Warhammer 40,000: Dakka Squadron - Flyboyz Edition

No stick support, Xbox controller only gamepad support, no graphics settings, locked at 60 FPS, very few (if any) playing multiplayer. You might be able to fight through the M+K controls and have a good time, but I couldn't. It's a shame: the mechanics actually seemed fun and they used the license a lot better than most mobile ports.

Game is pretty good. Best done with mouse and keyboard IMHO but haven't tried with controller yet. planes have different abilities and not everyone of them can have the same loadout. Also, the different Ork klanz are represented with different pilots you can switch between any time. Each one with different bonuses. Each clan has it's main plane colour while also being able to choose any two other colours for your plane and 6 different patterns. Each clan has many different logos to choose from, different weapons have different models (though each upgraded from looks the same as the one before it). You can replay any mission after you have beaten it. Levles have both a large space in the air, and some in door stuff too, can seems small some times, but only at start of missions. I am sad that no one is on multiplayer, at least on GoG. The different maps would be great for multiplayer, which is where I think this game would really shine. It's worth it for the cheap price, good customisation and easy gameplay, fun and okry campaign. Wish we got more Orky stuff.

The formula is simple and the systems are in here. The first couple of missions are fun despite obvious shortcomings (UI, HUD). But the deeper you're in, the poor execution of the core gameplay elements is more and more noticeable and eventually the game turns into an exercise of frustration at extremely poor controls (both on controllers and K+M), claustrophobic level design and grindy, time wasting, repeatable mind numbing combat. Starting planes are fun to control and introductory missions (the first planet) are open enough for the flying to be enjoyable, using different manouvers makes sense and is satisfying (barrel rolls, U-turns, ramming). All missions, including boss fights, share the same pattern. Main objectives are to destroy big targets; side missions throw in minor objects and sometimes hidden big structures. They all have a couple of phases that increase the pressure. 3 planets in - and nothing changes except numbers going higher, adding new planes which controls are increasingly more janky, and making the level layout increasingly narrower which doesn't mix well with the gameplay. I.e. controls become your enemy, the game punishes you with level layouts that are not fit for your planes to navigate within, and inflates the enemies numbers or timers to the point: "ok that's enough" and shutting the application down. Maybe the experience would be better if the game screen wasn't so cluttered and HUD wasn't virtually unreadable. Indicators are barely visible through the clutter, levels tend to have limited colour palete and the actual enemy models and structures blend with the background to the point of causing an actual headache. Fonts and labels are differently scaled throughout the board. Important text is too small, while flavor fills most of the screen. Options are non-existent. Narrative is full of annoying and bloated dialogue you can't sometimes skip with a single press of a button. Poor and not fun. There's a ton of better alternatives.

So, if you like games like the Blazing Angels series, you will definitely like this. The gameplay is smooth with keyboard + mouse (I don't have hi-tech gaming peripheral), the UI is ok, works gret on Geforce 1030GT on 1080p! What else do one need? Just more hours in a day, so that we can play all these great games :D