The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces<\/em> may not take Project Aces — Namco\u2019s internal dev team responsible for the vaunted Ace Combat<\/em> series — out of its genre comfort zone, but to an extent it is a significant departure for a studio so closely tied to one of modern gaming\u2019s most respected, longest-running franchises. For one thing, it is the studio\u2019s first Wii title; and secondly, it breaks out a motion control scheme that I don\u2019t believe has been tried with other flight games on the platform before.<\/p>\n

Project Aces are masters of the flight combat genre — they\u2019ve proven that time and time again with Ace Combat<\/em> — so it should come as no startling revelation that The Sky Crawlers<\/em> too is a competently designed flight combat game. But is mere competency enough to get this game flying high with the Wii’s elite? Read on! <\/p>\n

Although the developers wisely included optional control schemes for gamers preferring to use either a Classic Controller or an old GameCube pad, the star of The Sky Crawlers<\/em> is its motion control setup. By default, the game is controlled by holding the Nunchuk in your dominant hand and tilting it left, right, up and down to turn and increase \/ decrease altitude while holding the Wii Remote in your off hand and using it as your aircraft\u2019s throttle by pulling it up or down to increase \/ decrease speed. However, for me personally, this was an awkward way to play, so I chose to control the throttle with my dominant right hand and handle steering with my left hand, and it felt much more comfortable.<\/p>\n

Other aircraft actions are handled by regular controller buttons. For example, you can perform barrel rolls, flips and other evasive maneuvers by tilting the analog stick and pressing the A button \u2013 you get to choose which maneuvers to hotkey to each of the analog stick\u2019s eight direction angles too, which is a nice touch. <\/p>\n

Another neat mechanic is the Tactical Maneuver Command. When you lock on to an enemy plane a yellow circle surrounds their blip on your radar, and by maintaining close proximity within this circle a three-tiered meter begins to fill. Then, once at least one of the tiers has filled you can tap the A button to engage a tactical maneuver automatically steering your plane into perfect attack position behind your target. Of course, as you begin to face more skilled pilots, the success of these maneuvers requires filling your TMC meter to its second and third tiers before use; otherwise your attack is likely to be evaded.<\/p>\n

Overall, the controls work wonderfully. The Sky Crawlers<\/em> is the first Wii flight combat game I\u2019ve played that comes close to replicating the precision and fluidity of an actual flight stick controller, and that\u2019s a pretty impressive accomplishment. <\/p>\n

Project Aces should also be commended for crafting such an adaptable control scheme. If you\u2019re weary about hopping into the cockpit with the motion controls, there are three available control settings (along with tutorials) to ease you along. Playing with Beginner controls essentially puts you on auto-pilot, only allowing you to dive \/ ascend a small amount, and also providing an auto-balancing feature that helps to level out your aircraft. Jumping up to Normal deactivates the dive \/ ascend limitations, but still lends a hand with plane balance. And then when you are ready to take the training wheels off altogether you can switch on the Expert controls for complete freedom of maneuverability, including full left and right yaw control with the d-pad. If you follow that progression you\u2019ll be an ace pilot in no time!<\/p>\n

The Sky Crawlers<\/em> plays great and is brimming with exhilarating aerial dogfights. However, the core content of the game is fairly shallow and uninspired. The game\u2019s campaign spans 17 short missions \u2013 and I mean short, with only a rare few ever lasting more than 10-15 minutes \u2013 and unless you have a fondness for the novel series and anime this game is based on, the story will likely bore you with its clich\u00e9 plot and dopey dialogue and characters. The in-flight team chatter is great, as is the soundtrack, but the anime cutscenes and mission briefings just aren\u2019t that interesting.<\/p>\n

Mission variety is pretty good \u2013 dogfights, bombing runs on ground targets, intel gathering, defense and escort missions, and so on \u2013 but it\u2019s still all the same stuff that\u2019s been done in flight games for years and years. I also appreciate the effort that went into stacking the game with unlockable goodies like new planes, paint jobs, parts, weapons and medals based on mission performance, but unfortunately there really isn\u2019t much endgame payoff to replaying missions to collect all of it. There is something like 20 different planes to unlock, but really the only factor you need to consider when making your pre-mission selection is whether a plane is good at air-to-air or air-to-ground combat. You can equip new parts like propellers and engines and wings and special weapons, but the attribute gains from making such upgrades are so minor that there\u2019s really no reason to bother. <\/p>\n

Most disheartening of all, though, are the game\u2019s ugly graphics. I know this is a Wii game, but that doesn\u2019t excuse it from looking so bland. All of the planes are nicely detailed, but the game\u2019s color palette and terrain textures are so muted and muddy, and for a game based on an anime I\u2019m surprised by how generic the art direction is. I expect more than this from the developers behind the Ace Combat<\/em> games, which always seem to be at the graphical forefront no matter the platform.<\/p>\n

My impressions of The Sky Crawlers<\/em> are split right down the middle: the controls are unique and well-implemented and the gameplay is consistently entertaining throughout, but the campaign (and the game as a whole) is pretty light on longevity and the production values leave a lot to be desired. Strictly in terms of gameplay, The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces<\/em> is the ace pilot of Wii flight combat games, and the $30 budget price is attractive. But as fun as the game can be, it does run out of steam fairly quickly, so I think you\u2019re going to want to rent this one first.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/strong>
\n+ Excellent controls
\n+ Lots of control options
\n+ Thrilling dogfights
\n+ Nice soundtrack
\n+ Only $30<\/p>\n

Cons:<\/strong>
\n– Short campaign
\n– Shallow plane customization
\n– Flimsy storyline
\n– Bland, generic graphics<\/p>\n

Game Info:<\/strong>
\nPlatform: Wii
\nPublisher: XSEED Games
\nDeveloper: Project ACES
\nRelease Date: 1\/12\/09
\nGenre: Flight Combat
\nESRB Rating: Teen
\nPlayers: 1-2
\nSource: Review copy provided by publisher<\/p>\n

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