Air Conflicts set to drop bombs on PSP

As macabre as it sounds, we can't help but feel that if it was possible to travel back in time, it might not be such a bad idea to buy the rights to World War II. Just think of the royalties you could make given the endless stream of WWII themed games that have been released over the years. Tasteless, yes; lucrative, double yes.

At any rate, the latest title to make a plaything of history is Air Conflicts, an arcade flight simulator set against a WWII backdrop. It promises an authentic historical timeline and allows you to pilot planes for the US Air Force, Royal Air Force, Luftwaffe or Red Army Air Force (perhaps including the Kamikaze pilots of The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service would have been a little tasteless).

There are 13 non-linear campaigns promised, each with individual missions that total 240 including patrols, manoeuvres, strategic bombing, air support, air superiority, interdiction, paratroops and supply deployment.

For aviation enthusiasts there's also a 16-strong complement of aircraft including the Spitfire, Avro Lancaster, P-47 Thunderbolt, and the mighty B-17 Flying Fortress. An advanced ranking system with authentic medals and ranks is also included, which hopefully will be integrated into the promising eight-person multiplayer mode.

The PC original was pretty popular, and though these screens look a little rough around the edges this could turn out to be a nice fit for the PSP, especially given that there are very few flight sims on the system. Click 'Track It!' to catch our forthcoming review.