Recente recensies door SonicJohnBH

Soda

I picked this game up on Humble Bundle, I saw the price and the style and thought I was picking up some kind of mobile port or simple clicker game. Growing up on games like Ace Combat I took my aviation games pretty seriously, but I wasn't expecting this silly looking pixely game to be anything close to that. I can safely say this is one of the most pleasantly surprising purchases I've made in YEARS, and I'd have GLADLY paid more for it now having played it. It's got something for everyone, and it's deceptively complicated, it's got some staunch realism for the Aviation nuts like me, and goofy visuals for the more casual players.

Now all this praise aside, it's not without it's flaws, but what's really amazing if that most of it's flaws aren't really a matter of poor design, it mainly just seems like the creators were trying to be careful to not put too much investment in the concept in-case it failed. There are signs here and there of where it could have been expanded, but wasn't. The game only features one bomber, but the troubled Lancaster Bomber, and the way it's utilized in the game, is a big part of the British side of WW2, the developers being British, it seems like a natural aircraft for them to pick. The upgrades for your Bomber and crew don't leave much to the imagination in terms of creative strategy. Most of the upgrade decisions are fairly "no-brainer", like getting an unlimited ammo feed for a tail-gunner, or putting more armor on certain areas of the plane that hold more of your crew. There IS a system where you have to manage the burgeoning weight of your aircraft with more powerful engines, but in the end you never have to sacrafice much. Most of the additions add SO little weight that you really only need to worry about your armor and engines. Your Crew Gear offers a bit more in the way of variety, as you can opt either for well armored and survivable crew or fast moving crew. Obviously the pilot shouldn't (ideally) have to move much, but your Engineer and gunners, they've got stuff to do. This is a bit more of a balencing act, and is probably one of the few "play your way" things in the game. Aside from that we have the Temperature stat that lets you fly your Bomber higher and higher, but a lower minimum temp for your crew is almost ALWAYS tied to less movement/more armor, so while this is a change in tactics, it's not a very diverse one. In-fact the further you get into the game, the more necessary it gets to fly higher-longer.

This brings up one point that many miss about the game as a whole: It is deceptively difficult. While the "Ace Pilots" you encounter will offer little to no challenge, the hectic battle management you have to endure just after bombing a target deep in enemy territory is a STEEP learning curve. This is where the biggest reward comes from, being able to almost mechanicly manage a massive 20 plane skirmish is a real accomplishment, and the game makes it feel like it. The Permadeath certainly adds a factor of difficulty, but with none-random stats you really just need to grind your crew back up to where you need after losing one, as long as you don't bite off what is OBVIOUSLY more than you can chew, you should be fine.

In the end, Bomber Crew is simply a BLAST to play, you'll get attached to your little guys like any X-COM playthrough, you'll feel awesome when you literally MOAB Hitler, and with the devs seemingly indicating that a sequel is in the works, i'm excited to see a game that capitalizes on all of the things that are barely missing from the original. Just in-case the devs read all the reviews, those things would be:

- More Bombers, obviously. Particularly smaller AND bigger bombers. B-17, B-25 etc.
- More spread out and better paced progression.
- More extensive and consequential customization. Let different playstyles flourish!
- Bigger and multi-faceted Campaign. Think X-COM 2, with different bomber types all out on missions at once. Let me command every aspect of the allied air-forces from the start to finish! Introducing new bombers and technologies as time progresses...
- LONGER missions (sometimes). One of the most interesting aspects of WW2 Bomber crews was the lengthy amount of time these people spent cooped up together. Hopping over the channel and bombing Berlin in 10 minutes feels a BIT rushed. This also lets us use different bombers!
- The ability to move your bombers to different bases for missions planned long in advance.
- A more extensive survival system. Having my plane land perfectly 1 mile from base in friendly territory, and losing my entire crew to a wheel of fortune feels a bit off...There's a great opportunity for a bit of a mini-game here, having to prioritize food and choose your favorite crew member to not die would be heart wrenching and amazing, as would the ability to send a bomber crew out to rescue a bomber crew, or at least cover them while they're rescued.
- More extensive bombs system, one bomb per target, regardless of type isn't really all that exciting. Especially when you get all kinds of wacky bomb types and combinations throughout the game.

Anyways. Get this game! Support the devs so they can make an even better game!