Yager (PC)

What sets this game apart from the typical FPS is the combination of a FPS with action-adventure. You interact with 20 characters (in varying degrees) and the story unfolds according to how you play.

The graphics, though not up to the lastest technology, are still stunning. Swoop down to view the surface in beautiful detail then fly up to see intricate, animated crafts. Water and sky are rendered especially well. In the first few missions I found myself mostly flying off to gawk at the gorgeous graphics. There's movement everywhere with assorted other crafts crusing around, as well as birds, dolphins, even grazing buffalo.

There are 22 free-roaming levels with an engaging storyline and variety of locations and settings, from the idyllic Free Zone Coast to the dark and foreboding Bitterfeld. The cinematic cut scenes provide a good continuum between missions and are some of the finest I've seen in any game.

You fly a futuristic jet craft called the Sagittarius using a great physics engine allowing you to make radical moves, though I found the controls a little too sensitive at times. In addition to the jet-mode, there is a VTOL (Verticle Take-off and Lift) allowing hiding in the varied terrain, making stealth attacks and quick stops if you're about to hit a mountain! The ship is well-equipped with weapons, including lasers, machine guns, missiles, a rail gun and in some levels a napalm gun. Except for the lasers, which are powered by the Sagittarius's engines, the weapons have limited ammo, but there are glowing pickups scattered throughout the expansive levels that provide extra ammo and speed boosts. The HUD is effective and uncluttered, providing all essential info, i.e. friend and foe locations on your radar, hull shield condition, direction and weapons status in a clear format.

What I especially liked about Yager was the character development and interaction. Voice-acting and scripting are well done. Magnus gives you commentary and hints throughout and I often found myself chuckling at his sarcasm and wisecracks. If you manage to piss-off an enemy they will make you aware of it in no uncertain terms on your ship's comms! The AI is quite good. Enemy craft work together in coordinating attacks and do a good job of trying to out maneuver you when pursued.

No game is perfect and I have a couple gripes with Yager. The first are the height and side boundaries. On a few levels the height ceiling seemed a bit low and I had trouble going over some mountains and some of the side boundaries extend well within the maps. If you fly into one your ship is turned around, often directly at the enemies! And on at least two levels the boundaries allowed the enemy crafts through but not mine.

The other is the inability to save game at checkpoints. If you fail a mission you can either restart it or continue at the previous checkpoint as long as you stay in the mission. If you exit you have to start the level over from the beginning. However, this does lend an urgency to the missions and there's a high satisfaction quotient when you finish a level, as some of them are difficult. But I'd prefer to have the ability to save in the longer missions.

Yager is intelligently laid out and there are usually ways to strategize your best options to complete a level by doing some exploration and testing the enemy. In fact, the entire game shows an attention to detail in all aspects, from the stunning graphics to great character development to exhilarating dog fights.