By Fred Topel | Image property of respective holders
Heroes Over Europe
I knew I kept this around for a reason. I finally had time to play Ubisoft’s old school fighter pilot game and it’s really fun. More importantly, it’s easy. I tend to have trouble with flight games because they’re so accurate, and I’m no pilot, once I miss a target I end up crashing trying to turn around.
Console Review: Heroes Over Europe PS3
At least on the easiest settings, which are available in Heroes Over Europe, it teaches you how to fly very simply. The controls are comfortable with right stick throttle and left stick controlling direction. The tutorial mission teaches you how to do some special moves and nail targets too.
I particularly like how the targeting system notes where the enemy plane is going in addition to where they are. Theoretically, you would have to fire ahead of them to hit them at the distances we’re traveling. That extra red dot is a nice touch. Ace kills are like sniper shots for dog fights, picking off wings and propellers. It may be faster to just shoot at the general area of the enemy, but it’s not as fun.
Air chases are exciting and the environments below are gorgeous. I’m not entirely sure how to defend myself in a dogfight. Swaying left and right seems to help. Luckily the plane’s health regenerates mid-battle, so there’s a helpful bit of unreality. I think they call it pilot’s confidence in the game, but either way it helps me.
More importantly, I’ve turned around, doubled back and even come in from above. It’s easy to straighten out and realign yourself before disaster strikes. The game engine makes that possible for a novice like me so I’m happy to keep Heroes over Europe on my shelf for the next time I have enough vacation to play old games. Plus, you can skip the cinema scenes and get right to playing the game.
Like the Call of Duty games, I feel bad having so much fun at this. People actually died doing this for real, but I get to sit in my living room and play at it.
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