Whilst the less said about the storyline the better (even that was probably too much), one can’t fault Heatseeker for the length of its campaign which spans over 30 missions in varying geographical locations. The opening tutorial level sees you defending an island base from approaching enemy aircraft, and whilst the difficulty doesn’t ramp up until further in the game, your most fearsome foe will reveal itself within moments – the controls. There’s been a lot of discussion over the years regarding the effectiveness of the PSP’s analog nub, and Heatseeker is quite certainly not the title that will win the debate for the affirmative team. Whilst the majority of the gameplay is comparable to its PlayStation 2 and Wii counterparts, the more awkward controls of the PSP iteration are all the more apparent.
"I got a little cooked, but I'm okay."
The various planes in your arsenal differ in the basic areas of speed, agility and defence, and whilst you begin with a restricted list, the total roster is impressive and should fulfil all your wildest fly-boy fantasies, with the possible exception of riding shotgun with Tom Cruise… or shooting Tom Cruise with a shotgun, depending on your tastes.
As with most games of its type, Heatseeker sees you downing enemy jets like flies, taking potshots at ground and ocean-based targets, and basically annihilating anything that moves along with the greater percentage of everything that doesn’t. There are also the obligatory escort missions, but these generally require you do the exact same things… just with a soupçon of urgency. In other words, Heatseeker is pretty much like every other jet fighter arcade game, which is either a positive or negative, depending on the veracity of your penchant for jet fighter arcade games.
The missions appear to be simplified and shorter than the console versions, which is a good choice, given that one of the “P”s in “PSP” does in fact stand for “portable.” On the flipside, however, the frequency of save points during missions softens the difficulty to the point that the already repetitive gameplay loses even more of its edge. But for veterans of the genre who are dreading giving up those delightful escort missions which grant instant failure through no apparent fault of your own and require multiple playthroughs: have no fear. Heatseeker has you covered.
With the inclusion of the F-22 Raptor, you can always pretend
you're playing as Starscream... in a slightly less mediocre game.
you're playing as Starscream... in a slightly less mediocre game.
As we are discovering with each new wave of games released, the PSP has a surprising amount of power under its diminuitive hood, and there have always been games which have managed to produce some truly stunning visuals on the portable. Heatseeker is not one of them. Whilst the console versions aren’t likely to win any awards either, the PSP version comes out at the bottom of the heap. The textures lack any kind of detail and the aliasing makes it seem like a more effective way to take on your enemies would be to slice through them with your plane’s vicious, serrated wings. The different locales themselves are interesting enough upon first glance, but the smattering of different terrain types become stale as mission after mission flies by.
Of course, texture detail doesn’t amount to much when your screen is mostly filled by explosions, especially thanks to the use of the game’s “impact cam.” I’m not entirely sure why such a derivative and overused feature (replaying explosions) required its own name, but then I’m no big city game designer. Needless to say, while occasionally cool to watch, the feature is definitely more of a curse than a blessing – it takes you away from the action right when you need to be at its core, and the seconds of disorientation can be crippling.
Your plane a'splode.
Presumably due to size restraints, the PSP version features captions instead of voice acting, and whilst that would generally put the game at a disadvantage, it isn’t in Heatseeker’s case. The sound effects are nothing to complain about, but the music is enough to give Virtua Tennis a run for its money in the hideous 80’s rock music stakes.
In addition to the shorter missions and lack of voice acting (a blessing in disguise), the PSP version differentiates itself from the console versions by offering four-player multiplayer. But, as with most portable titles, the biggest challenge isn’t in defeating your friends in tight competitive arcade action, but rather convincing each of them to buy a copy of the game (here’s a tip – don’t show them this review). If you do happen to “luck out,” there are a number of different gameplay modes to keep you occupied until the music invariably drives you to snap the UMD in half. Dogfight, Team Dogfight, Fox and Hound, Base vs. Base and Last Man Flying are all varying degrees of entertaining, but some seem as though they would be better suited to a larger group of players.
When all is said and done, Heatseeker is unassuming and uninspired. The straight-up arcade style action can be fun in short sittings, but the repetitive nature of the game will soon eradicate those brief moments of pleasure. Ironically, a tighter, more focused approach could have made the game more palatable, as well as dispensing with needless features such as the “impact cam.”
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