ROGUE ACES
Couldn’t stick the landing
After a few quick manoeuvres that would impress even the most seasoned pilots, the three bogies that are on my tail are swiftly gunned down. I come in close for a gentle landing to seal the victory, only for the slightest twitch of the left analog stick to send my war machine plummeting into the dirt, turning it into a flaming pile of scrap metal in seconds. Not the blaze of glory I was hoping for.
This 2D aerial combat shoot-’em-up has a simple mission statement: take to the skies and battle for land, air, and sea supremacy across multiple mission types. No story. No loading screens. Just explosive warfare from the get-go. It’s a welcome approach that can sometimes lead to fantastically chaotic dogfights, with a dozen or more fighters in the air at once. Unfortunately, these kinds of blood-pumping bouts are too few and far between thanks to frustratingly sensitive controls and no adjustment options.
The unforgiving controls become even more apparent when you couple them with the inability to save your progress on the main campaign mode. 1 Getting through 30 out of the 100 procedurally generated levels available only to die and be sent straight back to square one really takes the wind out of your propellers.
Beneath the flak of its sensitive movement, baffling save functionality, and overly basic tutorial, there’s some fun to be had in Rogue Aces. In some instances, gameplay has an addictive quality to it, and everything is wrapped up nicely with vibrant visuals and witty dialogue. 2 Sadly, though, you’ll spend more time fighting the controller than the enemies on screen. Corey Gittins