Airforce Delta
Airforce Delta is one of only two flight sims I've ever purchased. This excludes games like Descent and X-Wing and even then, I wouldn't entirely consider this to be a real flight simulator but more of an arcade flight combat game. Nevertheless, you do get to fly a plane and that's what counts. Not just one plane either, over the course of the game you get access to a huge list of aircraft. I'm pretty sure Konami supplied me with almost every single jet fighter I've ever wanted in a videogame. Everything from the A-10 Warthog, to the X-29, the F-4 Phantom and the F14 Tomcat.
Airforce Delta had a very Konami feel to it. The menus and sound FX all resembled those I'd seen and heard in Metal Gear Solid. The action-oriented arcade simulator pacing and layout of the levels felt somewhat familiar as well.
There was a wide range of different kinds of levels to work through as you take control of a hired mercenary, earning cash for more planes, to shoot more stuff for more cash for more planes. In real Konami style, Airforce Delta has you flying around getting into dogfights, running escort missions and taking out ground forces. Airforce Delta was also great at the time to me because so few flight combat games included any ground detail. But in this game, there were all kinds of structures for you to buzz with your jet, simply for the fun of testing your skill.
Reminds me of a time when my brother and I rented Ace Combat for the PS1 and we played a game between the two of us where we would dive at the ground in a kind of game of chicken. Whoever pulled up last won. Only my brother yanked the controller out of the port on me just before I was going to hit the ground. Back when you had to actually plug your controller in to the console. Good times were had.
The ground combat was always more exciting than simply chasing another bird's tail. But on top of it all, in the later levels Konami included combat that had you flying inside of a mountain. A few enemy bases were accessible through a launch bay on the side of a mountain, allowing you to fly into the narrow entrance, taking out the base and flying out the other side. It was like a mini-death star run from Return of the Jedi, simply amazing.
I haven't played many other action flight sims in my gaming career. Ace Combat, AH-3 Thunderstrike and Airforce Delta are pretty much it. Which is kind of surprising considering how many are out there and how much I love planes. Then again, story is key with me and with the exception of racing, I really favor games that feature strong characters and interesting narratives. Which is not something you typically find in most flight combat games.
Or maybe it's simply because I broke that joystick back in the 90's and never replaced it..
Airforce Delta is one of only two flight sims I've ever purchased. This excludes games like Descent and X-Wing and even then, I wouldn't entirely consider this to be a real flight simulator but more of an arcade flight combat game. Nevertheless, you do get to fly a plane and that's what counts. Not just one plane either, over the course of the game you get access to a huge list of aircraft. I'm pretty sure Konami supplied me with almost every single jet fighter I've ever wanted in a videogame. Everything from the A-10 Warthog, to the X-29, the F-4 Phantom and the F14 Tomcat. There was a wide range of different kinds of levels to work through as you take control of a hired mercenary, earning cash for more planes, to shoot more stuff for more cash for more planes. In real Konami style, Airforce Delta has you flying around getting into dogfights, running escort missions and taking out ground forces. Airforce Delta was also great at the time to me because so few flight combat games included any ground detail. But in this game, there were all kinds of structures for you to buzz with your jet, simply for the fun of testing your skill.
Reminds me of a time when my brother and I rented Ace Combat for the PS1 and we played a game between the two of us where we would dive at the ground in a kind of game of chicken. Whoever pulled up last won. Only my brother yanked the controller out of the port on me just before I was going to hit the ground. Back when you had to actually plug your controller in to the console. Good times were had.
I haven't played many other action flight sims in my gaming career. Ace Combat, AH-3 Thunderstrike and Airforce Delta are pretty much it. Which is kind of surprising considering how many are out there and how much I love planes. Then again, story is key with me and with the exception of racing, I really favor games that feature strong characters and interesting narratives. Which is not something you typically find in most flight combat games.
Or maybe it's simply because I broke that joystick back in the 90's and never replaced it..
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