Success or failure in missions at each “turn” of a dynamic campaign will affect how the battle as a whole will play out in successive missions, meaning you can easily lose yourself playing a dynamic campaign for an extended session of play. A Dynamic Campaign lets you rewrite history (cooperatively if you choose) during eight battles, such as the Battle of Midway or the attack on Pearl Harbor. Some Single Missions can be played online, while there is always the option to pick AI wingmen in a private match, or completely play offline. Each mission does make you feel like you are simply flying a sortie to do a single bombing run or Combat Air Patrol, but in some missions, flying back and forth almost takes more time than you’ll spend actually seeing any action. While the campaigns and missions are decent fun to play through, the mission design is disappointing. Aside from the two campaigns, a wealth of single missions can be chosen for the Mediterranean theater, Pacific Ocean theater, and Western and Eastern European fronts. On the upside, fighting your way through Birds of Steel‘s single-player components is a pretty lengthy endeavor, with a 1941-1942 Pacific campaign available for play from both the USA and Japanese viewpoints. It feels made for the harder control scheme options to maintain a fine balance between skill and challenge, and the Simplified controls just don’t offer enough of a challenge for most of the game. Suffice it to say, arcade combat flight sim aficionados should look elsewhere when it comes down to the combat mechanics. With unlimited ammo, you can drop one to three bombs before you have to wait a minute to “reload,” further reducing arcade fun if you are seeking it. Shooting down any enemy plane at an angle often feels more like the result of a lucky shot than that of complete mastery over the combat mechanics. There is always the option to switch to one of the other three planes in your wing, but crashing four times in a row when you are merely trying to make a turn is a less-than-welcome slap on the face if you are struck with a gamepad.ĭogfights are meant to portray realism rather than arcade fun, so don’t expect to singlehandedly wipe out entire squadrons of enemy planes on your own. Even the slightest nudge to the side at the wrong time can lead to a complete loss of control and a seemingly inevitable drop towards death. Meanwhile, the Simulator option may offer exactly what the “hardcore” crowd is looking for, but feels made for flightstick and throttle controls rather than a gamepad. The caveat of the distinction between the different control difficulties is that most players who are more casual fans of the genre will stick to the Simplified scheme, rendering most of the game a rather boring and unimpressive chore. Try to make a dive-bomb run on Simulator, and you’ll even need to extend the air-brakes to control your speed lest the stress of aerodynamic physics turns your plane into a heap of metal, crashing to the Earth below. Flying feels dangerous, as if humankind wasn’t meant to be inside a tin can with wings and guns attached to it, let alone using it to wage war in the skies over conflict zones. The flight control systems that lie beneath the hood make for an impressive feel, turning the mere act of controlling your airplane into as much of a challenge as actually completing objectives. G-forces will blacken or redden your screen, which is a nice visual touch that is long overdue on consoles. Planes will shake under the strain of speed and winds, making it hard to aim and lead your targets, while overzealously trying to make turns without regard for aerodynamics and airspeed will see you unceremoniously stall and spiral out of control. Realistic mode is the go-to mode Birds of Steel feels best tailored to, even if it is undeniably hard. The dedication to such authenticity also impacts the controls and combat mechanics which, depending on what you are looking for in a console flight sim, may put you on either end of the fun spectrum.ĭifficulty is defined by the flight controls, and comes in three variations - Simplified, Realistic, and Simulator - while options for limited fuel and ammo are also at your disposal. Players who look to Birds of Steel for historical authenticity will feel rewarded to say the least. That Gaijin really loves their aircraft comes as no surprise, and they truly deliver in this regard. Set during World War II, Birds of Steel offers a huge array of aircraft to unlock and fly, each with their own specific feel, stats, and a high level of interior and exterior detail.
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