Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

"A great fast-paced arcade game."

INTRODUCTION
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge is without a doubt the best arcade dog fighter Xbox has to offer. Either offline or on line this game shines. This is the second installment of a successful franchise.

GAME PLAY 9/10
Anyone can pick up and play this game. It's one of those games that are easy to play if your new and hard to master. There are a variety of planes to choose from and download. Thats right, download, to this day maps and planes are still being made and uploaded to Xbox Live so you can download them. All of the planes in the game you can upgrade provided you have enough money and tokens. Upgrading planes increases speed, armor, and firepower. You will need to upgrade if your going to survive through story mode. You get money by hijacking Zeppelin's(Big Ships) or by doing jobs. You get tokens by finding where they are hidden. The controls are responsive and easy to get used too. In Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge even the hardest difficulty setting is fairly easy. On Xbox Live Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge is superb. Many people still play on line and there are a variety of game modes. These include Dogfight, Team Dogfight, Flag Heist, Keep Away, Team Accumulate. There is virtually no lag on Live. The only problem is when you are hit by gunfire it takes a second or two before the game registers you were hit though. All in all game play is very solid.

STORY 6/10
The story's not very entertaining. You really don't feel like you care what happens to the game characters because there is so little story and interaction. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone so I'll be brief. The main transportation is planes. This is set in an alternate United States in the early 1900's. You are Nathan Zachary and are the leader of the Fortune Hunters. You are basically "air pirates". The story is predictable and there are no really big twists you can predict whats going to happen next.

GRAPHICS 10/10
Wow, this game has been polished to take full advantage of the Xbox. The water looks real, and shows off reflections. Planes leave vapor trails, the sun glistens and planes and character models are done really well. When enough health of your plane is gone you will catch fire and smoke. When you shoot water with your machine gun the water jumps up, and if you happen to run into the water it splashes on the screen and runs down. This is one of the best parts of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.

SOUND 10/10
Sounds very convincing. Everything from your machine gun fire to your rockets launching. Voice acting is well done, top notch work. The music fits the right situations, for the most part there will be faced paced music when dogfighting. You will hear your plane stall at and bullets hitting metal that sound exactly like you would imagine. The sound really stands out.

PLAY TIME and RE-PLAYABILITY 9/10
The story mode takes a good 18 hours to finish. After you beat it though there is no real incentive to play it again. There is nothing to unlock or earn. Although if you get on line you will find you can invest many hours in this game just because it's so fun to dogfight.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION
All in all this is a very solid game. I would say buy it since it's fairly cheap now and if you could find it at even $30 it would be a steal. Buy it and get on line, and prepare to be blown away

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/17/04