Windows

Battle Engine Aquila

I don’t play too many action games. Usually it happens when a publisher announces it has an action-adventure available, but then it turns out to be an action game with, oh, dialogue and an inventory system. But every so often I play an action game on purpose, just for a change of pace from all the adventures and role-playing games I usually play. And, thus, I present to you Battle Engine Aquila, sort of a mech, action, shoot-em-up game from Lost Toys and Encore Software.

When it was released on consoles earlier this year, Battle Engine Aquila presented a well executed concept and non-stop action arcade gameplay. Now, the game is hitting the PC, and except for a few expected changes, is essentially the same game. PC gamers can look forward to a solid mech combat game that, while not terribly deep, will provide some exciting action and fluid gameplay.

Почти Incoming, почти шедевр, правда, чуть-чуть скучный и немного монотонный. Я снова вынужден повториться: сюда бы Красивый Сюжет да Необычные Миссии — был бы хит на все времена, честное слово.

Battle Engine Aquila kann durchaus zu den besseren Konsolenumsetzungen gezählt werden. Wer am heimischen PC gerne kurzweilige Action hat, dem kann BEA absolut ans Herz gelegt werden.

Mist, die Bewohner von Allium sind uns einen Schritt voraus. Denn dort hat der Treibhauseffekt die Polarkappen schon schmelzen lassen. Fast der komplette Planet ist im Meer versunken. Nur noch ein paar Inseln ragen heraus. Und ebendiese werden Schauplatz eines erbitterten Krieges zwischen den letzten beiden Rassen, den Forseti und den Muspell. Zahlenmäßig sind die Forseti hoffnungslos unterlegen. Aber sie haben einen Trumpf in der Hand: die ultimative Kampfmaschine, die Battle Engine Aquila.

Lost Toys' Battle Engine Aquila was originally released for Xbox almost a year ago. In the months since, in preparation for BEA's arrival on PC, the title has changed publishers (from Infogrames to Encore) and undergone an amazing transformation. No. Wait. Only the first part of that statement is true. In fact, Aquila has seen no improvements from the console version adding proof (along with my time spent in college) that people can waste 10 months of their lives doing nothing and still expect a paycheck.

Overall, I really did enjoy Battle Engine Aquila and suggest it to any non-stop FPS action game fan. The game never stops pounding you with fights from the moment it starts until the last enemy has fallen. The unlock able items along with the ever increasing difficulty of the missions gives this game more replay value than some of the other action games out there.

Transformers sind wieder in: Nach dem in der Weihnachtsausgabe getesteten Gun Metal schickt nun auch Battle Engine Aquila einen Stahlkoloss ins Rennen, der auf Knopfdruck vom Kampfroboter zum Jagdbomber mutiert. Mit diesem Battlemech-Verschnitt stapfen und düsen Sie durch 43 Missionen, den Finger stets am Abzug.

Battle Engine Aquila macht von Beginn an mehr Spaß als erwartet. Da sausen mir ständig Horden von Raumschiffen um die Stahlohren und sogar die Story ist okay. Schicke Waffeneffekte und ansehnliche Levels lassen mich für einige Stunden über den geringen Tiefgang hinweg sehen. Mit der Steuerung werde ich allerdings nicht warm. Mir ist sie zu schwammig und gleichzeitig zu empfindlich. Die Entwickler sollten dringend über einen Patch nachdenken.

Sincèrement, je ne m'attendais pas à trouver un titre de qualité à la vue du démarrage du jeu. Des personnages mal dégrossis, un menu principal pauvre, un mode multijoueur offline, bref une mauvaise interprétation de départ. Mais la suite m'a vraiment surpris. Un gameplay intuitif et offrant de nombreuses possibilités, des aires de jeu tout en dénivelés favorisant les pièges, une gestion du mécha à exercer avec prudence se mêlent pour fabriquer un soft tout à fait convaincant, et qui donnera du plaisir à quiconque s'y essayera. Espérons qu'une suite moins sujette à des lacunes graphiques voit le jour et nous pourrons enterrer nos Goldorak articulés.

Anyway, Battle Engine Aquila is a straight middle of the road game. Maybe that's a bit harsh, seeing as how it's not a poorly done game, but it's just not fun. If you're a big fan of the mission-based sim genre you might be able to get some fun out of it. Battle Engine Aquila does have a few nice touches like the branching mission paths (which can still turn out to be repetitive and boring at times) and the multiple fighting arenas (Though jet mode kinda sucks) which may interest you but it wasn't enough for me.

Battle Engine Aquila is a futuristic mission-based shooter that puts you at the controls of a spiderlike tank that can transform into a jet for short periods of time. The game was originally released on consoles at the beginning of this year, and, though the game's controls have been mapped to a mouse and keyboard reasonably well, the game still shows its console roots with fairly run-of-the-mill visuals and throwaway features, like a split-screen multiplayer mode.

Battle Engine Aquila ist für mich höchstens ein Spiel, bei dem man Zwischendurch mal seinen Frust abbauen kann. Dafür bietet es wenig Anforderungen, weil die Steuerung sehr simpel und die Missionen recht einfach gehalten sind (vor allem zu Beginn). Die gute grafische Präsentation und das simple Gameplay sind bei so actionlastigen Spielen ja schon immer die halbe Miete, und hier ist auch BEA nicht anders. Erst im weiteren Verlaufe des Spiels fällt die wenige Abwechslung im Bereich Gegner, Missionsdesign und Landschaften ins Gewicht und auch die meiner Meinung nach sehr schlecht gemachten Zwischensequenzen bieten sich immer wieder zum sofortigen Überspringen an. Insgesamt ist das Spiel keine Offenbarung, aber immer noch ein guter Action-Titel. Der geringe Preis von EUR 27,45 (so gesehen bei Amazon) könnte durchaus ein ausschlaggebendes Kaufargument sein ;-)

Battle Engine Aquila has more to offer in untapped potential than in reality. The dull missions, commonplace graphics and limited gameplay add up to a simplistic blast-a-thon that rides on the wave of the “giant robot that transforms” gimmick and ultimately ends up washed out on the beach. Also, if you’re a scientist living on a planet that is COVERED by water and decide to build the ultimate machine, here’s a good rule of thumb: Make it freaking waterproof, you idiot.

All is not lost. The addition of two-player split-screen action is very welcome, as we need far more games that encourage friends to crowd around the PC, but it's a shame there's only three levels of co-operative play, a drop in the ocean compared to Battle Engine Aquila's extensive campaign with its occasional branches and variations. Battle Engine Aquila is easy to pick up and get straight into and gawping at the glorious explosions, landing on an enemy dropship and opening fire at passing fighters or mowing down troops and trees with your pulse cannon are all fun in short bursts. There's just no thrills amongst all the gloss.

If you've already played Battle Engine Aquila (BEA) when Atari brought it out on PlayStation 2 or Xbox earlier this year, you probably don't need to read any further -- Encore's PC version (also developed by Lost Toys) is essentially the same experience.

Hopefully the cost to port this console-skewed action game to the PC was minimal, since it was better served on those closed platforms and doesn’t offer enough to warrant this PC translation.

Rien de révolutionnaire au programme : graphismes moyens, gameplay basique, durée de vie honorable. Non, Battle Engine Aquila ne propose rien qui lui permette de se démarquer de nombre d'autres jeux. Cependant, si vous êtes en quête d'un jeu de shoot à la mentalité console pour meubler vos soirées, ne cherchez pas plus loin.

In the end, BEA isn't really much of anything besides an average arcade shooter. It isn't a bad game, but there's nothing exceptional here either. This is not a title that screams, "Buy me!" The mech mode doesn't have anywhere near the depth of other mech games, and the same could be said about the flight mode. Many of the missions lack variety - destroy everything in sight and protect as much as you can - and the total number of weapons are pretty small. The enemy units aren't very spectacular either, even with the upgraded graphics. They are things that many gamers have seen before, and done better in other games. Toss in the fact that the limited multiplayer hardly seems appropriate for PC gamers (unless they enjoy crowding around the same monitor) and things start to look worse and worse for the Aquila. All these signs point in one direction: Obscurity.

Flying in straight from the consoles is Battle Engine Aquila, a sci-fi action shooter that is part mech and part flight combat. The controls from this port are done relatively well, but the overall gameplay prevents this game from standing out as anything more than an average game at best.