Player Review-Aerofighters Assault/Sonic Wings Assault/ ソニックウィングス アサルト (1998) Developers-Paradigm Entertainment Publishers-NA: Vic Tokai WW: Video System Series-Aero Fighters Platforms-Nintendo 64 Genres-Air Combat Simulation Modes-Single-player, Multiplayer
Being a fan of the Aero Fighters series, this game is embarrassing and a massive let down. It was like when Mortal Kombat finally went 3D and we got that cheesy, horribly voice acted mess of a game that was Mortal Kombat 4. This time it appears they tried to go for more of an Ace Combat/Pilotwings type of feel. Those games are an acquired taste, they are not for everyone. They are good for what they are, but you have to be INTO THAT.
First of all, this game is on the N64 and if you remember that console at all than you know how horrid that controller was. This is not the controller I want to be playing an aviation-based game on. Second of all, all the character, all the flavor, all the aesthetic choices that made the previous games unique, don't exist here. The playable machines are all super generic, the graphics aren't very nice to look at, and there are still different characters to choose from, but they are all pretty lifeless and boring unlike what you would be used to if you played the other entries in the series. Volk & Hien make their return to the pilot selection and so does Keaton but if you remember, the gimmick or the running gag with Keaton is that he just kept changing into these bigger/better robot bodies between games but in Aerofighters Assault, he's back to just being a normal human being.
The mission briefings are a nice added touch to the overall aesthetic of the game but everything else is so typical and vanilla that the game still struggles to feel like it's own unique experience. This is not fun. The missions sometimes take way too long to complete and you're not really doing anything interesting in them to begin with. The environments are damn near empty, the frame rate is choppy, and the gameplay is repetitive and one-dimensional.
Video System & Paradigm Entertainment shit the bed with this one. It's a far cry from where this series should have gone at this point. For a series as interesting and fun as Aero Fighters, I expected so much more. They took a huge risk making this a combat flight simulator as opposed to the top/down shoot'em up games we were used to. As far as I know Aero Fighters and Turbo Force are pretty much Video System's entire resume. They haven't really done anything else so it's sad to see their magnum opus destroyed like this.
THE GOOD -For N64 the graphics weren't that bad.
THE BAD -Turning a vertical scrolling shooter into a combat flight simulator is a bad idea especially on the N64 in 1997. That was a massive gamble to deviate to a new genre completely.
-Everything you loved about the series is pretty much gone. While they use some of the same characters, they stripped them of all their appeal. They tried to go so much more realistic and that's never really what made these games great.
I give AeroFighters Assault a 2.5 out of 10 BARELY PLAYABLE















