Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Playing Evil: Crimson Skies
If the pilot you play in TIE Fighter develops into a stooge of the Sith over the course of the game, then Nathan Zachary is Mother Teresa. If St. Teri looted cargo zeppelins for jewels or shanghai'd a tow truck to get her '74 Pinto into the shop or boosted the Spruce Goose for the heck of it.
Nathan Zachary, the lead character in Crimson Skies, is a pirate with a heart (and probably a pocketwatch) of gold. Yeah he does some good, even noble things: protects a downed blimp full of nurses, rescues a kidnapped starlet, protects Hawaii from a British Invasion (not the good moptop kind), teams up with law enforcement to stop the really vile criminals. But Zachary's no Robin Hood. He keeps what he takes and he takes every chance he's got. Fortunately for the player, he gets lots of chances.
Gameworld: Crimson Skies is set in an alternate world where the Allies lost WWI and the oh-the-humanity Hindenburg disaster has yet to affect air travel (if such an event takes place in the CS timeline). Zeppelins are primary air transport vehicle, transporting everything from cargo to passengers to crews of mercenaries and the authorities who would thwart them.
In many cases the individual game maps are huge and the player can explore fully explore each. Some scenarios have linear plotlines, but many have objectives that can be completed in any order or in multiple ways. Most missions don't end until a) you crash or b) you return to your zeppelin, so you can explore (carefully) as much as you want.
The various planes have advantages or disadvantages in any given situation. Sometimes you need speed, sometimes maneuverability. Finding the right plane for the mission adds to the "reality" of the game. Adding to that reality is the opportunity to buy and customize planes, adorn your desktop with a picture of your dog (or an increasing number of gorgeous women if that's your thing), and a scrapbook of your derring-do complete with snapshots of the various thread-the-needle stunts you perform. Very cool.
Moral Choices: There aren't many actual choices to be made in the game; there's one forced-labor camp you can liberate, but that's about it. But the audio cutscenes keep you inside Zachary's head so you can "see" what he's thinking and understand why he behaves in certain ways. Occasionally there's sketchy justification for his actions (we need gas, they have it), but he does ascribe to some kind of pirates' code and for him it's more than just guidelines.
Fun: Want to fly through that curving train tunnel? Go ahead. How 'bout the O's in the Hollywood sign? No problem. That mountain of solid granite? No you can't, but you'll get a nifty explosion as a lovely parting gift. You can, however, drop a ladder from your plane and airlift someone off a train, blimp, or limousine.
Crimson Skies is more than just stealing stuff, humiliating Hollywood moguls, and tweaking the noses of security forces. There are stunts to perform--sometimes necessary, sometimes just for the fun of it. You can also skip the missions and go straight to immediate air action in the setting and against the opponents of your choice. You can also use the Instant Action option to practice the various stunts so you'll be able to add them to your scrapbook when you return to campaign mode.
Replayability: The instant action aspect of the game greatly adds to its replayability, but many of the missions are challenging and fun enough to play mulitple times (once you've completed a mission you can go back and repeat it as often as you choose).
Given the relative ease of gameplay (joystick and throttle control), Crimson Skies is a game that Phil enjoys, too. Am I encouraging delinquent behavior? I don't think so. The boy can say "Zeppelin" and has ho idea who Robert Plant is; that's something to be proud of.
Nathan Zachary, the lead character in Crimson Skies, is a pirate with a heart (and probably a pocketwatch) of gold. Yeah he does some good, even noble things: protects a downed blimp full of nurses, rescues a kidnapped starlet, protects Hawaii from a British Invasion (not the good moptop kind), teams up with law enforcement to stop the really vile criminals. But Zachary's no Robin Hood. He keeps what he takes and he takes every chance he's got. Fortunately for the player, he gets lots of chances.
Gameworld: Crimson Skies is set in an alternate world where the Allies lost WWI and the oh-the-humanity Hindenburg disaster has yet to affect air travel (if such an event takes place in the CS timeline). Zeppelins are primary air transport vehicle, transporting everything from cargo to passengers to crews of mercenaries and the authorities who would thwart them.
In many cases the individual game maps are huge and the player can explore fully explore each. Some scenarios have linear plotlines, but many have objectives that can be completed in any order or in multiple ways. Most missions don't end until a) you crash or b) you return to your zeppelin, so you can explore (carefully) as much as you want.
The various planes have advantages or disadvantages in any given situation. Sometimes you need speed, sometimes maneuverability. Finding the right plane for the mission adds to the "reality" of the game. Adding to that reality is the opportunity to buy and customize planes, adorn your desktop with a picture of your dog (or an increasing number of gorgeous women if that's your thing), and a scrapbook of your derring-do complete with snapshots of the various thread-the-needle stunts you perform. Very cool.
Moral Choices: There aren't many actual choices to be made in the game; there's one forced-labor camp you can liberate, but that's about it. But the audio cutscenes keep you inside Zachary's head so you can "see" what he's thinking and understand why he behaves in certain ways. Occasionally there's sketchy justification for his actions (we need gas, they have it), but he does ascribe to some kind of pirates' code and for him it's more than just guidelines.
Fun: Want to fly through that curving train tunnel? Go ahead. How 'bout the O's in the Hollywood sign? No problem. That mountain of solid granite? No you can't, but you'll get a nifty explosion as a lovely parting gift. You can, however, drop a ladder from your plane and airlift someone off a train, blimp, or limousine.
Crimson Skies is more than just stealing stuff, humiliating Hollywood moguls, and tweaking the noses of security forces. There are stunts to perform--sometimes necessary, sometimes just for the fun of it. You can also skip the missions and go straight to immediate air action in the setting and against the opponents of your choice. You can also use the Instant Action option to practice the various stunts so you'll be able to add them to your scrapbook when you return to campaign mode.
Replayability: The instant action aspect of the game greatly adds to its replayability, but many of the missions are challenging and fun enough to play mulitple times (once you've completed a mission you can go back and repeat it as often as you choose).
Given the relative ease of gameplay (joystick and throttle control), Crimson Skies is a game that Phil enjoys, too. Am I encouraging delinquent behavior? I don't think so. The boy can say "Zeppelin" and has ho idea who Robert Plant is; that's something to be proud of.
Mikesell
1 Snarky Remarks:
lindaruth, at 4:23 PM
Tsk, tsk, tsk -- you're neglecting Phil's education.
I think I've seen the boys playing a video game version of Crimson Skies -- it looked pretty fun. I'm sure I would crash into the mountains much too frequently, though.