Airforce Delta

• Release Date: September 09, 1999
• Genre: Simulation
• Style: Flight Combat Sim
• Similar Games: Ace Combat 2 (PlayStation), Air Combat (PlayStation), Air Combat (Arcade)

Game Description

AirForce Delta is an air combat game that emphasizes action over a detailed flight model, meaning the focus is on dogfights rather than precision flying with real-world physics. Players start the game on their choice of difficulty setting: very easy, easy, hard, or very hard. The first mission involves a preemptive strike against numerous fighter planes that are planning to bomb the Laconian city of Naxos.

The defenseless Republic of Laconia is in dire need of military support. Rebels from the former Federated Republic of Zabayral have decided to reunitea territory long divided by ethnic conflict. After years of civil war, Laconia is the only republic left standing and has asked a mercenary defense organization to help keep it from falling to the dreaded unification movement.

As a commissioned lieutenant assigned to the Delta Squadron, you are about to embark on a series of over 20 missions in very hostile territories. You have been brought on board because you are the best in the business: a crack pilot who can take out multiple bogeys without batting an eyelash. It is your aerial experience that Laconia is banking on, since you will be alone throughout the campaign.

After seeing your objectives on a 3D map of the surrounding territory, you will be able to take to the skies inside the cockpit of an F-5E Tiger II. The goal is neutralize the invading B1 bombers to save the city from destruction while keeping your plane in one piece. Once you complete the mission, you will be awarded cash and a record of your statistics, such as time of completion, number of kills, and ratio of hits with both your machine guns and missiles. The more fighters you down, the more cash you will receive to purchase planes such as the F-117A Nighthawk, A-10 Thunderbolt II, F-22 Raptor, MiG-29 Fulcrum, and the Russian prototype S-37 Berkut.

Each plane is rated in speed, power, defense, and mobility, and there are over 30 aircraft available to purchase with your hard-earned cash. There is one catch, however: Once you lose a plane, it is gone for good! You will then have to purchase a new plane to continue your mission unless there is one waiting for you in the hangar. Subsequent missions involve flying over the deadly sea trying to sink as many ships as you can, disabling military factories and tanker trucks to cripple the enemy's supply base, and seeking out an SR-71 spy plane to keep it from making contact with the unification forces.

A number of options are available to would-be pilots, including two control configurations (novice and expert), an option to assign button functions, and the ability to customize the heads-up display settings. Missions will end if one of the following occurs: Your plane's damage meter falls to zero, you crash into the land or sea, you move too far away from the target area, or you exceed the allotted time to complete an objective. If you manage to avoid these dangers and complete a mission, a replay will let you see all of the action from a number of perspectives. In order to save data, a VMU is required with at least 14 blocks of free space.

Review: Overall

AirForce Delta marks Konami's return to the flight combat genre after taking a ten-year leave of absence. Both Top Gun (1987) and its 1989 sequel (Top Gun: The Second Mission) were NES games that featured Arcade-style action with realistic features such as a working HUD, the ability to refuel in midair, and the added pressure of having to land your plane on an aircraft carrier before advancing to the next stage.

With AirForce Delta, Konami not only had the benefit of developing the first flight combat game on the 128-bit Dreamcast, but the company already had an established benchmark to shoot for in Namco's series of Ace Combat games for the PlayStation. The end result is at times a breathtaking glimpse of what it must be like to fly the not-so-friendly skies with near photo-quality visuals and a wide variety of scenic locales to fight in. Yet there are a number of issues that keep this game from soaring to greatness, and while an attempt was made to offer some diversity, the action is still somewhat repetitive in nature.

If you have played the original Top Gun for the NES, then you'll recognize a few similarities in the types of objectives. The first mission in AirForce Delta serves as an introduction to the dogfights that will soon become an integral part of the missions that follow, and the second mission has you flying over water trying to sink destroyers. As in the original Top Gun, you will then have to take out ground forces while flying near a factory.

Of course, the biggest difference is in the number of missions: Top Gun had four and AirForce Delta features 20. The NES missions seemed much longer in scope, however, with the option to refuel during the middle of a campaign. This wasn't an easy task--you had to guide your aircraft to a large tanker's refueling boom so you could link up and replenish your fuel. If you moved too slow or too quickly during the approach, you could miss the target (there was a small window of opportunity) and then be forced to complete the mission with a tank running on empty!

Landing was also an interesting feature that involved carefully reducing your speed and keeping your altimeter at a certain level in order to safely make it onto the narrow carrier. These two aspects (refueling and landing) were welcome diversions that helped make each mission seem more realistic. Alas, these features are sadly missing in AirForce Delta, but you will instead get to fly through twisting canyons, take out moving trains carrying nuclear technology, and even escort other planes or protect POWs! If you love flight combat games, it seems that AirForce Delta has just enough ingredients to make you reach for a flight yoke.

It almost does, but there are still quite a few areas that need improving. For starters, there is no radio chatter in the game. While this may seem minor, having some communication from your base helps make the action seem more realistic. This leads us to the second problem: You are fighting alone in this game. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron showed how involving missions can be when you are fighting alongside fellow pilots; the game also offered more in terms of variety and made you feel as if you were an integral part of an epic war.

Even action-oriented games such as Soviet Strike and Nuclear Strike create an engaging atmosphere through the use of video clips and voice effects that suck you in right from the start. AirForce Delta is more narrow in scope, unfortunately, and the missions are rather short and straightforward: Destroy a certain number of targets and watch as the mission automatically ends. The briefings at the beginning of each mission are also strangely quiet and rather boring, so don't expect a lot of fluff in between the flying segments.

Yet another problem is the shockingly limited number of weapons in the game: You can fire your standard machine guns or one type of missile. That's it. Considering that the machine guns are about as effective as using a squirt gun to put out a raging fire, you will use the missiles almost exclusively. I don't know why players weren't allowed the opportunity to purchase more armaments with the credits earned from combat, but perhaps it wasn't considered important. It is.

One last gripe is that you can't lay waste to all of the structures and terrain surrounding you. It would have really upped the enjoyment factor to see buildings crumble after being pelting with rockets or watching trees turn into bonfires after you shoot at them. Because AirForce Delta is not a true flight sim, these concessions should have been made to make the action a more rewarding experience.

Despite these complaints, AirForce Delta still manages to score an above average rating. How is this possible? Two reasons: The graphics are impressive enough to keep you coming back, and the higher difficulty levels offer some challenging aerial combat sequences. While the missions are a bit short and lacking in scope, they do present a new set of objectives and targets as you progress, and they have just enough variety to hold your interest.

After a mission is over, you will also be able to see how quickly you completed your objective, the number of targets destroyed, and your available credits, so you can try to improve on these achievements whenever you're feeling a little trigger-happy. In addition, there is a beautiful replay feature that lets you enjoy your handiwork from a third-person perspective. If you were taken aback by the replays in Gran Turismo, then someone will have to pick up the pieces after you witness the replays in AirForce Delta-you'll be blown away.

You'll be able to proudly watch as your plane soars through the sky while every wisp of smoke from a streaking missile or downed craft is displayed in 128-bit splendor. While I freely admit to skipping the replays in other games, I found myself looking forward to the cinema-style sequences in this one. They're that good. When all is said and done, AirForce Delta is another solid Dreamcast launch title that may not represent the pinnacle of the genre, but it offers enough fun to keep you climbing, diving, and banking from start to finish.

Review: Enjoyment

AirForce Delta doesn't quite measure up to other games in the genre in terms of depth and overall features, but it is fun to play. There needs to be a greater selection of weapons, more detailed missions involving wingmen, and better use of speech to raise the score in this area. A few full-motion video clips in between missions certainly wouldn't hurt!

Review: Graphics

The graphics are crystal clear and will definitely keep you playing through each mission, if only to see what lies ahead for the next one. All the stages have different landscapes, buildings, and skies, so there is a lot to see in this game. The beautiful replays will make you wish you could see your plane during actual combat, however (the view is fixed from the cockpit).

Review: Sound

There are no voices in the game, which is something that needs to be addressed in the sequel. While the music is very good, don't expect anything more than a techno-inspired soundtrack.

Review: Replay Value

Playing through {*AirForce Delta} on different difficulty levels will open up new planes to purchase, and you can always try to improve on your records (which are saved to the VMU). The game doesn't offer any new missions or objectives, however.

Review: Documentation

The manual briefly explains the controls and options and offers a synopsis of the first few levels. Most of the planes are also detailed, which is a nice touch.

Production Credits