Secret Weapons Over Normandy

"Its World War Two aircraft with Star Wars physics"

Overview:

Secret Weapons Over Normandy is an arcade action flying game set in World War Two.

Storyline: 7/10

You play as “Chase”, a volunteer pilot from America. You are enlisted into a allied fighter squadron called the “Battlehawks”. There, you meet up with a British pilot / instructor called “Trevor”. In the beginning, “Trevor” is there to help you learn the basics of a British fighter aircraft called the “Hurricane”. Soon, you will find him to be an extremely valuable wingman as you progress through the game.

Gameplay: 7/10

The gameplay in Secret Weapons Over Normandy is mission based. You complete a fix set of mission and progress through the game. There are also “challenges” available from time to time. Completing those “challenges” can earn you valuable aircraft and upgrades. The upgrades can be used to improve your plane's performance such as armor and armament. One problem in the storyline mode is that most of the events are inaccurate to say the least. One moment you are fighting the Japanese, then all of a sudden, German aircraft starts appearing at the horizon. Strange isn't it? Besides the storyline mode, there is also a two player mode and an instant action mode. Two player mode is simple. Play with a friend in split-screen. The instant action mode on the other hand lets you play a mission where you can select the number of opponents, types of aircraft and the number of enemies or wingman. Basically, its an air-to-air dogfight mode where the team which gets the most kills or score wins after the set time limit.

Lets move on to the plane physics department shall we?

As a hardcore flight simulator fan, I can say that it can really be a pain to get used to these planes in this game. Basically to summarize, the controls are arcade style. Two flight control schemes are available for you to choose. You will have the standard mode and the advance mode. In the standard mode, pushing the stick left directly turns the plane left. In the advance mode, pushing the stick left banks the plane left. In real-life, the plane should go left naturally. That doesn't happen in this game! The aircraft continues to go forward which personally I feel, “destroys” the whole advance feel of it. In other words, there is almost no use of using the advance mode unless you want a ridiculous challenge.

The dogfights on the other hand are even more of a pain. Basically, you spend more time locating the target than fighting. The dogfights are arcade style, cheesy and extremely fast-pace. You can think of it as a Star Wars game. Except those tie-fighters are wearing World War Two aircraft skin!

Players who are easily frustrated please take note. Secret Weapons Over Normandy has a pretty unbalanced difficulty making it a tough game for new players.

Graphics: 8/10

You can be very sure of many eye-candy moments in Secret Weapons Over Normandy. The planes, ships and terrains are extremely well detailed. Smoke, clouds, water, explosions and other weather effects are very well done.

Sound: 10/10

Oh my. Personally, I feel the sound is one of the best feature in this game. The highlight of this game's sound is the howling sirens of the Junkers JU-87 Stuka. The guys at Lucas Arts actually did recreate this awesome feature! Also to add, this game did use the actual aircraft sounds in live recordings so you can be sure your Hurricane sounds like a Hurricane and your Spitfire sounding like a Spitfire. Also, when there are planes around you, you can actually hear the other planes engine unlike other flight Sims where the world around you is “silent”. The sounds of explosions are equally well done. The music in this game is played using a live orchestra unlike other games where its mainly synthesized.

The voice acting is also pretty good. “Trevor” has an accurate British accent which suit the whole “British” nature of this game. The enemies you fight against also speak in their own language. Namely, the Germans and the Japanese.

Replay value: 6/10

There are several secrets to find in this game so you can expect some replay value here. There are also the instant action mode to heat things up a little bit. Also to mention are several cool video clips to unlock.

Overall: 7/10

If you don't mind arcade style flying games, you should do fine here. Think of it as a Star Wars game set during the 1940's.

Rent or buy?

Its better to rent this first to see if you like it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/06/03, Updated 12/07/03