Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge takes a simplified flight sim engine and takes you on a global adventure.
The dogfighting was often intense and even had me pouring of sweat at times. The story kept me interested for the most part though it became a little repetitive later on.
The ability to choose fixed guns instead of just aircraft was also fun. I often found myself taking refuge behind one of the guns in my balloon.
However, I have a few serious gripes. First and foremost, the freedom to go off and do other things as some reviewers imply is much more limited than I anticipated. You had very little flexibility to give up on the main story and just fly around. Freedom? Not really! I would have thought that something akin to Freelancer missions could easily have been generated.
Along the same lines, there was no way for me to revisit older maps once completed. The possibility of flying aircraft acquired later on maps played earlier held a certain appeal. It would have been relatively easy to do and would have enhanced the longevity of the game.
The maps were beautifully crafted but just a little too cramped for my liking. I would have happily sacrificed a proportion of eye candy for a slightly bigger map.
Finally, the game was just too short. I finished it in about four (admittedly extended period) sittings. Now that it is done, I have not compulsion to play the single player game again since there would be essentially not variety.
The game did lock up on me a few times also, which was a little dismaying for a console game.
I also tried some split-screen head-to-head. It was fun for a while but 1-on-1s become a little tedious after a while since the reduced height of the half-screens make it more difficult to react quickly enough when your prey comes into view.
Have not tried it on Live yet.
Overall, not a bad effort but could have been so much more. I would give it a B- score.
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