PSP GAME REVIEW
Pilot AcademyThe PSP's first flight sim hits a little turbulence |
Product: Pilot Academy
| Developer: Kuju
| Publisher: Rising Star
| Format: PSP
| Genre: Simulation
| Players: 1-4
| Networking: wireless (adhoc)
| Version: Europe
There was a period in my mid-teens during which I spent an absurd amount of time playing Falcon on an Apple Macintosh. For the time, it was a highly detailed, highly advanced F-16 fighter jet simulation. And for inexplicable reasons that haunt me to this day, I played the game using a keyboard.
Much as I'd like to, the resulting degree of difficulty is not something even my – ahem – exceptional writing ability could do justice here. Let's just say I've since been convinced that if ever the unrealistic scenario of both pilot and co-pilot becoming incapacitated on a flight I happen to be on presents itself, I will happily volunteer to take over the controls. Because, ultimately, landing a commercial jet after piloting an F-16 via keys has got to be an effortless task.
Obviously, this is pure delusion with a not inconsiderable dash of hero complex – a powerful cocktail. The reality is that piloting any plane requires a skillset that only a minority adequately acquire, and the complexity of games such as Falcon serves to remind us of that fact.
Now we can add Pilot Academy to their ranks. Because if you thought the first PSP flight sim was going to be some easygoing affair intent on massaging your ego and convincing you that you really are Top Gun material, then you're in for something of a hard landing.
True, the game isn't a full-on flight sim – aside from directional input, controls are limited to throttle, rudder, flap settings and landing gear (and also weapons on military planes) – but its dynamics are accomplished enough to create the required illusion. So piloting a Sopwith Camel World War I bi-plane feels remarkably different from being in the cockpit of the presidential Boeing 747 or at the controls of my old, highly responsive chum, the F-16 Fighting Falcon – the characteristics of each of the 20-odd lovingly recreated aircraft on offer are exceptionally conveyed.
In fact, starting off in the tiny Cessna Skyhawk, it's an absolute joy to see the detail in its flaps working overtime as they respond to your unnecessarily vigorous commands before you subsequently develop the required delicacy to keep the plane's trajectory under control.
But the pleasure you get from realising that, despite the necessary shortcuts, you still have the core essence of a flight sim between your hands soon turns to annoyance at the recognition you'll never possess the delicacy necessary in order to play it to its fullest potential.
As mentioned, Pilot Academy is difficult. Part of this is intended, and we certainly don't mind a challenge (although we're not as huge fans of the sorts of difficulty spikes found here), but part of it is not. And that's where the game's lofty, commendable concept comes close to crashing down to Earth. Simply put, the PSP's analogue nub just doesn't offer the degree of refined control to pilot some of the aircraft with the precision required for many of the tasks.
At least the latter are pleasingly varied. The singleplayer game is split into lessons, missions and challenges, all of which are progressively unlocked as you successfully complete them. In addition, a Free Flight mode enables you to fly any of the available aircraft around the game's three environments at your leisure.
Challenges are the least serious episodes, usually involving short, acrobatic-based tasks such as flying through hoops, or an open barn. But that's not to say missions lack originality. Sure, the military side of things comprises your typical air-to-air, air-to-ground (or sea) and reconnaissance sorties, but the civilian portion of the equation displays a little more invention, such as photographing herds of elephants, crop-spraying pests, or flying a scientist into volcano craters so he's able to collect gas samples.
Yet, while the variety of content isn't in question, it's disappointing to see it further fail to reach the height it deserves due to areas that could so easily have been corrected. The music, for instance, is often grossly inappropriate and better switched off were it not for the fact that the sound effects are limited to the point of never fully engaging the player in the action (who would have thought there's such a thing as a silent afterburner?). The result is a drastic lack of the ambience that would have massively lifted the game's appeal.
As it is, Pilot Academy offers moments of great enjoyment that are unavoidably affected by both the game and the PSP's shortcomings.
Pilot Academy |
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A very welcome and mostly pleasant addition to the PSP game library, albeit one that flies a little lower than it really needed to
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