or another you are just trying to beat your opponent while trying not to get beaten yourself.

Same goes for sports titles.

In fact, you have to wonder why we play games at all. one way or another you are just moving your fingers to manipulate an image.

Okay okay, I suppose that was an oversimplification of the genre (obvious response: "duh!"), but I don't really see how much farther this genre can go. Fly, shoot, dodge repeat. I've yet to play a game of this style with anything that passes for depth or variety. CS is really polished, well-paced, and the story is great... but the gameplay is the same old hat from Rogue Squadron and Ace Combat. Snore. Not mediocre, but I was not impressed with the things that count.