"A Relatively Slow Paced, Overlooked Helicopter Action Game"

Many games are frequently overlooked these days, and at times, it's understandable; it's very easy for games such as Blades Of Thunder II to become lost amongst a sea of higher profile titles, or to simply be ignored since it's the sequel to a mediocre Gameboy Advance game of the same title.

But truth be told, as of yet, Blades Of Thunder II is a genre of a game which we have seen very little of on the DS - flight, more specifically, helicopter flying. True, we do have other flying games in the forms of Star Fox Command, Freedom Wings and Top Gun, but none of these operate the same way that Blades Of Thunder II does.

Gameplay
While two of the aforementioned other games put you in a jet or a jet-like plane that's constantly moving and you can only speed up and speed down while navigating a confined area, and the other is more like a traditional flight game, Blades Of Thunder II is an action game, through and through. You fly around in your Helicopter, in which you can strafe side to side, move forward or back or stop in place to get around. Turning is done in an FPS fashion, where you can either use the touch screen or the buttons (ABXY), and firing is also done this way.

You have maps that can range from sort of small to quite large, and you must navigate around these, completing various objectives such as destroying all of a certain building or taking out certain enemies. This is done with an arsenal consisting of a machine gun, missiles, and homing missiles; not much variety to be had here, but it is effective. While navigating these maps, you can find upgrades for your weapons, which some may see as a slight RPG element.

The action is somewhat slow going. If you fly into a swarm of enemies, the game can be quite a formidable one as far as making you act fast and fight hard goes. However, you also have the option of staying at a distance and picking off your enemies as if you were sniping, which can cut the thrill level down a bit, as well as the danger and the intenseness of the game.

On the back of the box, though, the game promises "Pre-flight strategic planning" and "Gain intelligence through spy network", neither of which seem to be activities that you can actively perform. Still, this does not take away from the game as a whole, which is a solid action game.

Score: 8/10

Graphics
One thing which stunned me about Blades Of Thunder II is that some of the levels were really nice to look at. For the most part, the visuals in this game will not blow you away, but it is proficient, no less, looking somewhat similar to a Playstation game. They're competent, but don't expect to fall out of your chair over them; the helicopters are nicely done, as are the terrains, but nothing which stands out too much.

Except for a particular level, which has stuck with me ever since I first played it. In this level, you must fly through a sort of mountain range or valley, where water runs below you, and the sky is painted orange (I do not recall if it's sunrise or sunset, however). Added into this are the sounds of chirping birds and what not, and you have a very atmospheric level that's great to look at.

Score: 8/10

Control
The controls in Blades Of Thunder II are somewhat of a toss up. On one hand, it's pretty easy to control the game with the D-Pad and the ABXY buttons, but on the other hand, the touch screen controls could have been a bit better. Since the ABXY method of aiming is not as accurate as one would like, you would hope that the touch screen would provide for better accuracy. While it works, it doesn't seem to have the same smooth control as other games which use it for aiming, such as Metroid Prime: Hunters. Still, it's proficient, and when you adjust to whichever control method you choose, you'll be flying like a pro in no time.

Score: 8/10

Sound
In many games like this, sound isn't a real huge thought. Truth be told, I don't recall there being any music in this game, but it never seemed to matter. The sounds that are in the game, though, are clear and sound great, from the gunshots and missile fire, to explosions and taking hits from enemies. Typically, this would probably receive a 7 or an 8, but due to their choice to include atmospheric sounds (which I had mentioned earlier), I just have to bump this up by a point.

Score: 9/10

Difficulty
In all honesty, the difficulty in this game is up to you. I said earlier that you could choose to fire at your foes from a distance, or to take an up front approach, and deciding which of these two to use will determine just how difficult this game is for you. If you sit at a distance, you essentially remove all difficulty from the game, as it's very hard to be killed - at the same time, you can make the missions take a very long time. If you go in to battle with your enemies up front, you can be blown to pieces in moments if you're not good enough. I rather like the contrast, as it does force you to use a bit of quick thinking to decide what's the best way to approach the situation.

Score: 8/10

Re-playability
This is where games either hurt or shine, and I must admit, Blades Of Thunder II doesn't have the most replayability in the world. You can decide to go search for all of the upgrades for your helicopter around the various maps, dogfight with your friends with Wireless Multi-Card play, or play the Free Flight mode. It has some things to do, but chances are, unless you have friends to fight with, you might not be coming back to this title much.

Score: 7/10

Overall
In the end, it really depends on what you like in your games. If you don't care at all for flight games or helicopter games, then Blades Of Thunder II is most likely not going to change your mind. On the other hand, if you love flight games and wish the DS had more of them, Blades Of Thunder II was released at a budget price of $19.99 and would be worth a try for you.

Score: 8/10*

*Score is rounded to the nearest whole number.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/07