Crimson Skies (Jewel Case)

The Crimson Skies game was originally developed as a tabletop game, using miniatures and dice to simulate dogfighting. Here that is translated into one of the best dogfighting sims I've ever played.

The storyline is based on an alternate history. It'd take too long to discuss it here, but in short the United States fractured into smaller countries in the early 1900s, and rather than falling in love with the automobile, America fell in love with the plane. This story takes place in 1937, where you lead a band of sky pirates against a number of enemies.

Combat is always intense without being stupidly difficult. This game shouldn't be called a flight sim, as it's focused more on fun than physics, and it pays off in a big way. The story is engaging and the voice work that goes along with it is intentionally cheesy to invoke the feel of old comic books... which it does perfectly. Multiplayer is also entertaining.

I'm glad to see it getting new life in the bargain bin form, because this one is well worth picking up. Now my friends have no more excuses not to.

I first saw this game at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant/arcade where you sit in a plastic bubble that rocks and rolls with the movements of your joystick, lending an immersive feel to this combat flight simulator. I'm glad there is a version for the PC. Sure, the flight model is not exactly realistic and your wingmen are pretty much useless, but I was impressed by the fine voice acting and the whole 1930's heroic action movie feel. Several of the missions are of the "You want me to do WHAT?" variety, such as fending off a dozen enemy fighters to do an aerial pickup of some guy off a moving train or zeppelin before it blows up. Although some missions took me many attempts to succeed, this game held my interest all the way through, and I completed every one to the game's ending.

Personally experienced technical issue: The game runs fine in Windows XP on Athlon XP 2500 processor with 1GB RAM at highest 1024x768 resolution (hardware acceleration) on Nvidia Geforce 5200-based AGP graphics card. However, the game has problems running at this resolution on newer graphics cards such as Nvidia Geforce 6800GT PCIe card; problems which include corruption of the in-game drop-down menus and unpredictable termination during gameplay to Windows. This is with the Nvidia drivers as of August 2006. Setting Win98 compatibility mode didn't work for me. A workaround that actually works is to set a lower display resolution such as 800x600 (software rendered), which of course detracts from the visual experience.

The game is old (read: cheap) enough to buy more than 1 copy to take advantage of the multiplayer feature. Playing on separate PCs, my 9-yr old daughter and I enjoyed: Capture the flag, head-to-head dogfights, and a variation of the zeppelin missions, in which we liked to help each other destroy our own zeps.

I played this game in college on Windows XP with an ATI graphics card. It played fine with no problems at all. It wasn't my copy of Crimson Skies and so I had to stop playing for several years, but then I found it here and bought it. Unfortunately, I had also been forced to upgrade PC's and had a newere Nvidia graphics card. That normally would not be an issue, but with this game it is. Nvidia did not wich to help, and MS certainly wasn't going to. I could find no help online whatsoever. So for the past year, I've had a brand new copy of this game sitting in a pile on my desk just wishing it could be played.

All that changed yesterday when I read J Pad's review and saw a glimmer of hope. I got home and looked up the file he referenced (csfix2.7z)and it works. IT WORKS!!!!! I was so excited, I played way too late.

But about the game. By today's standards, this game obviously has sub par graphics. At the time it was made they were great. There will be nothing astounding to you, graphically speaking, but it is still much better than many "flight simulators" or aerial combat games you will play. For many reasons.

For one, though the graphics may not be that good, most flying combat games put you over a large, nearly flat, texture. It looks fine from up in the air but when you get low you realize it's flat. All the "depth" you saw isn't depth at all but texture. Crimson Skies actually has hills, buildings, ships, clouds, etc. Sure they are pretty basic, but they are there.

Secondly, this isn't bogged down with real world physics to make it more realistic. That's a good thing. I've tried playing realistic dogfighting games and they aren't for me. I like a good quality flight simulator, but for aerial combat, I normally need something with a better balance between realism and an arcade. That's just me. And this game delivers.

The controls are a bit odd, I can't use my mouse even with sensitivity turned all the way down because my plane rolls over constantly to inverted flight. I remapped my movement keys to the number pad so that "8" is nose down, "5" is nose up, "4" is roll left, "6" is roll right, "1" is yaw left (turn), "3" is yaw right, and "2" is level off. This means I can dock with the zepplins much easier because I can make slight adjustments to my yaw without rolling the plane. It is just less effort. I need to remap some of the weapon buttons now but I haven't yet. Anyway, the controls are a bit clunky but you can remap them and will get used to them.

Another HUGE help is the slight autoaim the game gives you. You really just have to get close. You still have to work at staying on target because the planes usually do a good job of trying NOT to get shot, but if you can get near the right point the bullets will find their target. Also, if you fail a mission too many times the game will eventually ask you if you want to skip it. I like that becuase it takes a while, it's not just after 2 or 3 tries. And only one mission has proven impossible thus far (back in the day when I played it).

Once again, despite the old graphics, there is a lot of detail in this game. The planes show damage, as do the zepplins. They also show fairly accurate control surface movements and become sluggish (slightly) when damaged. Additionally, (and it may just be me) from time to time I'll have an enemy that "baits" me by flying straight so I'll chase it, and another one will get on my tail and shoot me. I'm not sure if that is actual AI or if it just coincidence, but I like it either way.

You can customize planes once you have money, and the further you go in the game the more options you have. You can load out your planes with different types of bullets and different rockets as well. It gives great incentive to go through the game unlocking things and earning money (which you can't help doing as you finish missions).

Finally, the story. Ah, the story. This game smacks of atmosphere. And that is typically rare in an aerial combat game. It is alternate history, and the alternate history actually, almost makes sense. It FEELS right. They give good reasons for the lack of ground infrastructure and reasons for all these zepplins flying around, and thus reasons for air piracy. Not only that, but the relationships within the game make sense for the most part, and the theme and atmosphere of it all is kept throughout the game. Even in menus and briefings. Add to that the various types of missions (not just flying and shooting) and you've got yourself a game. Fly low and slow over a car to let someone climb up to your plane, dock with a zeppling, shoot down a zepplin, defend your own zepplin, compete in an air race, etc. There is a lot to this game and it is very enjoyable, even for how old it is.

Graphics: 80% (and keep in mind they are old)
Physics: 80% (same here, and keep in mind that we don't want too much physics in a game like this)
Gameplay: 90% (controls are a bit odd but not bad)
Interface: 100% (there's a lot to this for a flying game and it is all very intuitive)
Artificial Intelligence: 95% (maybe not perfect but for an older game the pilots do a great job)
Detail: 95%
Maps: 100% (just for the variation in an aerial combat game)
Replay Potential: 85% (it will always be the same game but is pretty fun to play every once in awhile)
Story: 100%

Total: 91.67%. I didn't think I'd rate it that high, honestly. If you are a big fan of newer graphics or realistic combat, definitely discount my rating by at least 10 or 20 points. If you don't mind the graphics or arcade feel, I think my rating is pretty solid.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews  4.4 out of 5 stars