
	Platform Playstation 2 Genre Flight Sim Publisher Sega Developer AM2 ESRB T (Teen) Released Q1 2003

- Over 60 aircrafts - Quick Load Times - Vigorous training missions - Good Presentation

- Weak visuals - Average sound - Poor choice of missions - Multiplayer lacks depth - Terrible controls - Too much emphasis placed on training - Cannot save progress through arcade mode

Review: Echelon (PC) Review: Starfighter Special Edition (XB)
Newsletter
Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly. Enter E-Mail Address Below: Subscribe \| Unsubscribe

Aero Elite: Combat Academy

Score: 5.0 / 10

There haven’t been many flight action games on the Playstation 2 during its three-year history. Some notables include Ace Combat 4 and Lethal Skies. Almost any flight action fan knows that Ace Combat 4 is the king of the skies for PS2, but ever since Sega announced their new flight title I was excited to dive right in and see it outplays Ace Combat 4.

To start off with Aero Elite has over 60 authentically modeled aircraft ranging from harrier-type jets to military helicopters. So you’ll get a chance to jump into an apache gunship and an A-10 Tank Killer. Aero Elite includes Quick Missions, Free Flight, Training and Vs. modes, but Aero Elite tries to strive in one particular field other games don’t. The game’s training mode has been given extra special attention for those simulation fans and features all the repetition that entails. (No sexy Top Gun instructors either.) There is one other mode, which is worth mentioning: the Aero Meet 2002. The Aero Meet is a basic competition, which will help you prepare for the real combat missions. There are four categories the Meet is divided into: air-to-air combat, surface-to-air combat, aerial maneuver, and aerial reconnaissance. With enough points in each category you can progress to the next competition.

Advertisement

- Playstation 2 Game Reviews
- Simulation Game Reviews
- Reviews of Games Developed by AM2
- Reviews of Games Published by Sega

The arcade mode offers different sorties, but honestly the missions aren’t very interesting and seem to get repetitive quite quickly.

You’ll have several missions in a row-taking place over the ocean and then you’ll switch to another location. The game doesn’t offer a good variation when it comes down to mission structure. That is not the worst part; you cannot save your progression through the arcade mode. The equipped weapons make your aircraft seem awfully

Advertisement

weak and not very effective against enemy combatants. When you shoot a missile it seems to zip away and about five or ten seconds later it’ll finally try to strike the target, with a majority of the time missing or doing little damage to the target. Another disappointment is how the multiplayer mode is not even available until you have achieved certain goals, and when you unlock the multiplayer mode you’ll be disappointed by how poorly the Vs. mode is put together. The multiplayer doesn’t offer much excitement when compared to the likes of Ace Combat 4.

The game has a nice slick presentation, with amazing cut-scenes but when you enter the actual in-game graphics you’ll be shocked at the poor visuals. The environments look terrible and at some points I thought I was playing a PSOne game. I guess this explains why the load times are so quick. The only upside to the in-game graphics are the nicely modeled aircrafts. Even though Ace Combat 4 is over a year old, its visuals blow Aero Elite out of the water.

Audio is very important in any game, but most important in combat style games – the audio creates emotion and atmosphere. It seems to have an 80’s feel to it, and it makes the game even more difficult to get into because of this lack of emotion felt while playing. You’ll hear your normal dispatches from HQ and mission details and updates and so on, but the music is surprisingly dull.

One of my biggest gripes is the clunky control. The aircrafts handle terribly. The addition of helicopters to a flight simulation game sounds intriguing at first, but they are even more difficult to control than the fighter jets. Frustration is likely for those inexperienced with flight sims.

Aero Elite is more of a simulation than arcade, which may seem good at first, but it's not. The game seems to place a larger emphasis on training rather than real missions you’ll fly in the game. Aero Elite is difficult to recommend even with the lack of flight simulation games because of all of its flaws. I really had high hopes for Aero Elite, but I guess I’ll just go back and play Ace Combat 4 now. (I would I highly recommend picking up Ace Combat 4, especially considering it’s a Greatest Hits title now.)

- Siddharth Masand

(April 19, 2003)