"We have incoming - another great arcade game!"

Let me start this review off by saying Incoming is one of the best arcade games I have played for the PC. Its ultimate fun at its best, and it has lasted me through many years of excitement. But what really makes Incoming that good, even when not many people have heard about? Well, let's take a look:

Graphics -
The graphics are one of the greatest things about this game, period. There is no doubt about it that incoming delivers 3D action at its best. However, don't be too excited just yet for Incoming is a really old game and most likely cannot complete with some of the games already out in the industry. No, Incoming doesn't include bump-mapping or any other fancy pixels shading you hope to find or will find in the games currently out. However, the scenery will make you go ''Wow!'' several times I might add. Some of the sceneries you see in this game take place around a factory, in the Arctic, around NASA, and much more (not to spoil the fun of the game).

Final Category Score - 9/10.

Sound -
Okay, nothing fancy here folks. Move along. The soundtrack includes some pretty average techno-style songs you might hear now-a-days with some beat included. You know, the songs you might hear while experiencing an action scene from an action movie. Other things you might hear is your weapons going off, flying spaceships, the surroundings and movement of your vehicle, and other stuff as well. I really didn't take care much for the music, but to summarize it all up, I think you might handle and sometimes enjoy the soundtrack.

Final Category Score - 8/10.

Controls -
The controls were a little bit unique as I like to call them. But then again, so other 70% of the other titles on the PC. Learning curve is about 30 minutes to fully master the game. Things you might want to master is piloting your spacecraft, firing a turrent, and controlling a tank. Firing a turrent was pretty basic (fire button, and arrow keys). Controlling the tank was not that hard too (moving around, and firing your canons and machine guns). However, when piloting a spacecraft (which you will be doing), you will need to go up, say to 50 feet. This is done by the A key (increase attitude), and Z (decrease attitude). Once there, you can only fly at that height. Quite annoying, at least for me.

Final Category Score - 7/10.

Gameplay -
Here we go. Incoming takes place way into the future. Humans are happy and as always created weapons of ultimate destruction. No, they don't start World War 3, however, they do make contact... and it was bad. The Aliens that were made contact with, automatically started a war between us and them (don't ask why). This is were you begin the gameplay.

The main goal to Incoming is to protect. You will control a big gun turrent whereas you will need to gun down incoming foes. Then you will control a tank and destroy more foes. Lastly you will pilot a spacecraft to destroy the remaining foes. This is switched around several times. There are also four major levels in a game - Each level sliced up into around 10 parts, each part being rather short to long (don't worry, it'll last you a good deal) with the last part including bosses. Continues are included so you can't die a lot of times, otherwise - back to start!

The final thing about the gameplay is that, it really isn't all about beating the game, its about having fun. You won't care if you live or die until you finally begin to get mad when you haven't gotten to the next level. The game difficulty on a scale of 1-10 (10 being very hard) is an 8, close to a 9. It really isn't that hard, and you might make it to level 4 (which is almost impossible to get to) however, I had to become a master before I could even get passed level 2. Don't worry, there are cheat codes to help and assist.

The only major downside is the lack of multiplayer. This game would have been so perfect if it were not for the multiplayer. However, its still fun without it.

Final Category Score - 9/10.

Hits and Misses -

Hit:
+Excellent gameplay.
+Amazing graphics.
+Fun for a long time.

Miss:
-Lack of multiplayer.
-The controls/soundtrack don't send you into a frenzy.

To buy or not to buy?
In all, this is a great game to add to your classic PC gaming collection or onto your harddrive. It will last you a while and will bring a new experience, and a fun one at that. If you want to try it, there's lots of demos on the Internet of this beauty. If not, I imagine you can get this game cheap at any electronics store such as Best But or Circuit City. The decision is yours, however, I personally recommend it at a great Arcade game.

Final Reviewed Score: 9/10 - Amazing.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/03, Updated 05/30/03