Secret Weapons Over Normandy

"Great little air combat game"

Well having just played through this game, I have to say I enjoyed it alot, though you can see by my review it wasnt a outstanding game, but it was fun. This is a short review.

Graphics. 7/10. The graphics are pretty good, nothing that stands out as outstanding though. They are smooth and nice, with both day and night missions.

Sound. 6/10. Again, ok. The machine gun and weapon sounds are great, nothing like getting behind a AA gun and blasting stuff, and the missions have background music to them, but again nothing that stands out. You will be more worried about your missions than what music is playing.

Gameplay. 8/10. Very fun. The game doesnt have real-life physics to it, so you can easily fly upside down and fight half the battle if you want. You stall sometimes, but its nothing you worry about. Plenty of dogfighting, ground shooting, and even some behind a Anti-aircraft gun or in a bomber turrent.

Bad things.

1) Some features make the game way to easy. Yes, some missions are a little tough, and if you try for bonus points and objectives its harder, but a little button ( O) makes dogfighting a sinch. The "O" button puts you into a sort of slow motion mode, where you are able to react faster to things. This sadly has the outcome of making sure you never lose a air dogfight.

2) There are many cool planes in the game, but you really dont get to use most of them. Some planes you can only use during 1 mission, some planes you can only use during a "vs" mode, and many planes you wont use at all, since you might have 10 in inventory, and you only use your 1 or 2 best. Alot of the game was wasted putting pretty planes in your inventory, instead of actually using them on missions.

3) Replay value. Not much here. You have your regular campain missions, plus you can do them a bit different to get bonus and 2ndary objectives, but really once you do a mission, its the same thing over and over, there isnt any reason to do it again. After you beat the campain, you'll try out a few special planes in the "VS" mode, then you probably wont play anymore.

So overall its a great game, kinda easy though, basic shoot em' up flying game. I dont see much replay value, and I beat the campain in 2 days.

BUY or RENT. I suggest RENT. There isnt much to do after a few days of playing, so why pay 20-30 bucks for it when 6 bucks at blockbuster will do the same.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/03/04