Perfectly fill an empty slot in gaming, one left open after Colony Wars.
Sylpheed however, it's exactly what I expect from a good space flight sim. Total freedom!
To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting anything. Never heard of Sylpheed before picking it up in store. I was looking for a game, and found that one... 39$? Nice price... Worth a try.
Damn! No way in hell I will exchange that game! Worth so much more then 39$. Now the review. On the gameplay side, it's a stunning flight sim with great control. (Anyway, for me) But you can always customize the control to your need. Personnaly I rarely do. On top of that, hundred of weapons combinaison possible as your fighter can hold 4 different kind. You got weapons, then? Hundred of enemies and allies on screen! AI shooting each other furiously! Star Wars epic space battle appear weak in comparaison. Thousand of missiles, bullets, beam and everything you can imagine flying all over the place.
Now, the game isn't perfect. The HUD, while easy to adapt for a gamer like me, isn't good in a design point of view. It's kinda glugged in the middle of the screen and often hide some stuff. It also display some pointless infos and the text is too small. (I'm lucky to have an HD TV) The radar just plainly suck, as it's a 2D view of the battlefield. Kinda pointless when the battle is totally in 3D. But when to find a tanker or a primary target, it works flawlessly.
In the gameplay, the bad side is the lack of clear objective. You got to find by radio log what you got to do. So, expect to fail each mission a couple of time. Also, you often hit yourself to a kinda lame time limit. But aside all that, the story is interresting and you want to know what happen next. The mission aren't too repetitive.
Graphicly, the game is just stunning. There is no bad side of the graphic. Maybe only that sometime your screen is just too filled with missiles and ships. The only bad side doesn't come from the graphic quality... But from the hardware which sometime have problems to follow. Yes, you can feel the 360 lagging graphicly once in a while. It's rare... But it happens. You know what? I don't mind. The graphic just rocks.
The sound isn't too bad. Not the best, lack of 3D feel sometime, but it's still quite good.
You know what? For 39$, this game is worth every single penny put into it if you like Colony Wars type of game.
Sure, 90% of the population don't like that type of game. Many get space sick, many more get lost in the 3D space.
But for those like me, who like to receive douzen of information input in the same time by a really complex HUD, while receiving audio order, shout from other pilot, sound of explosion, of my engine, of my weapon, of everything!... All that while piloting in free 3D space, shooting and being shotted by hundred of ships that shot missiles, beam, laser, bullets and everything else you can imagine... It's just a pure delice. It's an overload of senses.
Lately, games try to go in a way... I'm not sure if I approuve. Many game lately has minimal HUD, no audio input or close to none and keep the screen clear and easy to read all the time. My minimalist side tells me it's good.
My gamer side tells me it's for the weaks and the noobz!
Been a long long while since I played a game that overload my senses. And damn it feels good.
(Yeah it has no multiplayer! But I really hope they make a sequel, with a 32-64 players systems. It would be soooooo sweet.)