AirForce Delta Storm

"Not your normal flight Sim, but a wonderful fighter game!"

Well I've always been a flight sim fan, so as soon as I got my X-box I picked this up fast. And I've got to say I'm quite happy.

Graphics: 9.3/10

Nothing short of amazing. The textures, planes, replays look great. You can see the flaps, tail, and rudder all move in perfect detail. Even the afterburners change depending on the time of day/weather it is. (Ex. At night a glow surrounds the plane when afterburners are turned on at night.)

Sound: 5/10

THUD! The sound is the only thing that irritates me in this game. 80's music is rather.....annoying after some time. It's not all bad though, some levels it's quite fitting.

Control: 8/10

This is very nice. There are 3 types of control: Novice, Expert, and Ace. Novice makes your plane unable to roll, but you turn quite fast. Expert/Ace is for those who enjoy flight sims (meaning realistic), such as myself.

Gameplay: 8.25/10

Many ups and downs. there are 2 types of ways to play: Campaign and Free Flight. Once you finish a mission in Campaign it is unlocked and put into Free Flight. You take control of planes which you can buy at will at any base. Be warned though, once you crash your plane, you lose it, though you can buy it back or use another one In the end there's a total of 73 planes to unlock. You go from base to base working your way through enemy controlled areas, just to get to the mission. I find it a nice change from Mission 1 to Mission 2 to Mission 3 type setup seen in most games. The missions can range from destroying a enemy fortress, to taking down some elite ace. The only problem I found is that there are some missions that are repeated with slight variations (Ex. weather/time). The one major flaw I found was that there is no multiplayer.

Story: 8/10

Not bad, your fighting with the Allies in a war with the United Front, who are bent on controlling all resources. The story doesn't ever get very in depth, but is serves it's the game well.

Overall: 8/10

Don't be fooled, both flight sim fans and casual gamers alike will enjoy this game. I've heard there have been shortages of this game and Gamestop and other retailers have stopped carrying this game, and that's a shame. This game is too fun to miss.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/17/02, Updated 01/17/02