The game doesn’t feature any particular story, it just puts you in the seat of an F-14 fighter jet and sends you on various missions across the ocean and desert. At the start of each mission, you’ll be able to select a different combination of weapons including general purpose and air-ground missiles, and bombs. Aside from these, you’ll also have a standard machine gun at your disposal which is useful for smaller targets and conserving your ammo.
A sunny afternoon at PALGN HQ.
The missions are generally broken up into specific scenarios including dogfights, protecting allied forces and occasional bombing runs such as taking out enemy naval fleets, bunkers and bridges. One of our main grips with this however, is that it can be difficult to find enemy targets. For example, in one mission you have to destroy 10 communication dishes that are spread across small islands. Supposedly the game highlights the dishes on your display map, however there are also a number of turrets and bunkers surrounding the islands. The end result is a horrible mess of tiny dots, each displaying a potential target, and you travelling blindly across the level trying to find your primary targets.
Over time, the missions also start becoming a little repetitive as the game tends to recycle environments. For example, there are three missions that require you to navigate through a canyon and destroy certain targets; twice being enemy bunkers while the third time sees you destroying bridges. Also, the game doesn’t offer any alternative aircraft – you’re always stuck flying an F-14, which is really disappointing considering titles such as Heatseeker and the Ace Combat series offer players a variety of different aircraft, all with different handling and performance attributes.
So this is what Sydney would look like if the sea dried up.
The game’s visuals are nothing special and are what we would expect from a first-generation title. Environmental objects such as grass and rocky terrains are a mix of greens and browns which tend to blend in with enemy targets such as turrets, making them difficult to see during missions. To the developer’s credit though, the F-14 realistically expands its wings as you increase and decrease your speed. The music consists of various rock tunes, which, while staying true to the game’s tone, are not particularly memorable.
Even if you’re a fan of the movie, there is little reason for you to get excited over Top Gun. The game features a shallow single-player experience, which has no story and sees you completing fairly basic missions. It also gets repetitive due to the re-use of environments and the fact you’re always flying in an F-14. If you’re looking for a jet fighter game, there are certainly better ventures in the PlayStation 2 library.
Loading...
