Aero Elite: Combat Academy

"The most realistic combat flight SIMULATION for any console - Aero Elite is a true experience"

Without a doubt this is THE flight combat SIMULATION for PS2 or any other console availiable now. Blending intense, realistic training in the style of pure flight games and adding incredible combat scenarious makes this the flight simulation for the real enthusiast. Please be warned that some fans of the Ace Combat series may be severely disappointed as this is a difficult, deep simulation compared to the carry-68-missiles, take-2-missile-hits-and-fly-on arcade game that is Ace Combat.

Being a fan of flight simulators, owning many PC sims such as the legendary Jane’s series (including F-15, F/A-18, USAF, Longbow series, etc.), and having owned many of the Ace Combat series which I love, I was excited to hear of Aero Elite (Aerowings in Japan) coming to the United States for PS2. I reserved it, and picked it up, and was impressed.

Gameplay: 10/10
The real heart of this game is in the gameplay. Aero Elite utilizes the most advanced physics engine I’ve seen for any console. The handling characteristics, G-effects, flaps, lift, stall, and even the landing gear and arresting wires are reproduced faithfully. On one occasion, I landed too hard on a carrier, saw the landing gear buckle/bounce (in a replay) and watch the plane hop back into the air, but with one of the wires having been snagged, yanked back down and slammed onto the deck. Aero Elite not only allows for the flying of fixed-wing aircraft, but VTOL aircraft and helicopters, including the AV-88 and AH-64. The somewhat sluggish controls and various characteristics of helicopters such as managing the “torque” turn of helicopters are very realistic, and ultimately rewarding when mastered. I found the physics engine the most impressive of any aspect – weapon weights weigh you down (so don’t load up on extra weapons on recon missions), afterburners suck fuel, dumping fuel increases handling characteristics, and many more. Planes carry totally realistic, accurate, and custom weapons loads. Want amraams instead of sparrows? You got it. Rockets? Sidewinders? All-aspect or rear-aspect? I found the semi-active missiles accurate – you need to keep radar lock until they hit. The gameplay is great. In fact, the whole physics engine deserves a review of its own.

Structure: 9/10
The game contains an arcade mode, in which you take on a series of missions, vs. mode which is just basically a 2-player dogfight, training mode which is the “true” heart of the game, and Aero Meet, a sort of air competition with air-to-air, air-to-ground, maneuvering, and recon events. There is also a sub-mode called alert mode, which really goes to show that “this game is all business,” to quote a fellow gamer. Once you pass a few training missions, you can be called on at any time to do a mission or task – say you are in the options menu, or are looking at planes in the database (which is quite extensive with facts and plane history) and suddenly you might be given an alert and be scrambled to intercept an enemy plane. This gives a “real-life” feeling. There is no real ‘story-mode’, though, so it sometimes feels somewhat empty. There is also a free-flight mode in which you choose any plane or helo/vtol and explore environments ranging from cities to mountainsides, in which exploring them in detail may provide some benefits…

Graphics/Presentation: 7/10
The graphics are decent. Detailed, but decent. Upon starting and watching the intro, you immediately notice one thing – aliasing. Yes, jaggies. But, fortunately, they become nearly nonexistent during gameplay, which is a miracle. And, during replays, they are hardly noticeable!! I was very impressed. The graphic detail on some planes ranges from average (such as the A-7 and AV-88) to incredible, such as on the Su-27 and F/A-18C. The backgrounds vary from detailed to bland. The bay area level is great, whereas one of the canyon missions in which you must recon in for an Aero Meet mission is terrible. The presentation is adequate, though the box art on the back is, um, plain. It doesn’t give the feeling of a big-budget game.

Sound: 6/10
The sound of the engines and explosions is very mediocre. However, the music is not. I found at sometimes, addicted to the heavy, hard-driving rock, focused on heavy guitar rifts. Some soundtracks are far better than others. The soundtrack is not like the Ace Combat orchestra type, but is good for a different reason.

Replay value / Overall: 9/10
This game has incredible replay value. With over 60 planes to unlock in varied and sometimes, ingenious, intuitive, and in varying ways, it provides the great variety you’d like. Fly observation choppers, combat gunships, the Harrier, a variety of F-15s, fly Mitsubishi F-1s, fly F-102 drones, fly cargo planes and drop cargo, take photos in F-14s, fly in propeller-driven trainers, everything. For the serious enthusiast, you will surely find yourself in heaven. There are so many details, so many things to do, so many things to unlock. So strap in, prepare you F-16 with the weapons you want, and be ready – you never know when you’re heading to the options menu to save – you might just get scrambled.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/20/03, Updated 03/20/03