AirForce Delta Storm

"A good addition to any Xbox collection."

The Air Force Delta series is Konami's answer to the much hailed Ace-Combat series. It takes a more arcade approach, so This is no flight-sim in case you are wondering. Air Force Delta was a Dreamcast launch title, and was one the system's best games. It incorporated great controls, awesome gameplay, and a valiant attempt at a believable story. The solid controls, and great gameplay remain intact, but Air Force Delta Storm suffers from some glaring problems. It was originally intended for release on the Dreamcast, but the system's unceremonious end brought Konami's plans of a Dreamcast release to a screeching halt. It was then rushed to meet the launch of the Dreamcast's spiritual successor, the Xbox. Enough of my ramblings, let's break it down.

Gameplay:
The game is amazingly still fun to play, The short, but action-packed battle sequences are great. The game gives you different mission types to try and keep things from getting stale. However, they failed miserably. Several of the missions are used twice, they simply assigned a different name to the second one, and gave it a different briefing. This can really kill this game for some people, having to do the same mission over again, just with a different label is the very definition of rehashed levels. The game does let you go on seek and destroy missions at your whim, you can enter a certain waypoint and just wipe out every fighter in the area. It is the AFDS view on "free roaming". You can take to the sky anytime and take on the enemy, these missions allow you to fatten your wallet to purchase better aircraft. To advance the game though you will have to complete a "story mission" to advance the game. The rehashed levels bring down the gameplay aspect of this game.
9/10

Graphics:
Simply put, These graphics are eye-popping. The water, the sun, The way the sun reflects off the water in sea battles. The planes are very well rendered, looking almost like a mirror image of the real life planes they are modeled after. The landscape looks really good while soaring 30,000 feet above it, and while the quality drops the closer you get the landscape looks very convincing. If I didn't know better I'd say that a launch title has better graphics than many current games do, which it does.
10/10

Controls: There are three different control schemes, each more advanced depending on your skill level. The novice controls are clunky, but designed so that you won't spin your craft out of control by pulling stunts you're not ready for. The advanced controls are much more responsive and allow you to pull off all those fancy moves you've wanted to try ever since you first saw Top Gun.
9/10

Story:
You were expecting a blockbuster story perhaps? Well, this is a flight-combat game, and it comes along with a clichéd World War III story.
2/10
Audio:
The music is awesome, it's got a cool little rock soundtrack to it that really enhances the mood of those tense air battles. The sound effects leave a little to be desired though. But the sounds are convincing enough to not spoil the semi-realism the game produces.
8/10

Rent/Buy
If you are a fan of these types of games, and by some god given miracle find a rental store that has a copy, I say go ahead and rent it. If you are one of the few thousand who owned the original on Dreamcast, and were left craving more five years ago, then I suggest you hunt down a copy of this and buy it.

Overall:
All in all this game is decent, and worth checking out if you want a game like Ace Combat, as Air Force Delta Storm is the Xbox's only decent answer to the series. In short, this game will hugely disappoint newcomers expecting a game to rival Ace Combat: Shattered Skies, it really only appeals to already existing fans of the Dreamcast original, or to those who have Strike on PS2 and are interested to see what they missed in Storm.
8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/15/04, Updated 10/02/05