Recent reviews by Orpheo

A Cool Game 😎👍

A Menu that Makes Me Smile 🙂
When the game first launches and delivers you to its opening menu screen, you're greeted with a cool remix of the "Top Gun" theme song, which sounds like it was recorded from an electric guitar; it's really impressive. Note: This will not be the last time I talk about the game's music. 🙂

Options:
The first thing I always do when booting up a new game is to dive into its options screen to learn what I can configure and to get an idea of the control layout. This game's options screen gives you a good variety of choice: from expert or novice control type (though an explanation between this difference is not mentioned on the option screen), to crosshair & map orientation, standard audio & video settings (some of which, like super sampling, go over this native console gamer's head 😅), and a configurable control layout.

The Arsenal ✈️:
Within this menu are 14 different aircraft (as of this review date), each with different stats, costs, and some with different paint schemes for that extra bit of cosmetic customization. Again, I have to mention the music here as the tune changes to another impressive piece; it had me head-bobbing & toe-tapping the entire time I was listening to it. 😄

Tutorial 📋:
While there is sadly no single player campaign, there is an in-depth tutorial to walk players through everything, and by reading through it you can begin to see how much care & thought was put into this game's design. I like the idea of the Merit & Clout systems talked about here. Merit is gained & used in an active game for more aircraft & ammo during a match, while Clout is also gained in an active game but can be used out of an active game to purchase more planes within the Arsenal. This gives players something to shoot for (pun intended) in-game & out. 👍 One thing that I noticed during the Flight Controls tutorial is that I was being given instructions on how to navigate things with an X-Box controller layout, despite me having a PlayStation 4 controller plugged in. This isn't a big deal to me as I own both a PlayStation & an X-Box, so I have an X-Box controller nearby for reference, but pure PlayStation-peeps may need to navigate back to Options within the game to familiarize themselves with the location of the X, A, B, Y face buttons. I fiddled with the Air Boost & Air Break controls several times in the Change Speed tutorial but noticed no speed increases or speed delays; perhaps there is a difference but it's too small for me to notice over repeated adjustments. The Turning & Auto-Horizon tutorial is questionable but also begins to show you that this game will take some time to master for those who wish to do so. I say "questionable," because every other tutorial up to this point ends with "Press A" to move on or "Press Select" to complete the tutorial lesson; this tutorial does not, allowing the player to fly around the map endlessly. It's nice getting to do so, but I wish there would've been something telling me that I could end the tutorial anytime I wanted by pressing the Select button, because I spent time pressing the horizontal D-Pad buttons multiple times waiting for the next tutorial screen to appear, which didn't happen. As far as taking time to master, the D-Pad controls roll the plane left or right in a realistic fashion, and after lifting your finger from the D-Pad your plane stays circling however you left it, it does not straighten back out on its own. This makes some sense as the game can't read your mind, so it doesn't know which direction you'd like to go after making a turn or a loop, but I still had to remind myself to straighten the ship out, because for me, the natural point for the plane to auto-correct out of its roll would be the moment I lifted my finger from the D-Pad. There were also some repair wrenches floating in the sky that I tried to nab during this tutorial, which proved difficult to do because the plane wouldn't roll as sharply as I wanted it to, even at full roll, so I had to straighten out, fly further away, then loop back around to collect them. Note that this difficulty was experienced at half thrust; at low thrust the camera zooms out and the plane slows down allowing easier navigation, but then of course you'll also be easier for the enemies to pick off, so a certain speed balance is required, and this will fluctuate depending on situation & skill level. One other thing to note specifically about the repair wrench pick-ups, it is nice that as you near one, an indicator will pop up on your screen letting you know its direction and distance relative to your plane's ever-changing position; this helps as well. 👍 I never got to gun down a helicopter in the Bullets Weapons tutorial. During my few attempts I was either easily gunned down by a single helicopter or they were taken out by my territory's anti-aircraft fire. The fact that is was too difficult for me to kill even a single helicopter felt disheartening as I was continuously raining gunfire in their direction, but I might again chalk this up to a skill issue, though the tankiness of the helicopters might need adjusting if they're supposed to be taken out purely by machine gun fire. I destroyed 2 ground bases during the Bombs Tutorial, though it did take me multiple planes to take out each base; I believe it took 4 plane deaths to destroy each enemy ground base with bombs, which feels like a lot. It also took me a bit to get the aiming down with bombs. The tutorial mentions to drop bombs when "you" are over the enemy ground base. Only, what is "you"? Is it your plane, your crosshairs, the midpoint (what is a midpoint used for?)? After a bit of testing "you" appears to be your crosshairs, though you can drop bombs when the plane is directly over the bases as well. The Missiles tutorial is quite cool and I was finally able to blow up a helicopter with 3 Beam Riding missiles (which feels like a lot). There are also Heat Seeking & Radar Guided Missiles as well, and each missile type has a counter, which is really cool. 😊 Counter to Beam Riding missile, evasion & range (and also Chaff). Counter to Heat Seeking missile, flare. Counter to Radar Guided missile, chaff. All are neat options to use offensively, and being able to recognize these types for defensive countermeasures will likely take experience with the game, practice, and quick reflexes; I was not able to tell incoming missile types apart unless the tutorial told me which countermeasure to use. 🙂 I was the best at firing the Radar Guided missiles, blowing up all 3 helicopters! The Radar Guided missiles feel the most newb friendly, so I'd probably stick to using those (if I can afford them), but I know pros will just fire chaff to evade, so eventually I'll have to get good with the other missile types, too. 😊 For the Hangar Presets tutorial, I noticed that the Load & Save buttons are swapped, which is an issue that will likely be corrected before this game exits its Early Access state. Again, the music throughout the tutorials gets the heart pumping, good stuff. 👍

Graphically this game is pretty, with a great looking 3D map and planes that look a touch cell-shaded, which is a cool contrast.

There were no matches available in its multiplayer queue upon me checking during a weekday afternoon, but if a challenging, realistic, flight-based MOBA is your cup of tea, then you might consider hitting up its hangar for some test flights in tutorial mode until more sky warriors join the fray. 😉👍

This was a fun game to occupy my time for a couple of hours. I enjoyed it, thinking the little I paid for it was worth it. :)

This is the most fun I've ever had in a racing game.

Great graphics, killer soundtrack, great sound design (from the engine revs to the tire squeals), cool story, very likeable characters, varied gameplay challenges, a decent selection of cars, easy to understand upgrade system, and addicting gameplay. The rush of adrenaline & excitement I've felt in other racing games when at their best, like in "Gran Turismo 5," I feel in this game near constantly. It isn't just the competition, it's the uncertainty of civilian traffic on city streets that can bungle a whole run, and it's the police that will tail you doggedly (and set up roadblocks) that increases the tension and has you sitting at the edge of your bucket seat, making the experience all the more exhilarating.

There are some cons, however. On average, I'd say this game crashes about every 5 hours. Also, I had to look up how to keep the game from crashing during a specific drifting race by giving it admin privileges. This game is also always-online, which has me worried for this game's future should EA ever shut down its servers. This game is also known to have controller compatibility issues on PC. In fact a friend of mine who loves racing games just can't get his controllers to work with this game. I, however, game on a Steam Deck, and using a PlayStation 4 controller plugged into the official dock via USB works perfectly for me.

This has become my favorite racing game, and has earned its spot in my top 10 games of all time.

I rate this an average game. For the positives: Nice graphics, some cool set pieces, beautiful music (when they're designed to be calm and atmospheric), easy puzzles, interesting myth, and a touching tale. For the negatives: invisible barriers in the world seemed weirdly placed (like tiny mounds of rock that our character could jump atop, but not walk across); battle segments felt like they clashed with the game's calm beginning & middle; knowing where to go was sometimes obtuse; and I wish there were more lore. I'm glad that I played through & beat this experience, but I shan't be returning to replay it.

Low-budget game for good spookiness. :)
Great atmosphere due to graphic style, creepy music, and occurrences in the game that develop an eerie atmosphere. A recommendation for those looking for eerie entertainment with a bit of humor.

A true masterpiece of game design. I daren't say much due to spoilers, but this work of art will take your emotions on an unimaginable rollercoaster ride & blow the socks off your mind.

An above-average experience. It starts a bit slow but picks up the further in you get. Spotting the contradictions can be difficult sometimes, but with 3 different ways to receive hints you won't be stuck for long. A great cast of characters, good story, realistic performances (some good acting in this one), and a mystery that may keep you guessing till the end.

My secret word is "Gifted."