Secret Weapons Over Normandy

"Fight the good fight in the skies over Germany"

Introduction

World War II flight games seem to be very rare these days. People just seem to prefer to launch a Sidewinder missile at a distant target rather than get in their opponent's face with machine guns blazing. That’s what makes Secret Weapons Over Normandy a refreshing change of pace. The first mission taking place a few months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, you play as an American pilot recently transferred to Britain's Royal Air Force to help combat the Germans. After showing your skill, you join up with the Battlehawks, a covert and highly able squadron. With the Hawks, you'll do everything from dive-bombing Japanese destroyers at the Battle of Midway to intense mid-air dogfights against Germany's newest jet-propelled Me262s.

Graphics: 8/10

The plane models are fairly crisp with a good amount of detail. However, the graphics are not detailed enough to bog down the frame rate. Explosions are very impressive, with tanks sending fire and dust high into the air and downed fighters spitting flame and shrapnel as they plummet to the ground.

Sound: 7/10

The sound is, to put it simply, excellent. The music, composed by Michael Giacchino (Medal of Honor series) gives a sense of urgency and purpose to the missions and brings a feeling of fear and foreboding when your German rival squadron, Nemesis, approaches. The sound effects are great. Nothing is as satisfying as hearing your guns rip apart the armor of a German fighter. The voice acting, for the most part, is solid but some of the lines (especially your wingman Trevor's) lack energy. But this doesn't really hamper the experience.

Gameplay: 8/10

Ah, the most important category for a game and luckily, SWON doesn't falter. Using one of over a dozen planes, you fly missions involving destroying vital German airbases, defending a fleet of British ships and shooting down squadron after squadron of fighters. Targeting can't be easier with the red reticle that accompanies your HUD display (a feature real WWII planes didn't have but it's appropriate for a game) which tells you where to fire your leading shots. In addition to your machine guns, you get to use secondary weapons; bombs, 37 or 57mm cannons, unguided rockets and remote guided missiles, all of which are absolutely necessary if you want to do any damage to ground targets. An interesting feature is the ability to speed up or slow down time. So if you're 5 miles away from your target and don't want to wait, hit that speed up button and get there in half the time. Just don't expect the slow button to allow you to go Max Payne on everyone. It's really only meant to represent the feeling of time distortion that many pilots experience.

Replay Value: 7/10
I was able to beat SWON in about 14 hours with numerous retries (that was on easy, mind you). But after that, there are more difficulties and several additional planes to unlock (there are some rumors that you can unlock an X-wing and a TIE fighter since it's a Lucasarts game but I'm skeptical) so that adds a good amount of replay value.

Rent or Buy?
For those who are a little curious about this game or are casual fans of flight games, you should probably rent it first. But for any fans of flight games or WWII history, I would recommend you pick it up. I sure as hell did.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/03