Review
Played on: Wii
Released: 2008
Back in 2008 an anime titled The Sky Crawlers released, which I watched and really enjoyed. As a tie-in to the movie, Namco's Ace Combat team, Project Aces, made a flight action game as a prequel to the movie, also in 2008. However, it would strangely enough take two years before it reached western shores, releasing in 2010.
The tiny Sky Crawlers franchise; novel, movie and game, is a war themed story focusing on pilots flying aircraft inspired by WW2. However, the setting is an alternate history timeline than our own. The movie focuses on two corporations testing their aircraft against each other and using so-called Kildren; pilots genetically changed to stay in their youths forever. I highly recommend viewing the anime movie in addition to playing the game, it's a great watch!
The corporation part kind of fits perfectly with typical Ace Combat stories, especially Ace Combat 3 which also had a anime styled theme, and indeed this game inherits a lot of the typical traits of Namco's famous flight combat series. Even the mellow and thought provoking cutscenes, which are in the same style as the movie, could easily have fit into a typical Ace Combat aesthetic.
With a release in between the massive Ace Combat 6 on the Xbox 360 and the Call of Duty inspired Assault Horizon, reviews here, what kind of experience did Wii owners receive and how are the Wii Remote & Nunhuck controls?
Let's take to the skies for a closer look!
Although Sky Crawlers released during the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, the less powered Wii hardware results in a game that feels more at home in the PS2 trilogy of Ace Combat titles, visually. That said it has its own aesthetic, which differentiates itself a little from the realism focus of that trilogy.
Ironically, I've always wanted Ace Combat to try out a WW2 theme or propeller aircraft in general, and Sky Crawlers kind of fills that void! One could even draw similarities to Crimson Skies, review here, but this is sombre anime themed rather than the tongue-in-cheek Indiana Jones vibe. A darker and emotional plot, which works well, but is hampered by typical stereotype anime personalities and a lot of whiny, emotional youngsters. Perhaps, it comes over as more whiny because of the large amount of radio chatter, another less charming trait from the Ace Combat series.
The controls are where Sky Crawlers takes a dramatic turn in a new direction compared to the traditional controller options of Ace Combat. That said, if you're used to playing Ace Combat titles with a flight stick, the Sky Crawlers controls might be a tad closer to that!
You see, as a change of pace you swap the dominant hand you traditionally hold the Wii Remote with; the Nunchuck takes centre stage in your right hand, working as the flight joystick of your aircraft. But it's not the joystick on the nunchuck being used, but rather the gyro in the Nunchuck. You place it on your right thigh or hold it between your legs, like an aircraft. While the Wii Remote is placed on the couch next to me vertically working as a power handle; push it forward for more throttle and backwards for less.
The throttle feels right considering the propeller aircraft; increasing and reducing power feels more dramatic and necessary to adjust all the time compared to jet engines which spin up and down more smoothly. I found that simply holding the nunchuck steady and tiling it pitches, rolls and yaws your aircraft and works fine when everything is calm.
However, once the battle heats up, centring your aircraft again becomes tricky midway into a dogfight. In general, holding a steering device airborne with your hands always ends up becoming out of alignment, thus wireless steering wheels or joysticks are not exactly ideal compared to ones that are traditionally mounted to a table.
That said, it's a cool way to play the game and it mostly works fine. I went with the normal controls which horizontally stabilises the aircraft, denying it to traverse completely freely upside down, just to ease the difficulty of pitching your aircraft correctly. But you can absolutely play it with expert mode and have total freedom of your aircraft too. There's even a controller mode which lets you pitch your aircraft with the Nunchuck joystick, but then I feel the point of playing with Wii styled controls is lost.
To lighten the burden a little on the slower aircraft control there's a special aircraft manoeuvres button; pull the Nunchuck joystick in a direction, an arrow shows up which manoeuvre you’ve chosen, and pressing the A button to put it in action. I recommend tailoring which manoeuvres are mapped to which direction as you can add things like loops, barrel rolls and quick 180 degree turns too! The buttons on the Nunhuck are used for firing the main and secondary weapons; cleverly mimicking a flight joystick.
Completing missions with solid rankings will grant you unlock upgrades which can be mounted on any aircraft you prefer. Typically speed versus defence kind of choices. Apart from the bomber aircraft, I felt a lot of the aircraft blended into one. It's a problem that Ace Combat also had; with this kind of arcade flight physics, individual aircraft characteristics are lost. There's even a basic coop mode thrown into the mix, where a second player can join in to help fire the weapons.
Mostly I found the game a walk in the park on normal difficulty, but it's a little uneven towards the end. Coming over from countless Ace Combat titles, reviews here, I felt this was leaning too much over to the easy side, but I guess the audience for this game are a little different to that series.
However, the last two missions are tough, requiring tricky and fast manoeuvring. Just be aware of this prior to choosing difficulty when playing, as you can't change this at a later stage without restarting the entire campaign.
As mentioned, the visuals have a PS2 era Ace Combat vibe to them. Though, they're leaning more towards a colourful aesthetic rather than the realism angle Ace Combat goes for. There are some pleasant Mediterranean styled landscapes to fly over, as well as some neat sunsets. Although I didn't find any of them unique or stand out in any way. Visually it looks fine for the system and runs well.
With the outside camera working the best for me,you can use a cockpit view too, it's neat to see the various and quirky aircraft in front of you. My gripe is perhaps that there's sparse visual ground detail. It can look barren and lacking memorable environments. That said, there are ones that stand out; like attacking a castle fort or a giant zeppeliner base.
The music score is well done, building tension and sadness well when needed. It sounds different than the typical Ace Combat scores which all blend into one. Plus, there are some key tunes from the movie here which are repeated for familiarity. The actual sounds of the aircraft are tame though, there's lacking a thumping and loud sound from the guns, which I find is missed opportunity in combination with the noisy sound of propeller aircraft.
A short playthrough, with some cool unlocks to entice a second run. It's a concept that has translated well to the Wii controls but, as usual, ends up a less precise affair than the Ace Combat counterpart using traditional controllers. However, playing it with the default control scheme is kind of the point here and for that it works well. This is the Wii after all; gyro and original control methods is what the whole console is about.
If you own the console or are a huge fan of the movie, I'd recommend tracking this down. Both the console and game are reasonably priced and easy to get hold of. There's a fine flight combat game for those unaware of the franchise too. Just don't expect anything incredible here; it's mainly rather standard Ace Combat missions.
The anime presentation in cutscenes is a nice tie-in to the movie and gives a little more individualized touch compared to a typical AC title. The propeller aircraft are an interesting departure too. I can't think of that many other titles similar with this quality in the genre on the system. It's, obviously an easy decision if you're an enthusiastic fan of Ace Combat or the anime movie.
