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System:
SNES
Genre:
Flight Simulator
Publisher:
Nintendo
Developer:
Nintendo
Players:
1
Release date/year:
1990
Other systems:
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- Pilotwings
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1990 Nintendo - Nintendo - SNES
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Pilotwings, What is Pilotwings? What do you say about a game like Pilotwings? Well, it’s not quite a flight sim. It’s not quite a strategy. It’s almost fits into a genre of its own. It is a flying game, but a different kind of flying game. In this one you’re not flying to kill, you’re not flying to save something, you’re not even flying to race. Why are you flying you say? Well, your flying to become a better pilot. A different kind of game. Was it a good attempt at a new twist to flight sims? Or did it flop? Here’s what I think:
- {~~Main Scores~~}
BREAKDOWN
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8
Sound: 6
Enjoyability: 7.5
- Gameplay
The gameplay, as I mentioned in my introduction, is different than other games. Your are flying to perfect you skills. And because of this, you will need skills in your playing. That’s right. A flying game that doesn’t require you to just fly forward and shoot. In this one it’s so much more.
At the beginning of each level you will be introduced to an instructor. This instructor will give you three tasks, one for each craft. What are the crafts you say? Well, you have the airplane, the rocket pack, the skydiving, and you have the hanglider. The plane being the easiest, and the glider being the hardest.
When using the plane, you are mostly required to have flying skill. You usually are required to fly through strategically placed hoops. In the early levels, the plane may seem like the easy choice, but as you progress, it will get much harder, as the hoops move into some difficult positions. This craft is my craft of choice.
The next craft is the rocket pack. With this you are usually asked to fly through hoops as well. But with this one it is different. Because you are in a rocket pack you don’t need to only steer your man, but you need to control how high you fly, by how hard the pack is blasting you up. This makes the rocket pack much more difficult to use, because the while you are pressing the levitate button, you go up at a rapid rate, but as soon as you let go, you drop like a stone; precise heights are almost impossible. The challenge of it may make the rocket pack seem like a poor choice, but it is actually quite fun to use.
Next we have the sky diving courses. These are some of the more easy courses. You are dropped from a plane high in the sky, and you fall, that’s it. As you fall there are hoops again, and you need to try and fall through them. Then, once you get to a certain point, the game will give you a prompt to launch the parachute. At this point you need to start thinking about the precise landings. On the ground there is a target, shaped just like a dart board. If you land in the center, you get top marks, the farther away from the bulls eye you move, the lower mark you will get. With this the levels themselves don’t get much harder, but the different variables do; such as wind, more hoops, and a higher scre requirement.
The final craft available to you is the hang glider. This is perhaps the most difficult of all of the crafts, I despised using it. You run from the launch point and take off, just like a glider would. From that point it becomes very difficult to control your elevation, and your turning, because you are gliding. From there you need to get through hoops, and you need to land nicely. Very difficult, still fun, but the least fun of all of your choices.
Now then, back to the missions. After you get your missions you will be able to choose which craft to start on. The first level is mainly to teach you the different ways to use each craft. So if the games first level consists of flying straight, don’t fret, it will get harder, much harder.
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Graphics
I spent a little bit of time thinking about what to say about the graphics. They were released way back in 93 or so. But even still, do these graphics match up to standards set at that time? and a different question, do they match today’s standards? Well, they don’t exactly match today’s standards, after all, this is only the Super Nintendo. But for their time, I think they were done quite well.
The hardest thing that they had to do while producing this game was the altitude. As you move down, how smoothly and how quickly do the graphics on the ground change, this was especially relevant in the skydiving levels because all you see is your man and the altitude changes. Well, I think it was done well in this field, occasionally the man will continue falling while the ground stops zooming in. But overall this was done well.
While you're flying on your plane your main graphical point is the ground below, and the sky above. But usually you are flying at a farly even altitude, and not really focussing on the above, or the below, also you often are flying over the water, so not much eye candy while using this, as with the glider and rocket pack.
- Sound
WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! Get ready to hear a whole lot of that when you flying the plane. Or when your hangliding or sky diving, constant SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS for the wind passing by. What about rocket pack you say? How about a little constant FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF for the jet propulsion? These kind of monotonous annoyances ruined the sound score. Even the nice music couldn’t make up for this, because half the time the sound effects are just blasting in your mind 10 times loader than they are. At least you have the music, at least you have the music. Repeat that seifer, repeat that. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
- Enjoyability
Well, as you may or may not have learned from my ranting above, I enjoyed most parts of this game, notice how I emphasize most. That is because of the sound. Didn’t enjoy that as much as the other parts. The gameplay section was most likely the most enjoyable of all of the sections, because of the varying rafts, and growing challenge. The next section is the graphics. Despite the fact that you didn’t nee much emphasis on it, they did show a nice amount of detail, and varying objects on the ground while flying. Of course you’ve heard this all above, so ill just say: Good game, not really ruined by any part.
- {~~Other Important Scores~~}
Replay Value: Low
I thought the replay value in this game was low, mainly because by the time you finish the game, you will not want to go through those ''boring'' levels for quite a while. Of course, for some you may like this section. There aren’t many flying games out there for the simulation player, and there are very very few flying games out there such as this one. What I am saying is that if you ever need you flying hook up, you have this game in reserve, and it can be quite fun to suck away precious minutes with.
- Challenge: Hard
It may not seem hard at first with those boring straight flying levels. But later on, the last thing you’ll be doing is flying straight. Believe me. Bare with it, there’s greener grass ahead. By greener, I mean death green. The game gets frighteningly harder by the ending levels. Your hoops are spread into insane places, and your score requirements are raised to the point where you may become very frustrated. I know I did.
- Creativity: High
This game was very creative. As I’ve said before, there was and is no games quite like this one. The idea of flying for skill is one that I hadn’t seen before, and frankly I liked it. Also, the inspiration for the ground buildings etc. fit in nicely with the game itself, everything blends,and the basic preise make this game very creative.
- Learning Curve: Less than an hour
This game won’t take long to learn because of the early learn-how-to-play levels. But just because you can fly straight and deeply your parachute, you’re not done yet. But for the basics, less than an hour.
- Longevity: 1 month to many years
You will be playing this one for quite a while. It will take you quite a while to beat. Then you will want a break, but after that, you most likely will want to play again, then the circle will repeat. Then of course you may have hated the game and will never play again, but the odds of that are low.
- Buy or Rent: Buy
In the end this is preference, you may want to rent this first. Or you may want to just go out and buy. Either way, I think you will end up buying.
- Overall
This is a great, innovative game. Brought down only slightly by the sound and replay value, this is one you will enjoy. I definitely give it a seifer guarantee! Enjoy!
8/10
//Seifer psx
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