Xbox 360

Over G Fighters

Do you remember Blazing Angels? Ubisoft really blotted its copy book with that game. It stank. Pretty much everything about the flight-action game was wrong. It's something of a pleasant surprise then for the publisher to release another flight game so soon and one that is the polar opposite of Blazing Angels in terms of quality.

Over G Fighters is one of the sleekest aerial combat games this year for the Xbox 360. We wrote a preview about it back in March 2006 of which UBISoft promises to deliver a grueling air-to-air, air-to-ground super sonic speed action. In the finished version of the game, Over G Fighters is a remarkable feat, featuring excellent controls and relatively accurate sounds. The only drawback of the game is the presentation, which isn’t as detailed as it should be, but the incredible combat experience more than makes up for it. Starting with the game’s storyline, Over G Fighters takes you into a long series of well-structured combat missions that involve subjugating the continuous threats of global terrorism throughout the different parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America.

Nimmt man wirklich alles, was das Spiel bietet zusammen, so kommt man auf 3 Spielmodi, 75 Missionen, mehr als 30 Flugzeuge, eine durchschnittliche Grafik, wenig Langzeitmotivation, einen langweiligen Online Modus, ein gradliniges Gameplay und einen eintönigen Sound. Und trotzdem macht das Spiel für Zwischendurch richtigen Spaß. Ob das nun daran liegt, dass die Spielewelt nicht gerade so vor Flugsimulationen platzt oder das Over G die erste gute Flugsimulation für Konsolen ist, das sei dahingestellt.

Mit Over G Fighters wagt sich Taito an Titel wie Ace Combat und Deadly Skies heran. Das haben sie auch schon früher probiert, doch diesmal haben sie den Vorteil, dass es bis jetzt auf der 360 noch kein gleichwertiges Spiel gibt. Ob das hilft?

While it may be quite possible for me to write an entire review based on fighter planes without mentioning Top Gun, I won’t even bother. You see, there was a period in my life (right between wanting to be Sonny Crockett and a guitar god), in which I wanted to be Maverick; a cocky hot-shot young F-14 pilot. I wanted to romance Kelly McGillis (and Meg Ryan too), drive a Yamaha FZR or Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle and I wanted to have a RIO as cool as Goose. I could’ve done away with the beach volley-ball and the shower talks with Val Kilmer, but that’s another story. Yes, thankfully, I can always blame it all on being young and immature, but over the course of one summer, I did watch Top Gun over 40 times (we only had a handful of VHS movies) and I still know every line by heart. When I first heard about Over G Fighters, a friend from Japan was playing it on Live. I messaged, enquiring about the game, and he replied “Top Gun with more planes”.

Feeling the need for speed on a console is a bit tougher than one would expect; there simply aren’t a lot of flying titles that instill the “G” sensation. Taito is aiming to change all of that nonsense though, recently releasing World Airforce under the Over G Fighters moniker here in the states.

Flugsimulationen auf Konsolen sind eher eine Seltenheit. Viele der Flugspiele sind in diesem Bereich eher auf die schnelle Action über den Wolken ausgelegt. Allerdings gibt es hier auch Ausnahmen, wie das Ace Combat auf der PS2 zum Beispiel. Das japanische Entwicklerstudio Taito und Ubisoft haben nun mit Over G Fighters einen ersten Ansatz geliefert das Genre auch auf der Xbox 360 umzusetzen.

I'm a flightsim lover, I feel perfect with games like Lock-On: Modern Air Combat and the ordinary Flight Sim series. Some time ago I got the long expected Over G Fighters in my mailbox and immediately threw it in my X360 as I couldn't wait to try it out. In Over G Fighters you fight against a terrorist organisation that is trying to kill the world. You do this on three different locations: North-America, Asia and Africa and you can choose between a fleet of over 30 planes. Sounds promising!

Already released in Japan, Ubisoft thought it'd be a good idea to bring Taito's jet combat title, Over G Fighters, to the United States. For flight simulation fans, the game is the only one in the Xbox 360 library to offer realistic flight battles. Surprisingly, this marks the second flight combat game released for Microsoft's sleek white machine in its still very much young lifespan. Blazing Angels is the other game, also published by Ubisoft, though it's a much more action-oriented affair. Over G is more focused on simulation aspects, letting players control detailed versions of today's fighter planes, as well as some fancy prototype jets.

Taito has developed the Xbox 360's first modern military fighter. Presented by Ubisoft who brought us Blazing Angels earlier this year, Over G Fighters promises high velocity action while keeping the realistic edge. Is it over for Over G? Or is it just getting started? Find out in our review of Over G Fighters.

Over G Fighters is the latest jet-fighter simulation from Taito, though it's the first from the company to be released in North America. Like the Energy Airforce games that Taito put out on the PlayStation 2, Over G is a very stock, very standard game that puts you into one of the game's 30-plus jets and has you go through mission after mission. Though the game attempts to be more than mission-based monotony by also offering online multiplayer and some other options, the sluggish flight controls, bland graphics, and often-poor English translations conspire to make Over G Fighters a vapid package, overall.

Over G Fighters hinterlässt einen faden Beigeschmack. In quasi allen Belangen haben die Entwickler eine stümperhafte Arbeit abgeliefert, so dass der Titel bis auf die HD-Auflösungen nichts mit Next-Gen zu tun hat. Sei es die miese Präsentation, der piepsige Sound oder das langweilige Gameplay – an jeder Stelle glänzt der Titel mit Langeweile. Zudem ist von einer Simulation nichts zu spüren. Wer sich gerne mit einem Flugzeug in die Lüfte schwingt, der sollte entweder auf Blazing Angels ausweichen oder muss warten bis ein Spiel erscheint, das diesen Ansprüchen gerecht werden kann.

Spannende Luftkämpfe, eine motivierende Story, Langzeitmotivation und grandiose Grafik – Alles das bekommt ihr bei Over G Fighters leider NICHT. Publisher Ubisoft, bekannt für Spieleperlen wie Splinter Cell oder Rainbow Six, hat wohl die eigene Qualitätssicherung übergangen und ein Spiel auf den Markt gebracht bei dem man die Spucktüte lieber bereithalten sollte. Diese harten Worte kommen nicht von ungefähr wie ihr hier lest:

"Over G Fighters" é uma monotonia só, com uma ação sonolenta. Contra o computador, quase não existe confronto, já que consiste apenas em marcar os inimigos e soltar mísseis, esperando que o tiro seja certeiro. O modo online é um pouco melhor, mas os fãs de simulador de combate aéreo devem esperar até sair algo mais empolgante ou procurar isso em outros consoles.

Take away all the negative aspects of Over G Fighters and you are still left with a flight simulation lost in an arcade game that's more frustrating than fun. While the sparse multiplayer features have a slight redeeming factor, the single player campaign is nothing more than an unorganized jumble of boring flight operations that seems painstakingly burdensome to play. I love military style flight games like Afterburner and Ace Combat, but the horrific condition of Over G makes me cringe.

Now I seem to have constantly slapped this game in the face throughout this review and in general I have really had good cause to do so. Over-G is what I will pigeon hole as an “okay” game, there is fun to be had and being the first proper flight simulation game on the 360 has provided me as a gamer, with some fun moments. But the game is not great and is certainly not fantastic… it became long winded, boring and frustrating to play through and is a game you can easily put down as fast as you picked up… In short this game will not live long in your memories and is therefore worth renting and having a bit of a dabble, rather than a purchase and glum feeling that you just wasted a fair amount of cash.

Over G has a small niche audience to appeal to. It's nowhere near complex enough to draw in the Microsoft Flight Simulator crowd, and too dull to aim for the action set. Someone looking for a mix of both will find some of this fun. However, most of the missions feel like a waste of time as you fly through nothing to hit one target. It may strive for realism, but it miserably misses the entertainment mark.

When thinking about a rating for a game, I often ask myself how I'd feel if I paid retail price for it. If I had shelled out $60 for this title, I'd be pretty pissed; There just isn't that much value in it. The gameplay is very repetitive and the action onscreen is rarely exciting. The sluggish controls and the overly simple fights make this an uninteresting and dull game. There are better things to spend your money on. Skip it.

Dans Over G Fighters, il n'y a pas grand-chose. Il n'y a pas la profondeur d'une simulation ne serait-ce qu'honnête. Il n'y a jamais la frénésie d'un titre arcade grisant. Il n'y a pas d'épate technique, pas de réalisation technique convenable en fait. Il n'y a pas de musique mélodique, pas de missions construites, pas de sensations aériennes. Pas d'envol. Juste un ennui bien terre à terre.

Begrijp me niet verkeerd, ik hou erg van rock. Ook rock met een Japans tintje er aan vast, prima. Ben ik helemaal voor. Maar om nou zulke muziek terug te vinden in Taito’s laatste misbaksel van een flightsim genaamd Over G Fighters, dat is toch wel even een typisch gevalletje van misplaatste muziek als je het mij vraagt! Sure, Top Gun had snerende gitaren, maar dat is toch weer een klasse apart. Nu vragen jullie je misschien af, wat is het probleem?

Flight-sim games tend to go in one of two directions. On consoles, the games tend toward fast, reflexive, reality-be-damned arcadelike experiences full of enemies, explosions, and hellstorms of weapons fire. On the PC, serious, technically detailed, near-fetishistic simulations have been a staple for decades.