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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dropship - full game review (& not just the demo!), 28 Jan 2002
By A Customer
What a breath of fresh air this game is, after countless PS2 driving, football (and so on...) games. What's more, it's not your typical flying game. Yes you fly, but you can also hover, and in some missions you get to use ground vehicles. And if you want a challenge, then Dropship is the game for you...Though not as hard as some PS2 mags would have you believe, it's certainly no piece of cake. The game starts off reasonably easy, and you should be able to coast through the first 4 missions without too much trouble. However, reach mission 1.5 ("Eye of the storm"), and the difficulty curve goes up somewhat (game hint: ignore the radio advice & use hover mode at a safe distance to take out the SAM sites to make life much easier). Complete this mission though, and you are faced with the almost infamous level at the start of campaign 2, enititled "Fire in the sky"...this mission is very tough. Not only do you have to take out wave after wave of fighters, you'll also have to land to reload your ammo (and usually under fire as well!), and protect your base from bombers!. I'm glad to say though that things do get somewhat easier after this one rock hard level. It took me around a dozen attempts to complete this mission, so my advice is just to stick with it. Anyway, by the time you've done it you should be so proficient at piloting the dropship (and dogfighting) that subsequent missions seem like a piece of cake anyway!. At first piloting the dropship seems a little daunting (and I advise doing the training levels), but after a short while it becomes second-nature. It's great the way you can easily switch between hover and flight modes, take-off & land, or kick-in with the afterburners. If you want, the CPU will assist you in landings (this is the default setting), though I prefer doing it manually. The first-person view is the best one to use, though the third-person view is useful for landing. Graphics...generally the graphics are great. Although some of the landscapes seem a little barren, they are quite realistic. Hills, valleys, and some structures (normally being the focus of the mission) all fly around without a hint of pop-up. Explosions are nicely done, especially the way enemy aircraft crash to the ground in a ball of flames. Another nice feature is the "missile cam", where the camera stays with your (fired) missile until it's point of impact, though it's not always practical to watch this!. One of the best graphical highlights for me, are the replays. Normally something you'd associate with racing games, the post-mission replays work surprisingly well. They give many TV style camera views, often looking at your dropship from the enemies point of view. Other nice graphical touches in the game include; the HUD display temporarily going down when hit, the dust/sand being blown up by your dropship when taking-off/landing, and some of the lovely skies. Overall then, if you're into this genre of video game I don't see why you shouldn't like this. There's plenty of variety in the gameplay, with different dropships/vehicles to fly/drive, and you'll often receive new mission updates to the ones you're already doing. Sound is very good too, though I prefer playing with the music off. It's not bad music or anything, it's just that the game seems more immersive without it. Though the difficulty level may put off a few people, it's really only one rock hard mission that I've so far come across, so just concede to the fact that it will take you (at least) several attempts, and keep at it. Once you're past it, you can enjoy the rest of the game. Dropship is a great PS2 exclusive. A good sense of actually flying, coupled with dogfights, variety of gameplay, and some good (occasionally great) graphics.
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