Welcome back to the world of Afterburner. Of course this series is fairly old, venturing back to 1987 in the arcades, but it has been one of the shining lights of Sega’s past. I do find it a little amusing though that this feather in their cap has spent so much time on the shelf, rather than being remade earlier. But at least now we get another shot with this series, and for that I am glad. The storyline involves Colonel Forge whom decides with a group of 12 other pilots to steal the world best planes and then sell them to the black market. It is your job as one of three pilots to destroy these planes so that they cannot be used against the government.
Each of these characters has a little something to prove, which adds a bit to the type of game you are playing. As Sonic you are tracking down not only your previous teacher, but also a girlfriend that betrayed you. Simply put you are a hot shot with many flight records involving time. As Bull you try and accomplish missions but also be a bit more destructive than other characters. This is because the contractors, which replace the additional destroyed merchandise, have realized that they are going to make a fortune if you destroy everything in sight. Thus they have decided to make it worth his time to destroy everything you can lock your weapons on. Finally for Shinsei, the lone female pilot, she must battle against male bigotry to prove that she deserves to be part of the elite. As most of the military is male and a bit sexist, so all videogames seem to indicate, they are waiting for her to slip up so that they may rip away her wings. She must prove that her name holds valour, as she must also follow in her father’s footsteps.
Well the Afterburner series has done fairly well in this game, and I can say that it is much better than your average revamped oldie series. The game is a bit more forward than other pilot games because it places you on a set rail to fly on. This was a little annoying because I fully wanted to explore the world, but they probably did not develop it as deeply wide wise as they did lengthwise. In the end it really is all about how you use your game, rather than how big it is. In that slick corridor of flight you will encounter plenty of enemies to keep you on your toes, but also parts of the map that are interactive.
Since you are on a straight path your movement range is fairly limited. Using the analog nub you will fly around in a circle of death as you move towards your target. Along the way you will encounter plenty of resistance, valued at more than the planes you are chasing after I would guess, which you also have the option of destroying. Each level has one set goal, mainly to shoot down a plane, but there are other sub-objectives that you can complete to earn extra cash on the side. Destroying enemies, ground or air, also have benefits like giving you extra money, but they may also offer other limited power-ups like refilling your life. Each level provides you with several lives, but if you wish to make the most out of the game, not only will you need to complete levels quickly, but without a fatality.
Controls are very simple, other than using the nub to fly. While flying you try to point the plane towards the enemy to fire off your weapons, but you also have a chance of obtaining a lock on them. Hitting the X button fires your machine guns in that general direction, while the triangle spins your plane horizontally to try and avoid attacks. Square will fire an air-to-air missile, while the circle will first an air to ground missile, but you must establish a lock on your enemies or else your missiles will fire off aimlessly. The right shoulder button fires the afterburners that rocket you forward on the dance floor and they can shake away any tails you have. If you would rather it be the other way around you can use the left shoulder button to activate your air brakes to slow the plane down. There is also the atomic afterburner that can be used on occasion, which is activated by pressing the left button and then holding the right one, which gives you the chance to fly faster longer than every before.
There are also upgrades and different planes that you can purchase between bouts of combat. There are plenty of different planes that handle differently, offer different top speeds and even larger amounts of payloads. Each is custom set to a different price as well, and to unlock them all you must spend plenty of time going through missions trying to accomplish all of the goals. They also have a limited amount upgrades that change how you play the game, like adding additional levels to the payload. They also included different paint jobs that only change the colour of your plane, which adds a cool factor to your jets.
Graphically the game looks very nice and it uses a bunch of effects to get the theme of speed across. Perhaps the best feature though involves the environment as it whips by, but also how it dramatically changes from level to level. The environment can also be slammed into with your plane, which generally means an instant death, so you will generally need to navigate around it. The sound effects are spot on with other flight games, mainly the weaponry, so it immerses you deeply into the game. Perhaps the best part of the music involves the sound, which pumps action beats at you like it was going out of style. Overall I think it is an above average game feature.
In the end, this is one of the better flying games out there in general. It deals with straight up arcade action, and it provides entertainment by the bucketful. This is a great handheld game because the 24 levels are served up in bit-sized pieces, and are fun to play. At times, after you upgrade your planes, the game can be a bit easy but then you can just ramp up the AI. If you enjoy flying games you will enjoy this game. If not, perhaps you will still find some enjoyment with the game. Wrapping up, Captain Gordon gives Afterburner Black Falcon a B.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com
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