Sequel September 3 - Top Gun : Combat Zones : PS2 Quick Review
Our next Sequel stop is Top Gun : Combat Zones on PS2. Now the Top Gun games don't necessarily tie in with each other, they're all basically stand alone dog-fighting combat games that happen to share a name with the movie. So there's no story that carries through each game, it's all just new/different things to shoot down from the sky. Is Combat Zones a good variant for this series? Let's find out.
The Good
- Easy Flight Controls. You can get used to them within the first ten or fifteen minutes of playing. The only awkward bit is all your main flight controls are done with just the left stick. It still functions okay, but that part takes the most getting used to. Your cannons and missiles are easily accessible through simple button presses. Outside of this, you can control your drag and thrusters with the L2/R2 buttons respectively and that's just about the most you'll use in this game.
- Arcade Style. The game doesn't take a linear course from mission to mission, instead each level is broken up like an arcade game with a score to set in each level. It makes it a little more fun and easier to dip into the missions in whatever order you please instead of having to knock them all down sequentially like dominos.
The Bad
- No Substance. Before you can get to the combat missions, you must first complete some academy training missions in each era. These training simulations don't do much for actually getting you into the game. Unless, that is, you're a fan of playing a game against the clock, because in these levels that's the only thing pushing you is the timer to achieve the highest score. If you don't care about that and you just want to play through each mission, you can easily drag your plane through each simulation and just take your time picking off targets.
- Too Easy. Once you get to live combat, the enemies are easily picked off without breaking a sweat. They don't do anything as far as trying to form up and take you down together. Nobody even considers firing at you unless you get within range of them. Otherwise they just take their time patrolling their areas acting like you don't even exist.
Is it Worth it?/Improvements
Not. One. Bit. While the flight controls are actually really well done, it's not enough to get this game off the ground. There's not enough going on in the training missions to make you commit to completing them to even get to the combat ones. Definitely no improvements here, I'd rather fire up the NES and play the original Top Gun game there instead. You can find a complete in box copy of this game on PS2 for $3, or $5 on GameCube, and that's about all the value you're going to get from this one. This highway doesn't go to the danger zone. It goes right past it where the highway is mysteriously unfinished and you drive right off it to land amid the rocks below in a fiery pit of crap.
The Good
- Easy Flight Controls. You can get used to them within the first ten or fifteen minutes of playing. The only awkward bit is all your main flight controls are done with just the left stick. It still functions okay, but that part takes the most getting used to. Your cannons and missiles are easily accessible through simple button presses. Outside of this, you can control your drag and thrusters with the L2/R2 buttons respectively and that's just about the most you'll use in this game.
- Arcade Style. The game doesn't take a linear course from mission to mission, instead each level is broken up like an arcade game with a score to set in each level. It makes it a little more fun and easier to dip into the missions in whatever order you please instead of having to knock them all down sequentially like dominos.
The Bad
- No Substance. Before you can get to the combat missions, you must first complete some academy training missions in each era. These training simulations don't do much for actually getting you into the game. Unless, that is, you're a fan of playing a game against the clock, because in these levels that's the only thing pushing you is the timer to achieve the highest score. If you don't care about that and you just want to play through each mission, you can easily drag your plane through each simulation and just take your time picking off targets.
- Too Easy. Once you get to live combat, the enemies are easily picked off without breaking a sweat. They don't do anything as far as trying to form up and take you down together. Nobody even considers firing at you unless you get within range of them. Otherwise they just take their time patrolling their areas acting like you don't even exist.
Is it Worth it?/Improvements
Not. One. Bit. While the flight controls are actually really well done, it's not enough to get this game off the ground. There's not enough going on in the training missions to make you commit to completing them to even get to the combat ones. Definitely no improvements here, I'd rather fire up the NES and play the original Top Gun game there instead. You can find a complete in box copy of this game on PS2 for $3, or $5 on GameCube, and that's about all the value you're going to get from this one. This highway doesn't go to the danger zone. It goes right past it where the highway is mysteriously unfinished and you drive right off it to land amid the rocks below in a fiery pit of crap.
