thought this was gonna be pure old psx jank and was surprised to find it isn't: it's a simple but well-made dogfighting game. without much fuss the game drops you into a easy-to-control plane with generous lock-on and plenty of missiles and lets you run wild. the missions consist of destroying targets 99% of the time, with a few curveballs thrown here and there. there's not really a variety, but for a game this short it doesn't wear out its welcome. ground targets don't take much strategy to take out leaving enemy fighter jets as your main obstacle, and these guys get reasonably smart by the end game. dogfights with terrorists in more maneuverable aircraft require you to trail them closely for any hope of catching them with a missile or your machine gun. thankfully you get a bounty of ammo, so mistakes aren't punished too harshly. shooting down extra planes and SAM turrets gives you money that you can sink into new jets unlocked via mission progression as well as wingmen to watch your six when in flight. when you fail a mission the jet that you're in is destroyed and must be rebought, which as a financial setback reminds me a bit of armored core, where damage from failed missions is taken out of your paycheck, and running out of resources is game over. another more unfortunate similarity is the fact that the save system allows you to negate the consequences of failure, which begs the question why you aren't allowed to just retry missions after failing them instead of reloading a save.
if anything, the main thing holding the game back is how early this game in the playstation's life, and in the 32-bit era in general. the sparse environments are mainly flat and roughly textured with obvious seams between objects. thankfully each mission (out of the ones I played) has an unique area it takes place in, often with a subtle difference from other maps that gives the missions a bit of spice. it's also lacking in analog controls, which is handled very well on the d-pad regardless but still feels a bit stiff. it's easy to be sympathetic about these issues considering how much later games flesh out the graphics, the mission design, and the plot. this is at the very least a solid foundation for a highly respected series, and a great launch title for the 32-bit era.
if anything, the main thing holding the game back is how early this game in the playstation's life, and in the 32-bit era in general. the sparse environments are mainly flat and roughly textured with obvious seams between objects. thankfully each mission (out of the ones I played) has an unique area it takes place in, often with a subtle difference from other maps that gives the missions a bit of spice. it's also lacking in analog controls, which is handled very well on the d-pad regardless but still feels a bit stiff. it's easy to be sympathetic about these issues considering how much later games flesh out the graphics, the mission design, and the plot. this is at the very least a solid foundation for a highly respected series, and a great launch title for the 32-bit era.