New PC game very Indiana Jones-like... sort of.

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Posted by Goodsport from adsl-216-102-199-185.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net on October 01, 2000 at 01:29:40:

    Has anyone else here played that new game for the PC called Crimson Skies? No, it isn't about Indiana Jones or about archeology at all - as a matter of fact, down to its core it's an air combat game.

    However, the style of the game has a real 1930's "pulp" feel to it (according to George Lucas, the Indiana Jones movies were based on the Saturday-morning serials he watched as a kid in the 1950's, which were in turn based on the pulp-novels of the 1930's and 1940's), from the background music to the dialogue to the types of derring-do missions to accomplish. And it isn't just all air-to-air combat, but also stuff like jumping out of your plane onto the wing of a bomber, blowing open the doors of a hangar and stealing train to rescue lovely ladies, barnstorming through a Hollywood movie lot and rescuing a German rocket scientist, among many other things (those are only the once I played through so far). And once you get enough money in the game, you can even customize your plane to give it an even more bizarre yet interesting look. The campaign-mode is a very interesting unfolding story, although the game also has individual scenarios for you to try out as well. :)

    The game takes place in 1937, but in an alternate-history ... because of the influenza epidemic WWI vets brought back from Europe fueling the Isolationist Movement, the failed Prohibition laws and the onset of the Great Depression, the U.S. federal government lost its grip on the nation, and the U.S. split up into various nation-states that oftentimes fight with each other. And since the federal highway system had fallen into hopeless disrepair, the airways became the new avenues of commerce and are preyed upon by groups of air-pirates. As a matter of fact, you play the leader of a ragtag group of airel pirates - and even though you're looking out for your own best interests, in true pulp style you always seem to be on the side of morality and decency.

    Even the gameplay is somewhat pulpish... the game isn't so much a combat flight sim as it is an action game, so you don't have to worry about small details like flaps or mixtures, but instead lets you concentrate on daring dogfights and breathtaking stunts.

    Sorry about rambling on like this... I just got the game last week and it's so fun, and in many ways it can be described as "Indiana Jones in the air" (although the way he flies, I'm not sure he'd last long ;) )!

    And one last thing - you really should play the game with a force-feedback joystick. Okay, technically you don't have to, but you're really missing out if you don't! :)


-G





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