What's your game?

Speaking of good dogfights

Microsoft sent me a copy of Crimson Skies on Thursday. Despite copies of Call of Duty, Simpsons Hit and Run, Rebel Strike, SSX3, Max Payne 2, plus a couple of others I’m forgetting, I played it through to its end in about three sittings.

The dogfights are excellent. Not so hard that you’re frustrated and quit after two missions, but hard enough that you think “Whew, barely squeaked by that one” after nearly every fight. It’s balanced so well that you can’t help coming back for more. It’s as though the guys at FASA learned their craft by designing Vegas slots.

The singleplayer game is short, but that’s ok because the game has a thriving Live! community. I logged on last night at about 2AM PST, and had my choice of games. Even a crappy DSL connection can host a 16 player match, and the action is great. There are four or five multiplayer modes, but so far all I’ve tryed are Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. My all-time favorite multiplayer game on the net is QuakeWorld team deathmatch. Crimson Skies isn’t going to replace it, but it’s team deathmatch mode is strikingly similar to the way typical QuakeWorld matches would play out.

I can talk about Call of Duty now, because it’s available in stores. I got this about the time I finished Max Payne, and played the game through in an orgy of WW2 shooter fun. It really deserves a post of its own though. It’s very good, the multiplayer is great fun, even with pickup games, and it’s not too hard or too easy for anyone. I’ll go into more detail later, but if you have to choose between this game and Max Payne 2, definitely get Call of Duty.