Over G Fighters

"Welcome gentlemen to Top Gun."

At the time of this review, I have beaten the game on Beginner and am now going back through on Expert. Ace Combat 6 has been released and while it is more glamorous and "fun" looking (I have played the demo), I still reserve a special place for Over G.

I have delved a little more into Over G Fighters than the usual reviewers. I've blown through 5-10 missions with ease, perhaps restarting once or twice due to death. Then I've been halted on the same mission for a WEEK (that's right, seven days) straight. This is a game that rewards patience and a steady mind. Yes, mind. Mental stability, just like real-life pilots. I would say with the combination of physics and individual maneuverability of your planes, this is as real as it gets, folks.

Welcome to Top Gun
If you've ever played Air Force Delta Storm for Xbox, you'll get a feel for Over G's scenario mode. You're given a map with labeled icons. They vary from Recon to Escort to Elimination to Scramble, etc, etc. Once you complete a tier of levels, another tier unlocks and you continue on until the final mission, which is generally a doozy.

Recon is very simple: You are designated a waypoint. You occasionally takeoff, but most times, you're in the air as the mission starts. You fly. You reach your waypoint. Bogies appear on your 1 o'clock. You engage. Splash a couple of MiGs. It's over. Escort is a little harder, especially during the latter stages. You are escorting a defenseless plane (AWACs, Tanker, 747) and you must engage all threats to your mission. On Expert difficulty, you do not have the luxury of infinite missles, so target acquisition and smart engaging is a must to survive. If you run out of missiles (which is very likely), you will have to switch to guns and trust me, that will be brutal! Scramble is straight fighting from the get-go. Most times it is an unexpected attack on your base and all fighters must scramble to eliminate airborne threats.

Your missions are color coded: Green, Yellow, Red, relating to the danger level. Here is a "typical" green level. You start out in the sky at 3000 ft, your radar lights up as a target comes within range. They're 1 o'clock high and you raise your nose to meet them. A humming ring goes through the cockpit and you unleash an A120C medium range radar missile. Ten seconds later (according to your HUD, which counts down until moment of impact) SUCCESS! flashes across your screen. Yes, these don't take very long. About a minute, if you're (un)lucky. About five minutes there are plenty of targets. Honestly, they're short because they're easy missions. In the first three scenario maps.

Then it gets different. Here is a "typical" end mission in the later half of the game.

You takeoff from an airfield, in a squadron of 6. It's awesome to see each plane in front of you rise in unison as you do the same. You climb to an altitude of 10,000 feet and disengage your afterburners. Your target is approximately 30 miles north of your position so you practice barrel rolls, Immelman's, etc. As you near your rendezvous point, a blaring warning pulses through the cockpit. You've been locked on by a bogy at your six o'clock low. The radar blip that suddenly appears changes into two bogies and both have you locked. You order your wingman to cover your six as you invert and dive and your vision reddens as the blood rushes into your head. The warning suddenly turns into a loud buzz as a missile is launched at you.

You calculate the distance from missile launch to your plane and dispense chaff/flares as you suddenly pull up. Your vision goes from red to black as all the blood rushes out of your head and the buzzing is getting louder. You pull 2 g's as you climb right for the sun but the missile, travelling 3 times your speed, plants itself in your left tail-pipe and you explode.

You put down the controller, pissed off, because you wasted ten minutes just flying to your destination only to be shot down by the first missile launched at you.

Who's fault is that? You or the game?

The correct answer is you. Because this game is real. The airplanes are real. The physics are real. The missiles are real. In fact, reading up on tips, I learned that Russian missiles will continue on their course until they hit you, while American missiles will predict where you will be for interception.

Real = Based on Real Life counterparts.

This is a difficult game. The learning curve is not ten minutes or 30 minutes, or even an hour. This is, like true flying (which I know nothing about), an art. It is an art to dodge 3 consecutive missiles and still line up your shot. It is an art to go head to head against an F-16 or, if you're nuts, an F-22. It is an art to land. It is god-like if you can land on a carrier...manually.

Gameplay
Since we've established the game is not for the weak or achievement seeking type, let's discuss gameplay. The physics are brutal. You can go Mach 1 (approx. 660 knots/hr), but don't expect your F-15 to do a tight, smooth bank. Your plane has to bleed off the speed. The thumbsticks do a good job of implementing control over your plane and if you were good with the control scheme of Crimson Skies, expect the same here, only more realistic. You may feel the controls are on the sluggish side, but it's more likely to do with your plane. However, I do recommend that you change your Control setting from Arcade to Realistic.

1 missile is not equal to 1 kill. Most times, it's true. But damage is based on placement of the missile, not just a hit. Therefore, a direct meeting of AMRAAM to cockpit ensures death while AMRAAM to tailpipe may not be so. This is hard to determine when you can unleash a barrage of missiles (NOT RECOMMENDED) from 20 miles out, but it is real life. I have no complaints.

Bogies can spawn after you clear an area, which is a little cheap, but once you die, you realize it's a scripted event and you can compensate for that. Due to the difficulty of the missions, you will rely more on dying and figuring out the next step rather than "top gunning" it out.

Graphics
Plane models are great. The sky is great. The land is great if you're up high. Down low...not too good. Certainly not Ace Combat graphics, that's for sure. But the planes are be-au-ti-ful and well detailed. The water texture is plain and boring, but how beautiful can you make that?

Framerate is smooth as butter and once you get really good, you can take down bogies from the Chase cam and watch your maneuvers from outside the cockpit. It's a marvelous feeling when you properly do an Immelman.

There is a replay function and it serves it's purpose, but you can really notice the plainness of the game when you view it from a Cinematic angle. However, from the perspective of your plane, it's a different story. Especially when you watch a segment where you dodge three missiles in a row.

Replayability
Scenario-wise, you want to replay because there are planes that are unlocked through each level. You can't get them all on one play so a second go is a must. There are over 20 planes to unlock, each with their own weakness and strength. The favorites are all here: F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, F-22, Su-27, Su-33, MiG-29, along with some specialty planes like the F-117, A-10, and the Blue Angels (F-16, F-18 variants). If you manage to beat the game, you'll want to get these.

Once you feel you've earned your wings in missions, you can customize air battles with a scenario mode, which pits you against an array of targets, ranging from Fighters to 747s to ground targets to Battleships. Pretty much anything you've encountered in Campaign, you can fight against here. You can battle it alone or with a wingman of your choice. The options are almost limitless, but the most fun is against other fighters. I prefer going solo against a squadron of F-22's. The chaos is...unimaginable.

And then there's online. Like all games, there is an eclectic band of gamers that play this game regularly. I am not, because the moment I went up in the sky, I was painted with 4-6 missiles. Being the green rookie I was, I was shot down plenty of times. And now...well, let's just say, my game's sharpened up quite a bit. The community for this game is passionate and there are even air shows offered in certain rooms, which goes to show the appreciation for physics in this game. So if you've read this far, you're intrigued. If you think you got what it takes to be a Top Gun, come prove it.

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/24/08

Game Release: Over G Fighters (US, 06/27/06)