Description
Think of Star Wars Starfighter (or comparable game). Now, think of any arcade car-combat game (Twisted Metal, for instance). Now, think of a 3d RTS game (Battlezone style). This is the odd amalgamation that comprises Battle Engine Aquila. The basic setup of BEA is that you are piloting a prototype military vehicle called the Aquila. Aquila is designed to both fly like a jet and walk like a six-legged mech, and switch between either mode on the fly. Aquila is the newest weapon in a long-lasting war between two archipelago nations. The thing that separates this game from most other shootersmore… is that, though you are an extremely powerful weapon of war, you are not the only one. Battles in Aquila are really battles. That is, it's not you vs. an army, it's an army vs. an army. You can literally stand back and watch the war go on (though you won't win this way). This game is designed so your job is not to win the war, but to fight in it.Gameplay: Gameplay in BEA is similiar to Jedi Starfighter, but you can walk too. You basically have a mission goal, be it invasion, defense or target elimination. All of the game's missions take place on either islands or over the sea (the world of BEA consists entirely of archipelagos, groups of small islands). At the beginning of a level, you are given a mission objective, choice of Battle Engine weapons layout (starting later in the game), and choice of wingmen. You are then let free to basically complete your mission as you see fit. Throughout the battles, you are given a small map of the island with a two-color overlay to show you in real-time who controls what part of the island you're on (missions over the ocean have no map, since there's no land to control). This lends a bit of strategy to the fights, since you can always tell where the relatively safe or hostile areas are, as well as how close your side is to winning or losing the island. Herein lies one of the problems with this game, however: there's not enough strategy to make the game really all that much deeper than Starfighter (though, if you enjoyed that game, you'll probably like this one). Your Aquila is fitted with three weapons, a shield and some armor. Your three weapons are usually a rapid-fire weapon, a more powerful but slower energy weapon, and a missile/bomb weapon. Ammo is refilled at designated pads, which can even sometimes be placed on larger flying ships. Your are protected by an energy shield, which only operates while you're walking, and serves as a measure of how long you can stay aloft while flying. In the air, you're only protected by your armor, which can be repaired at the aforementioned pads. Enemies consist of infantry, tank-like vehicles, flying vehicles, and walkers similiar to you. There are also emplaced guns, factories and training facilities, and various other buildings. Infantry are more or less cannon fodder, though it is sometimes fun to see them fight other infantry. Tanks and walkers are the majority of the enemy force. Enemies come from either factories (or training facilities, in the case of infantry) or flying transports. This lends some credibility to the large size of enemy forces, since you can actually see where they're coming from. Overall, BEA plays like a very basic RTS style game, though its focus is pretty much entirely on action. Basically, if you liked Starfighter, you'll probably like BEA. The difficulty level is either middling or difficult, depending on whether you're playing the regular missions or their harder equivalents. This is dictated not by an options setting, but how succesful you are at fulfilling your secondary objectives. Do them all, and you'll switch to the difficult missions. Leave one undone, and you'll stay in the regular mode.Graphics: Graphics in BEA are pretty much average. Terrain is somewhat fuzzy, but you're never close enough to see extreme detail, and since you'll spend much of your time flying you won't really notice it. The islands are small enough that you can see from one end to another in the air, with ocean stretching past the coasts to the horizon. The islands vary in topography; from soft, grassy, hilly terrain to volcanic mountains. Trees are plentiful, decent looking, and can be shot down (one of the better special effects is seeing trees being felled by a travelling missile). Water also looks good, and seeing the frames of ancient buildings sticking out of the ocean is a nice detail. Models aren't extremely detailed, but look pretty good considering there have to be hundreds active at once with no slowdown. All the vehicles are animated well, if somewhat basically, with moving turrets and treads. Textures are pretty detailed, and the actual look of different vehicles differ greatly depending on what side they're on. Your side is blue mostly, with the enemy as red. This makes it easy to see who's on your side and who isn't, even when flying. The most impressive unit feature is scale. Buildings are believably big, and being able to land on a flying fortress, while its in the air, to refill ammo is pretty neat. One of my favorite tricks, in fact, is to actually land on a flying enemy transport and blast it to heck while I'm standing on it. Lighting effects are basic, but not bad. There are some particle effects, but not many. Weapons effects aren't bad, though, and seeing two armies exchange fire can be pretty impressive. The only real problem with BEA's graphics, overall, is their general generic appearance. Nothing's really going to make you whince, but nothing's going to take your breath away.Audio: BEA's audio is okay. Weapons effects are generic, but work. Music is nondescript, but not annoying. Again, it's the scale of the battles that'll get you. Nothing here's really bad enough to stand out, though. Just all pretty "okay".Overall: If you like Starfighter, get BEA. It's better. Otherwise, get it if you can find it for $... You'll definitely enjoy yourself.
Info:
- Category:
- Games > Xbox
- Case Type:
- DVD
- Release Type:
- Retail
- Language:
- English
- Region:
- NTSC
- Comments:
- 1 read add
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Cover Info:
- Title:
- Battle Engine Aquila NTSC Retail DVD
- Part:
- Front
- Dimensions:
- 3225 x 2156 px
- Size:
- 1,721 KB
- Downloads:
- 5 (0 today)
- Uploaded:
- 10/03/08 by __Brujo__
- Quality Rating:
-
- Currently /5 Stars.
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